Sam Adams brewery gets bigger
Boston Beer Co. toasted the renovation of The Samuel Adams Brewery in Cincinnati this past weekend.
Founder Jim Koch gave names to two new copper brew kettles - for his father, Charles Koch, and for his great-great grandfather, Louis Koch. In addition, the newly expanded cellar was named for Dr. Joseph Owades, a brewing consultant who has worked with Koch since 1984.
When Boston Beer bought the Hudepohl-Schoenling brewery in 1996 the brewery’s production was approximately 200,000 barrels a year. Within seven years, with minor improvements but with the same size staff, the output had nearly tripled.
The expansion put on display Friday raises capacity to 800,000 barrels of beer a year, about two-thirds of the total output of The Boston Beer Company.
The main purpose of Friday’s reception was to show off the brew kettles, but they have little to do with the additional capacity.
“There’s no economic justification for them. They’re just beautiful, and at some point that’s OK. There’s a lot of art in brewing,” Koch said.
The added capacity is mainly a result of a new four-story “aging cellar” on Central Avenue that holds 24 thousand-barrel tanks salvaged from an old Baltimore brewery. The tanks were refurbished in Cincinnati.
“As far as I know, naming tanks is quite common in the spirits business, but I’ve not heard of breweries that name their tanks to honor those brewers who have gone before,” Koch said. “Of course, I’ll never be able to thank my great-great grandfather personally for his recipe, but I hope that this gesture in some small way will show Joe Owades and my father how deeply I appreciate their support over the past twenty years.”
Saint Arnold Brewing in Texas has been giving its fermentation tanks names since first opening in Houston. The brewery named them after various saints who have connections with beer through the ages, including St. Adrian, St. Brigid, St. Columbanus, St. Dorothy, St. Edmond, St. Florian, St. Gall, St. Hildegard, St. Idesbald, St. Jacobus, St. Lawrence, and St. Matthew.
Last year, the brewery altered that tradition a bit to auction “naming rights” to a new fermenter on eBay. The winner decided to call the tank “St. Gonzo.”
