Atwater Brewery has begun production at the Brew Detroit location in the Corktown neighborhood, where the craft brewer expects to produce an additional 40,000 barrels this year to meet growing demand for the beer. With further capital investment, the facility could produce up to 250,000 barrels at full capacity.
“We’re (expanding production) to meet existing demand,” says Mark Rieth, owner of Atwater and managing partner with Brew Detroit, an independent partnership. “The market is driving our production decisions, and this additional capacity allows us to fulfill increased orders from current customers as well as pursue growing demand from new markets and geographies.”
The production increase comes on the heels of a $2-million upgrade to its original location in Detroit’s Rivertown district, near Stroh River Place. Even with the investment, which increased output to 30,000 barrels annually, Atwater had been able to fulfill only about 50 percent of its orders, Rieth says.
Looking forward, Rieth says Atwater in the Park, located in a former Grosse Pointe church, is slated to open April 1. The 7,500-square-foot bier garten tap house will offer more than 40 beers on tap as well as food provided by the Epicurean Group.
Atwater is also looking into bringing a full-service brewery to Austin, Texas, Rieth says.
“Our beers have been well received in the south,” Rieth says. “We’ve found a strategic partner who is interested in helping us advance our distribution and fulfillment plans for this region. We are enthusiastic to continue our mission to ‘bring Detroit everywhere.’”
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