A mobile bottling line, long used in the wine industry is beginning to become more popular for small craft breweries, especially brewpubs who want to expand beyond the front door.
Seattle-based Microbeer Source, a 13-year-old mobile bottling company with about 25 regular accounts in the Pacific Northwest has just recently ventured into California. The company was hired by Iron Springs Pub & Brewery in Marin county to truck in equipment and set up a temporary bottling line so proprietor Mike Altman, head brewer Christian Kazakoff and assistant Phil Meeker could fill 22-ounce bottles of three types of ale.
It was a fun one-time-only experiment. “It’s a new adventure for us,” he was quoted as saying in a story at Marinij.com. “This is allowing us to get a foot in the door into the packaging side of things and allows more people outside of Fairfax to experience our products. It’s a great way to market ourselves.”
Iron Springs has occasionally bottled their beer by hand inside their cramped brewing facility. Thursday’s test run was the first time
The company has been exploring the notion of expanding into California and owner Ron Gregerson has been making the rounds in recent months talking to the smaller craft brewers of California to see how much interest existed. Apparently there has been enough interest. Gregerson brought in new, yet-unwrapped equipment on a new truck for the Iron Springs bottling and is seeking more clients in Northern California.