Last Thursday marked the first official brew day for Oskar Blues Brewery at its new facility in Brevard, N.C.
The company brewed the first batch of its flagship offering, Dale’s Pale Ale, at the new, $12 million, 30,000 square-foot brewery just seven months after announcing it would be adding the second location.
Company spokesman Chad Melis told Brewbound.com that Oskar Blues purchased equipment identical to what is currently in use at its Longmont, Colo. facility. In Brevard, the company installed a 50-barrel brewhouse, 14, 200-barrel fermenters, kegging and canning equipment. The facility will initially boast 40,000 barrels of capacity.
Melis also said the current footprint is capable of being scaled to 85,000 barrels and that additional land surrounding the brewery leaves room for even more growth.
The company is still projecting to brew 140,000 barrels of beer – between both facilities – in 2013
The complete press release is below.
BREVARD, NC — Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard now has North Carolina-brewed Dale’s Pale Ale in the fermenter, a mere seven months after announcing the plan to open a brewery in Brevard, North Carolina.
“It’s been an insane six months!” says Noah Tuttle, head brewer in Brevard. “From moving the family across the country, working on the OB Brew School, and helping get this brewery up and running, it’s been crazy times. But that’s how we roll at Oskar Blues, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis has had a mountain bike parked in Brevard for many years.
“This is a magical place,” Katechis says. “There’s inspiring bike riding in the hills and a supportive small-town mountain community that’s a lot like our home in Colorado.”
About 80 friends, family, local brewers and media visited the new brewery on the historic day for barbecue, beer and a chance to get up close and personal with some shiny new fermenters.
“We’re all enthusiastic to welcome Oskar Blues to Western North Carolina,” says John Lyda, president of the Asheville Brewers Alliance and head brewer at Highland Brewing Company. “Having these folks as part of the brewing community here is gonna be a lot of fun.”
The brewery includes a taproom overlooking the brewery floor that’s open to the public daily and serves Oskar Blues beers on tap and by the can (of course). Special release and one-off beers brewed on the small pilot system will be tapped regularly there.
Oskar Blues Brewery Brevard Taproom is open daily 2-8 p.m. Mon-Thurs. and Noon-8 p.m. Fri/Sat/Sun.
NYE Grand Opening Celebration – We’ll be throwing down at our New Year’s Eve Grand Opening Hootenanny, open to the public. The party runs from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and features live music from local rock band Jupiter Coyote as well as the Pisgah Pickers, a side project of the renowned Steep Canyon Rangers. There will be some special release beers brewed with local Riverbend Malthouse malts, food trucks, and trolley bus rides from and to Asheville. Proceeds from the event will benefit Muddy Sneakers (http://muddysneakers.org/ ), an experiential outdoor education program for school children based in Brevard.
Tickets for the night are available at: www.oskarbluesNCNYE.eventbrite.com
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 as a brewpub and grill, Oskar Blues Brewery launched its craft-brewed hand canning operations in 2002 in Lyons, Colo. It was the first American craft brewery to can beer. Today, more than 180 craft breweries are canning their beers. The original crew used a hand-canning line on a tabletop machine that sealed one can at a time. Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont packaged 41,000 barrels in 2010, grew to 59,000 in 2011 and is on pace for 90,000 in 2012. While celebrating 10 years of Dale’s Pale Ale, the brewery started brewing beer in their new Brevard, NC, brewery in December 2012. Visit www.oskarblues.com
http://www.facebook.com/OskarBluesCans, @oskarblues for more information.