For whatever reason, Saugatuck Brewing Company seems to be flying under the radar for Chicagoans at the moment. Is it because Michigan Beer starts with Founders and ends with Bell’s for some reason? Is it our fault for spending too much time talking about Dark Horse and Brewery Terra Firma? Is it because when they rolled out last September, it was too early for the city to embrace the Neapolitan Milk Stout, which is the finest milk stout we can remember drinking?
Whatever the reason, who cares — they’ve managed to move enough beer to merit an expansion.
And this isn’t even the first time they’ve gotten too big for their beer britches — MLive.com notes that they were on their third expansion 8 months ago.
Per Rapid Growth Media, their success in Chicago and Michigan has led them to look towards no longer leapfrogging Indiana:
The expansion will enable the brewery to quadruple its brewing capacity from the 10-barrel system it has now to a 40-barrel system (1,200 gallons). While VP of Marketing Kerry O’Donohue expects a gradual increase in production over time, the point is that by the time the new equipment is in place in mid-spring 2014, the brewery will be ready to increase its output substantially.
The company expects to produce 6,500 barrels this year; a number that looks quite large in comparison to the 500 barrels they brewed in 2009, but will be dwarfed by their 2014 output.
And did you realize that at Saugatuck, you can go and brew your own beer? They’re the only brewery we know of in Michigan that has an on-premise setup for folks to come in and screw around with their own ideas for beers and take home a few dozen 22 ounce bottles of brew. If you’ve got a couple hundred bucks to burn through and want to make yourself some beer, you could do worse.
Want to remind yourself of Saugatuck’s offerings? We’ve helpfully outlined “Four Reasons We Love Saugatuck Brewing Company“, after which you should add it to your Michigan beer tourist day trip itinerary — you have to pass it to get to New Holland and Founders anyways, so just stop and visit already.