THE GIST
Blue Point Brewing—a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev since being acquired in 2014—is building out a massive production brewery on Long Island. Slated for construction just half a mile from its current facility, the company says the new space will top 54,000 square feet, feature a restaurant, tasting room, ample green space, and an outdoor beer garden.
“We’ve been so fortunate to have grown over the past few years and are excited to increase our production capacity,” says Mark Buford, Blue Point co-founder, in a statement. “With our rich history in Patchogue, we’re proud to break ground on our new brewery right here where it all began.”
WHY IT MATTERS
The world’s largest brewery has facilitated plenty of brand building behind its High End portfolio, establishing 10 Barrel brewpubs beyond the brewery’s home state of Oregon, turning Goose Island into a global commodity, spearheading an ongoing, evolving effort to bring Golden Road to northern California, and more. Now, Blue Point is the beneficiary of one of the High End’s most unique projects to date. Whereas past noteworthy expansions have been completed in the service of upgrading pre-existing breweries, the company says this project is the first build-out of an entirely new brewery from the ground up.
As for the space itself, in addition to the abovementioned specs, the company says it will boost Blue Point capacity to 60,000 barrels (which it says represents a 400% increase from the company’s current owned capacity) and be capable of scaling up to 120,000 BBLs. All that space will be a proving ground of sorts for new brewmaster Dan Jansen.
Having broken ground on Wednesday, though, the expansion also coincides with a slew of people moves and homecomings relevant to Blue Point. Most notably, earlier this week ABI appointed Ken Stout as president of Goose Island International, a role in which he’ll “use his deep experience with Goose Island to further strengthen the brand and culture of Goose Island abroad.” In turn, Todd Ashmann, who had been “leading” Blue Point for the last two years, is moving back to Goose Island to fill Stout’s shoes there (Ashmann had previously served as consumer experience director at Goose). And, finally, Jenna Lally has been appointed president and general manager of Blue Point (where she worked for a year as marketing director before being tapped as the High End’s senior director of insights and innovation).
The company says the new facility is set to open next summer.
—Dave Eisenberg