Mr. Hittle said the facility was designed for energy efficiency
from the ground up, with a radiant heat system, Muira low NOx boilers, a
Rite-Hite fan which can generate a 4-mph breeze in the brewery during
summer, and high-efficiency lighting.
Emily Sauter, social media liaison for Two Roads, noted that she
just moved from Eugene, OR, where there are seven breweries, with a
number in planning, in a city of only 140,000. "No one thinks about
Connecticut as a craft brewing center," she said. "That's
about to change!"
According to Two Roads brewmaster Phil Markowski, the
company's physical plant, which he helped design, is his
"dream" brewery. "Nothing here could be improved
on," he says. "And the floor plan is very linear, it's
all here in one view. Our 100-barrel Rolec brewhouse is capable of
brewing 50barrel batches, and we have fermenters of various sizes, so we
can do small batch one-offs and 300-barrel runs of higher volume
products. We'll be more nimble than your typical 100-barrel
brewery."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two+Roads+Brewing+Company+opens+in+Connecticut.-a0319229046
The brewery, located in a meticulously-renovated former machine
tool factory building in Stratford, boasts a new Rolec 100-barrel
brewhouse, a Kunzel four-row mill, a high-speed CFT/SBC bottling line, a
PE labeler, and Comac keg line.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Former Pabst chief marketing officer Brad Hittle has his Two Roads
Brewing Company up and running. Trucks from local distributors Star and
Rogo were lined up at the Stratford, CT brewery's loading dock one
morning last week, preparing to take on pallets of Two Roads Saison,
White IPA and Double IPA.
Mr. Hittle said brewing operations in the first year will proceed
on two tracks, with production of Two Roads branded beers for the local
market, and craft contracts for wider distribution. "We'll be
careful not to go too broad with Two Roads," he said. "In the
first year, it will be epicenter marketing, Connecticut only. We'll
sell maybe 3000 barrels of Two Roads. Contiguous states will the logical
next step."
The company already has ten contract producers lined up to brew at
the facility, which currently has 42,000 barrels of fermenting capacity,
and 150,000-barrel total capacity, with expansion to http://www.sandfree.com/ 200,000-barrel
capacity planned within the coming year.
Before the equipment was installed, however, there had been much to
do. The factory, while operational until recently, had to be converted
to a food-grade production plant, and that meant that every surface had
to be cleaned, refinished, resurfaced or painted. Fortunately, the
company found committed local contractors for the project. "The guy
we selected started in late April," Mr. Hittle says, "and we
were ready for flooring by the first week of June. One guy had told us
it would take until December, or even February."
The Rolec equipment arrived in July. "We had a crew of 10-12
Germans here until November," Mr. Hittle says. "They were the
most impressive workers I have ever seen. The seams are so beautifully
welded, it's almost artistic. I would try to engage them in
conversation, and they would say, 'Sorry, I'm too busy, I must
work!'"
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