From Ninkasi:
In 2007, we brewed 1,800 barrels of beer. By 2010, we were up to 31,000 barrels of beer and the next year, almost doubled our production to 57,000.
This year, we are on track to almost reach capacity at our current brewery, which allows us to produce about 95,000 barrels of beer in one year.
So what’s a brewery to do when people want to drink MORE beer but it doesn’t have the space to brew MORE beer?
Build a new brewery, of course!
So that’s what we’ve been doing since we broke ground on the property in Oct. 2012, because we want to make sure that our fans and fans-to-be have enough delicious Ninkasi in their lives!
A lot has happened at our current Eugene facility since we last updated all of you about the status of the new brewery. With all of the newness around us, we thought we’d provide a quick update to bring you all up to speed!
Our CFO Nigel showed us around the new brewery and admin building last week to catch us up Here are some of the super awesome things we learned during the tour that should let all of you know what a treat we’re all in for when the new space is finished:
1) First things first, SAVE THE DATE! The new brewery is on track to be churning out some delicious beer with its 82-barrel brew house in the spring of 2014.
2) Once it is up and running, the new brewery will be focused on one thing: producing beer. This means the packaging (all of the glorious kegging and bottling) is all going to stay in the current brewery, which is on the other side of the road.
Can you guess how we’re going to get the beer from one side of the road to the other so we can keg and bottle it up before it gets shipped out to all of you?
That’s right, a BEER BRIDGE! And yes, this is the coolest kind of bridge in the whole entire world. We did the research.
3) Our new hops cooler is going to be bigger than the gigantic construction machinery that’s being used to build the new brewery. That’s a lot of hops!
But when you brew a lot of beer (and when you love hops as much as we do) you need a lot of hops and a big old cooler to store them in!
4) The view from the top of our new combination brightening/fermentation tanks is a little terrifying if you’re afraid of heights, but a lot awesome if you like a lot of good beer.
The new brewery will be home to nine, 550 barrel combination brightening/fermentation tanks that are all set and ready to help produce more Ninkasi beer next year.
5) Beer is not the only craft that we appreciate around here. Jazz and Pat, the masterminds behind our in-house metal fabrication shop, designed and constructed a brand spankin’ new gate to welcome employees and partners to our local distribution and new administrative building space.
This gate is 4,500 pounds of awesomeness and looks even better in real life (which means you should probably schedule a trip to visit. Hint, hint).
We’ll do a separate post on all of the TLC that went into building the new gate, but we couldn’t resist giving you a sneak peek.
5) In addition to the new brewery, we’re constructing a new admin building because we’re not only running out of space for beer, we’re running out of space for all of us who are working hard to get the beer out to you guys!
It’s coming together by the day and as excited as we all are to move in, we know this space will be worth the wait since we got to hear all about some of the raddest parts of the new building. These include:
- A small brewery! We’ll have a seven barrel system that will let us do more experimental batches (raise your hand if you’re also drooling at that thought!) and will allow us to educate groups, including our partners, employees and community members on how to brew beer and the science behind the brewing process.
- Classrooms! We love education at Ninkasi. The new office space will give us lots of space to conduct sensory training and continue to focus on the quality and consistency of our beer.
- Bars! Yes, plural. Because, you know, we need somewhere to serve-up the Ninkasi.
- A rock climbing wall! At Ninkasi, we value the successful integration of work and life. Many of us are outdoor enthusiasts, and a rock climbing wall is the perfect way to marry work and life in the office.
- A multi-purpose room complete with locker rooms and showers – make it easy for those who choose to be active to incorporate it into their daily routine. An employee bike rack will also help ensure our daily commutes tread lightly on the environment and the community around us.
- A recording studio to help fuel our awesome relationship with the local and regional music community.
- Lots of great places to enjoy the company of our coworkers and others in the community like a rooftop patio and a fireplace. Our company thrives off a strong culture, so we want to make sure there are spaces for us to hang out and chat over beers when we’re not working.
Our construction crews continue to work hard to finish up these spaces so we can brew good beer in a sustainable way. Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks!
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