With Jon Lee continuing as Director of Brewing and Adam Curfew as Director of Production and Michael Drennan as Vice President of Sales and Marketing UBC (Utah Brewers Cooperative) is looking forward to 2017.
On the horizon is the Wasatch Year of the can. Wasatch Brewery is going to transition all packaging of their award winning beers into cans only. This is a result of a commitment to the company’s green initiative as well as quality control priorities.
Amy Tangaro explains, “Cans are infinitely recyclable. An empty can requires less energy and packaging to produce than a bottle thereby aiding in reducing our carbon footprint.” Another advantage is that damaging light can’t penetrate the can keeping things fresh. Can lids seal air-tight guarding against carbonation loss and outside oxygen oxidizing the beer.
The transition to cans has already started. The last bottles of Wasatch Ghostrider White IPA and Wasatch Devastator Double Bock were bottled earlier this month. The rest of the transition is expected to be complete by Spring. The transition will include all new and seasonal beers including Wasatch Polygamy NITRO Porter.
Along with new packaging some great beers are on the horizon A new Wasatch Seasonal, White Label Belgian Style White Ale. This fan favorite is back after an overwhelming outcry from customers sinces it was DQ’d in 2013. It was the 2013 Silver Medal Winner at the Great American Beer Festival. It will be available in cans in March.
Wasatch will also be offering a 12 pack Wasatch Fruit in a Box Sampler with Apricot Hefeweizen, Blueberry Hefeweizen and Wasatch 4% Seasonal (Raspberry, Pumpkin and Fall/Winter flavors to be determined. It will be available year round in April and May.
Expansion to Missouri and Illinois is planned for 2017 in addition to current distribution in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Idaho, Wyoming and Arkansas.
Tangaro says, “In 2016 we finished with an increase that put us at 59,772 barrels for the year. We are expecting a 9.7% growth in total barrels for 2017.
