Goose Island to brew at ‘partner’ brewery Redhook
Goose Island Beer Company has announced an agreement to brew some of their beers at Redhook Ales’ facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire over the next three years. The agreement will allow Goose Island to look at expanding into new markets..
Goose Island is expecting a 20 percent growth in 2010 and has almost reached the capacity of its Fulton Street brewery in Chicago. Built in 1995 for a maximum output of 100,000 barrels annually, the brewery is now capable of producing 130,000 barrels of beer.
Goose Island’s brewers are in Portsmouth working on pilot batches of their Honker’s Ale and India Pale Ale, with full production expected to begin in 2011. Initially, the beers made at Redhook will not be sold on the East coast, but will be shipped back to Goose Island’s current Midwestern distributors.
In 2006, Goose Island sold a 25% ownership stake to Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. of Portland, Oregon. The move helped the Goose pay off some of its original investors, and got their beers wider exposure through a network of independent Anheuser-Busch distributors. Redhook purchased Widmer the next year as part of the publicly traded Craft Brewers Alliance which is partially owned by Anheuser-Busch..