It wasn’t planned, but Epic Brewing head brewer, Kevin Crompton, just announced to over 100 members of the media that the company will expand into a second brewing facility in Denver, Colorado.
In a brief conversation, Crompton told Brewbound.com that while a lease papers have not yet been signed, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company plans to install a 20-barrel brewing system and build a full-scale production facility with a starting capacity of roughly 15,000 barrels.
The news follows announcements from Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Lagunitas and Green Flash who have already said they will build secondary locations outside of their home state.
Crompton couldn’t share exact details but was able to quickly summarize the strategy behind the move.
“We are currently distributed in 13 states and send a lot of product to the east coast,” he said. “The idea is to have the Colorado brewery producing beer for the east and the Salt Lake City brewery producing beer for the west.”
Crompton cited increasing freight costs as a motivating factor behind the decision. He hopes the facility will be operational by February of 2013.
Brewbound.com will continue to follow this story as it develops.