Allagash Brewing expands, plans for growth
Allagash Brewing Co. is investing about $1 million to expand its production facility by 50% and is planning to hire two or three new beer makers by the end of the year.
"We're growing significantly. We're planning to be up 40% this over last year," Dee Dee Germain, the company's spokeswoman, says. "The new facility should get us a couple more years at 40% growth."
The company, started in 1995 by owner Rob Tod, currently has 34 employees working out of its 10,000-square-foot facility, to which it will add 5,000 square feet. It also recently signed a lease for a 20,000-square-foot warehouse nearby. This will be the second expansion since the company bought and built its current brewery and tasting room at 100 Industrial Way four years ago. In 2009, it produced 16,000 barrels of beer, or 496,000 gallons, according to data submitted for Mainebiz's list of the largest brewers in the state.
Allagash is one of the many small craft brewers reaping the benefits of an exploding microbrew market in this country. While beer sales overall have fallen 2% to 3% in the past couple of years, the market for craft beer continues to grow, jumping 9% in volume of beer sold last year, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group for independent brewers based in Boulder, Colo.
The bulk of Allagash's sales, or about 89%, is now out of state. The company's secret for success, according to Germain, is its Belgian-inspired beers, as well as its early adoption of the corked bottle, which replaced traditional pry-off caps for its larger bottles. "That brought us a lot more attention to our brand. We were one of the pioneers," she says.
Since Allagash began in the mid-1990s, many new microbrewers have sprung up to take advantage of changing beer tastes. Maine currently has 23 microbrewers listed on the membership roster of the Maine Brewers' Guild.
But the growing number of craft brewers isn't necessarily a threat to Allagash, despite the increased competition for shelf space and customers' attention. "One of the great things about working in the industry is we're supportive of each other, and we all enjoy beer," Germain says. "The more the merrier; the more people who drink good, craft beer, the more people will want to drink it."
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