The Utah Brewers Cooperative, of which Squatters and Wasatch Brewery are members, saw sales increase 20 percent last year.
To increase production, the company recently installed two new 200-barrel fermentation tanks with 6,200 gallons of capacity each at its Salt Lake City facility near 1700 South 300 West. For perspective, the tanks at the Wasatch Brew Pub at the top of Main Street Park City are 30 barrels.
The two tanks join 22 others and will be dedicated to brewing the cooperative’s two most popular beers: Squatters’ Hop Rising and Wasatch’s The Devastator.
The expansion was made possible by a new packaging line installed in 2010 that can handle over 400 bottles a minute.
And Wasatch Brewery owner Greg Schirf said the cooperative isn’t done yet. It plans to install a 230-barrel tank in October.
“This is a huge quantum leap,” Schirf said. “These are the biggest tanks we’ve ever had.”
The company’s 20-percent increase in sales is attributable to many things, he said.
The fan base of craft beers is growing, and the most popular varieties are nicknamed “extreme beers” for their high alcohol content. Hop Rising and The Devastator have 9 percent alcohol by volume. Squatters Brewery also has one called “Outer Darkness” with 10 percent alcohol.
These varieties are the cooperative’s most popular right now, but many breweries with extreme beers are seeing increased sales, Schirf added.
In Utah, these beers may only be sold inside liquor stores, but the cooperative also ships to distributors in 11 states including Texas, Louisiana and Wisconsin.
But even sales of four-percent-alcohol-by-volume beers in Utah grocery stores are up, he said. Utah is still the cooperative’s largest market.
“We’re able to achieve the quality and consistency the consumer is responding to,” he said. “We’re receiving more and more support from the local Utah consumer.”