Green Flash Brewing To Open East Coast Brewery by 2015

"Real estate aside, we expect to spend $10 million – $12 million to set up the brewery to have capacity of 100,000 barrels per year, same as our current San Diego facility," says Mike. "There are some standard new business incentives available in the various locations we are considering, but we are not letting the tail wag the dog. We are looking for the best location for our company and our customers."

The new facility should come online just in time: The brewery addition that opened last year brought capacity to the aforementioned 100,000 barrels after the cellar expansion completed. They’re currently running at roughly 45,000 barrels a year and expect sales to exceed capacity by January 2015. "Currently we sell about 40% of our beer on the East Coast, between the Carolinas and Boston," says Mike. "And with [refrigerated] freight rates being what they are, and the thought they’ll continue to increase, it makes sense to be closer to market."
Chuck Silva will continue to be brewmaster and the creator of their beers, but they’ll have a head brewer at each location to oversee production.

NEW MARKETS.
After having opened several markets in the past year, they’re halting new ones until after the new facility is built. "When we built this brewery, the first thing we did was [fill] back orders in existing markets. Then we wanted to open the Southeast region, primarily driven by the thought we’d have an East Coast brewery at some point," says Mike. After that’s finished, "we’ll probably close out the 50 states at some point," he says. They’re currently in 30 states, having opened some in the North- and Southeast, and "some spots here and there" with a mind toward freight routes. They added feet on the street as well, having just hired a Southeast regional sales manager. They’ve added people to their sales team and intend to add several more next year.