Lexington, KY - Still two months shy of their second anniversary, the owners of West Sixth Brewing have announced the addition of a third canned beer to the market, and major expansion that will nearly triple the company’s brewing capacity.
According to co-owner Ben Self, the four co-owners of the north side brewery and taproom began discussing expansion plans this summer with an eye on lessening the amount of work required by their staff that has gown to total 22, including 14 full time positions.
“When we added the last couple fermenters [to the original brewing system] we knew that was the last we could expand and keep it a great place for people to work,” Self said.
“We didn’t really want to have people working, brewing all night; we didn’t really want to have people brewing over the weekends either. We got to a point to where we couldn’t brew anymore in the time constraints that we wanted to do it in, so this new system will allow us to brew in the same amount of time we could do one 15 barrel batch now we can do 40 barrels,” Self told Business Lexington during a tour of the new facility on Tuesday morning.
In addition to greater output, West Sixth will be releasing its third beer to be sold in cans – separate from their recently rolled out seasonal canned beer – called Lemongrass American Wheat. The new beer should be available on taps around Lexington in next two weeks, according to Self, and in cans within a month or so as the new label received its federal approval on Friday.
The first of April will mark West Sixth’s second anniversary, and roughly the time in the company’s business plan that the owners had hoped to run through their original supply of cans for their West Sixth IPA. The four paid a premium of a half truckload of cans before opening and figured 24 months on the amount of time it would take them to sell the 100,000 cans they ordered. But they quickly realized they had underestimated the demand – they have already had to make multiple reorders of IPA cans, each of which was the full truckload, and also added West Sixth Amber in cans 12 months ago.
“We didn’t think we’d be adding another tank for three or four years, much less a new brewing system,” said Self who added that the original line – which will continue to be used for small batches – was expanded multiple times in the first 18 months.
When the company opened its doors, the brewery would produce three batches a week; by the time most production is switched over to the new line, the system had been brewing 13 times per week, according to Self.
The canning and keg lines will be moved from the original brewing space to an adjacent area in the company’s building, a former Rainbo Bread factory. The new brewing system is in a 13,000 square foot area. West Sixth has also added a 1,200 square foot cooler inside the space near the new brewing system.
The original brewing system will be used to supply a variety of beers for the company’s taproom at the front of the building, which Self said sells about 10 percent of the company’s product.
At this point, Self said the company doesn’t plan to expand beyond its current distribution structure, which includes Lexington, Louisville, western Kentucky, northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.