Last week, we provided a sneak peek of Belching Beaver Brewery‘s upcoming Vista brewpub. This week’s follow-up post is about the North County brewing company’s new production facility at 1334 Rocky Point in Oceanside. The new brewery, which is much larger than Belching Beaver’s original location, is equipped with a 30-barrel Prospero System designed by Speakeasy Ales and Lagers, that was selected for its consistency and high-tech software package. The system can pump out 120 barrels in 11-to-12 hours, which is a far cry from what its 15-barrel Vista brewhouse could brew up. That vessel is now under the charge of brewer Peter Perrecone, who will utilize it for production of barrel-aged sour beers, a number of which are maturing in oak at the Oceanside facility.
Meanwhile, master brewer Troy Smith is full-time at the new brewery, which he, his father and a single assistant assembled, piped, welded and got up-and-running mostly with their own six hands. Completion of the Oceanside brewery will allow Belching Beaver to up its production to 40,000-barrels-per-year. Should they max-out the facility, they’ll be able to get to 100,000 barrels annually. Now, they are able to distribute beers to Northern California, a territory they’ve eyed for a long time. They will start with the Bay Area, then simultaneously expand into Sacramento and Bakersfield as well as Idaho and Washington. The idea of opening a facility in Arizona and self-distributing is also appealing to ownership.
Currently the Oceanside facility is not open to the public, however, that will be rectified in the near future. A tasting room is planned, initially as a small patio at the front of the building, though they hope to eventually install a second-story catwalk that will allow visitors to tour the brewery from above and view all brewing, cellaring and packaging operations. The latter will be done using an atmosphere-controlled GAI bottling system (replacing Belching Beaver’s Meheen bottling line at its original brewery) that can fill a palate’s worth of glass in 30 minutes. It will allow the company to finally launch six-packs of 12-ounce bottles of company mainstays, Peanut Butter Milk Stout, Hop Highway IPA and Me So Honey, followed later by Beaver’s Milk milk-stout, Dammed and Great Lei IPA. Also coming are more 22-ounce beers, including a chocolate-peanut butter stout called Viva Le Beaver and brews from a rotating milk-stout series as well as a rotating coffee-beer series.
When Belching Beaver’s impressive growth is pointed out—the company plans to grow to 80 employees by the close of April—co-founder Tom Vogel downplays it, citing the much faster growth of entities such as Modern Times Beer, Saint Archer Brewery and, more recently, Coronado Brewing Company. According to Vogel, Belching Beaver is still a little company just trying to make its way while striving to make better beer. And as for those who might see production-growth and new venues as signs of a potential sale, he says that will never happen, stating, “First off, no one will want to buy a company called Belching Beaver. Secondly, I’d be the first one they’d replace and I happen to love my job.”