Uinta Brewing Company adds more jobs, more space– and has a can-do attitude that is growing their distribution far beyond Utah’s borders.
Uinta Brewing Company has just completed construction on a massive facility which will double its brewing, bottling and canning capacity in the next 18 months.
Their new canning line, recently arrived from Germany, will produce over 400 cans of beer per minute. Cans will spiral down a chute and take a roller coaster ride through a series of operations which clean cans, dispense beer, top the cans with lids, package in to either 6 or 12 pack boxes, and deliver for the line operator who places the six or twelve-packs in to trays. Willy Wonka would be proud. An engineering marvel, there is nothing like it in Utah. And it will be one of the largest craft brewery canning lines in the United States.
Steve Kuftinec is the co-owner and sales manager for Uinta. He gave me a tour through their new 52,000 square foot building. The building will be used for bottling, kegging and canning beer. Their original building will then be used exclusively for brewing. Soon Uinta will install new outdoor fermentation tanks.
“We have entered several new markets in the last few months including Ohio, Maine and Rhode Island” said Kuftinec. “We have found great success in these new markets.” Uinta’s 4+ beer had proven very difficult to sell until Uinta’s sales and marketing team decided to rebrand all of their beer under the same Uinta label. Beers like Baba Organic Black Lager, and Monkshine Organic Belgian Blonde ale, have all proven much more successful under the new brand, and they are performing great in the new markets Uinta is exploring. Utah is still their best market. Uinta’s Cutthroat Pale Ale is still the best selling craft beer in Utah.
Uinta’s Crooked Line beers are also selling extremely well. Crooked is their series of beers that may not follow stringent style guidelines, these beers are available in 750 ml cork and caged bottles. Crooked Line is operating as “a brewery within the brewery” where a much smaller bottling facility and a special area designated for the bottle conditioning. Kuftinec is proud to show the latest Crooked Line beer, Birthday Suit. Commemorating Uinta’s 20th year anniversary, Birthday Suit is a sour brown ale, available now.
Uinta’s success in just the past five years has been astounding. Founder Will Hamill has successfully grown the operation by hiring talented people who share his passion for making the highest-quality beer they can produce. Uinta’s brand represents many of the symbols for Utah’s greatest assets: cutthroat trout, skiing, bristle cone pines, beehives, camping — their branding nails Utah and the West. It’s great to see a brewery that not only exports a great deal of excellent Utah beer, but also promotes the great state we live in, and our best assets.
