skagitstart

Will Kemper at the South Nut ground breaking

The best lager producer in the world is expanding. As we reported on a while ago, Chuckanut Brewery is expanding from the familiar confines of it’s Bellingham location and opening it’s second location in Skagit Valley, affectionately known as “South Nut.” South Nut will be able to produce 13,000 barrels a year. A number that will allow Chuckanut to meet the growing demand for high end lagers, but still retain it’s world class quality.

To produce that much beer Chuckanut needs tanks. Big ‘ens. When Mari Kemper told me she was going to China to visit their tank producer I was excited to hear more. After she got back she sent me some photos and a roundup of what they did on the trip.

We went to Shanghai because our equipment maker from San Francisco has a factory in China that made our fermentation tanks for projects in the past. We know the quality of his work and he is super flexible because Will engineers our tanks specifically for how he wants to brew (Will is a chemical and brewing engineer).

They made our fermentation tanks, hot and cold liquor tanks, and our grist case for our new South Nut brewery in Skagit. We had to check on them before they are shipped in case we needed to make changes. They all looked terrific so we had four days to look around Shanghai with them. They took care of us while we were there which made it easy to get around and communicate (they translated).

Then we went to Tokyo where we met with our distributor Jason. We were treated to some great Japanese food, checked out their Devil Craft Brewery, and had a Chuckanut Brewers Night at one of their Devil Craft restaurants (deep dish pizza that was really good). After 2 days with them, we spent 2 days with an old friend and continued to eat great food and see the sites! All and all it was a super trip leaving us with a yearning to return!

South Nut will house a 20bbl system with 40bbl fermentation tanks. The plan is to add bigger fermentation tanks later on. South Nut only sits on a half acre, but they have another 2 acres for expansion. Chuckanut Brewing is prepared to take the world by storm in 2016 and we’re excited to see it all happen!