New Belgium Brewing announced today that their new 16,000 square foot canning line is up and running. The new line comes at a cost of $8 million.
At 360 cans per minute, the new line can handle 12 oz cans, and 16 oz “tallboys.” That’s an increase of 6x the original rate (at 6o cans a minute.) Fat Tire & Ranger are now available in tallboys, with Shift Pale Lager coming shortly after. The brewery will spend $1 million on that launch in April.
“People are loving craft beer in a can so we decided to increase production to keep up with demand,” said Bryan Simpson, New Belgium spokesperson. “We first rolled out cans in 2008 as an outdoor-friendly, light for transport and readily recyclable vessel. Our fans enjoy that cans can travel to places where glass is not an option and now tallboys can come along, too.”
In a brewery visit back in September, it was mentioned that New Belgium markets that don’t currently get NB cans can expect them after the installation of this line. [PressRelease]
