Did you get some new stuff over the holidays; a new bike, maybe, or some new clothes? Well, Jack’s Abby got themselves a brand new brewery! They took to their blog and gave fans a look at their shiny new brewery in a video hosted by Jack Hendler, co-owner and brewer. It’s obvious he’s excited about the state of the art system and the impact that it’s having on their world class lagers.
With the new facility, there are bound to be changes, but changes for the better as Jack explains that all of the upgrades were made to “allow [Jack’s Abby] to put out better beer- a higher quality product.”
Watch the video of the brewery’s new digs.
Changes at Jack’s Abby
New Year, New Name If you follow Jack’s Abby on Facebook, you’ll see that they’ve ditched “Brewing” from their name, opting for “Craft Lagers,” which is more specific to their type of brewing.
More Room The new facility clocks in at 67,000 square feet and is estimated to be able to produce 125,000 barrels a year. For a little perspective, their original brewery was only 5,000 square feet. The new space is also designed for more growth as Hendler points out, “We have all these valves that are sticking out in case the demand is there, all we need to do is put more tanks in and we’re good to go.”
Automation If you think that craft beer is about wood fired, gravity fed systems, I’d suggest picking up a history book. A fully automated brewing system allows for a more consistent brewing, “no variation brewer to brewer and it will allow us to put out better beer.”
Advanced Brewing Capabilities Being a craft brewer focused on lagers makes the ability to perform decoction mash’s pretty exciting. While a traditional process, decoction mashes can be pretty difficult on a larger scale. That along with a hop back allow Jack’s Abby to improve capabilities to brew beers their largely known for, hop forward lagers.
Can you say, “Cans?” Craft brewers love their cans and have worked hard to elevate them as a respectable package for their precious beer. But, canning also presents new challenges for growing breweries, the least of which is simply figuring out where to store the minimum order of 200,000 cans. Luckily, the added space at the Jack’s Abby has room for the inventory as well as their new canning machine which can put out 10,000 cans an hour. Now all they need to do is make enough beer to fill them at that rate.
The new facility has the craft lager producer poised for an exciting 2016. Fans hope to find more places to find theses award-winning craft beers. Good luck to Jack and the crew of Jack Abby in the new year!
Watch the video of the brewery’s new digs.
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