Elevation Beer continues to expand with new tanks, grain silo

Colorado’s Elevation Beer Co. continues to roll large. Since opening in May of 2012, Elevation has garnered five medals of excellence from international and national beer competitions, including a 2013 U.S. Open Beer Championships Gold Medal Winner for its First Cast IPA. In fact, it was the largest brewery to open in Colorado in 2012 in terms of production, and now those numbers look to grow. Elevation Beer just announced the purchase of two 60-barrel (bbl) tanks and the addition of a grain silo for its second expansion in just 18 months of operation.

“The new tanks will add another 23 percent capacity to the brewery, bringing us up to 315 barrels of fermentation capacity and allowing us to brew upwards of 4,000 barrels in 2014.” explained Head Brewer and Co-Founder Christian Koch, “The addition of a grain silo will also take off almost 800 pounds of lifting per batch for our brewers, giving them a much needed break.”

Elevation is projecting to produce 2,600 barrels in its first full year of operation and second year as a brewery, increasing production 278 percent over last year.

“We definitely could have sold more if we had the beer,” Koch said. “We have been running at full capacity ever since we completed our first expansion, and I am guessing we will add between two to four more 60-bbl tanks in 2014.”

The additional tanks will allow for expanded draft distribution and 16.9-ounce four packs of Elevation’s 8 Second Kölsch to be released, a goal the brewery has had since last March.

“With a 5 week lagering period our Kölsch is very labor intensive and the two new tanks will be used almost exclusively for our 8 Second Kölsch,” Koch said. “It would most likely be our top seller if we could simply brew enough of it. The added capacity will also free up more tank space for our Black and Double Black Series of specialty and barrel-aged beers. Perhaps even allowing us to start distributing out of state.”