Green Flash – New San Diego Barrel Room & VA Beach Updates
Story by:
MyBeer Buzz
From Green Flash:
The 2nd Brewery for Green Flash Brewing Co. will be located in Virginia Beach, VA. Situated on a 9-acre industrial plot of land on the corner of Corporate Landing and General Booth Blvd—15 minutes from the beach by car
ABOUT THE BUILDING:
Our Virginia Beach location will feature a 58,000sq ft building to accommodate the 100,000 barrel brew house, and we will welcome visitors to our large Tasting Room and Beer Garden. An extensive brewery tour program, retail store and on-site private event space will provide customers with many opportunities to glean the great passion and commitment to quality that goes into the creation of Green Flash brews and to share in the Green Flash experience first-hand.
SIZE OF SITE:
9 acres
BREWERY SPECS:
58,000 sq ft
KEY BREWERY FEATURES
Closely replicates San Diego Brewery: same state-of-the-art equipment and brewery footprint, onsite lab for beer analysis, brewery tours, tasting room and vast outdoor beer garden, space for private events and educational experiences, offices for staff and ample parking for guests
BREWING CAPACITY
100,000 BBLS
EXPECTED NEW HIRES:
40+ upon opening
GROUNDBREAKING DATE:
Late 2013 TBD
EXPECTED OPENING
2015 TBD
As an update….Green Flash is currently seeking a 2nd location in the San Diego area specifically for barrel-aging and packaging. Look for a 2014 opening.
After entering North and South Dakota as well as Wyoming in November, Green Flash beers are currently available in 48 US states. The San Diego brewery is now operating at 70% of their ultimate capacity and swiftly growing distribution with a roster of nearly 80 employees. The state of the union for Green Flash is exciting as 2013 quickly nears the finish line. Today, Green Flash Co-Founder and CEO, Mike Hinkley shares insightful data from 2013 and hints at some very exciting new projects slated for 2014 and provide a status update on their Virginia Beach-based brewery, slated to open in 2015.
Update on 2013 Sales
2013 depletions are up 37%, year to date. Of total depletions, 82% are in long established Green Flash territories, 14% from regions opened in 2012, 4% from new markets opened in 2013. The flagship leads the way – West Coast IPA has increased from 50% to 52% of the product mix through the year. West Coast half-barrel sales are currently up more than 50% in San Diego, in the brewery’s eleventh year.
Western territories currently comprise 53% of total depletions with 34% annual growth. The Central US states are now 13% of total depletions with 70% growth, due in large part to recent new market expansion. Eastern states sell 34% with annual growth of 33%. No surprise, California leads in overall sales with the surprising runner-ups of New York, Florida, Pennsylvania then Massachusetts. These states are all within two day’s freight from the Virginia Beach brewery to come on line in 2015.
With sales currently to 48 states, Green Flash is close to its goal of 50-state distribution. “Only Hawaii and Utah remain to be opened” according to V.P. of Sales Jim Kenny, who continued “Hawaii is tricky because we will only ship 100% refrigerated freight. The other remaining state is Utah, which has some complicated laws that I hope to better understand after an upcoming visit.” Jim confirmed that Hawaii and Utah deliveries will start when these obstacles are overcome, but not before.
The 2014 Product Line
For 2014, SKU counts are drastically reduced to make distribution and retail sales more efficient, while consumers are provided with the variety they crave. Four packs are reduced from four to three full time offerings – West Coast IPA, Hop Head Red and Double Stout. Full time 22oz offerings are reduced from seven to three – Le Freak, Imperial IPA and West Coast IPA. To provide ease of operation and variety to consumers, one UPC code is used for the (un)seasonally released monster IPAs Palate Wrecker, Road Warrior (making a 2014 debut) and Green Bullet. Similarly, one UPC is used for the Hop Odyssey series, which highlights periodically released experimental hop-centric ales, for the first time in 22oz. bottles.
Projects on the Horizon
A Barrel Room in San Diego
Mike Hinkley and team are currently scouting a 2nd San Diego facility exclusively for the Green Flash barrel aged beer program including the storage and packaging of the barrel aged beers (i.e. Silva Stout, Little Freak, Super Freak, Flanders Drive, etc) in cork finished bottles. “After years of experimentation in this area, we are ready to take this exciting next step,” says Mike. “We will open a packaging hall and are planning to also use the space for a food and beer pairing concept destination. We have hundreds of filled barrels aging in a warehouse targeted for packaging and release in Q3-Q4 of 2014.” The new space could open as early as late 2014
Further Updates:
From Brewer Pat Korn:
Road Warrior is the new name of the Imperial Red Rye that was released earlier this year [joining the lineup in 2014.]
So why is Rayon Vert being being retired? It isn’t,it is just going to be made in the off site Barrel House that is in the works. Once the site has been secured and built out it will be one of the first beers to be produced there. It will more than likely come in either a 500ml or 750ml. As someone who has made that beer I am bummed we will not be making it for awhile. That is my shift beer usually. But I am excited that, with the new facility and Chuck’s work on the carbonation issues, this beer will be better than ever.
From SanDiego Eater:
San Diego’s beer and food landscape is about to add another major player. Eater has learned that Green Flash Brewing Company intends to open a new restaurant that focuses on beer and food pairings.
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