What once was a small brewing operation out of Thai Me Up – Melvin Brewing -has finally launched production of its beers at a new 20,000-square-foot facility in Alpine.
Initial production of Melvin Brewing began “quietly” Dec. 13 in Alpine and includes Clinic ISA, Melvin IPA, 2×4 DIPA and Hubert MPA (a Melvin Pale Ale, or what some other breweries would call an IPA). This month, Melvin Brewing will expand distribution to Colorado, Washington and Idaho, according to a news release. Their brew capacity will enable them to brew more beer in 2016 than the entire state of Wyoming brewed in 2015.
The production facility, located about 35 miles from Jackson, plans to open a tasting room and host tours and events this summer. It all depends on if they get a road and a parking lot, the release states.
Voted 2015 Brew Pub of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival, Melvin Brewing’s “R&D system” will remain in downtown Jackson at Thai Me Up, while production and distribution will be facilitated out of Alpine. There, the company has four full-time employees and five to seven part-time hires. No doubt that they have all the software they will need to ensure that production runs smoothly, such as inventory software to both help keep track of the important supplies needed to make the beer, and manage how many bottles are going out of the facility each day.
Beers will also be canned and bottled at the facility, though bottles will play a lesser role at Melvin, with a limited run of hand bottled 22-ounce bombers for particular markets, and in due time Melvin will produce cork and cage bottles as part of the Manual Release Series. The Manual Release Series will be Melvin’s experimental series focused on various barrel aging, different grains and yeast strains. Later this month, 22 ounce bottle bombers of Hubert, Melvin IPA and 2×4 will be available in various bottle shops in the Boise, Idaho, area as well as numerous Albertsons.
Melvin Beer can be found on tap in the following markets: throughout Colorado in mid January; Boise by Feb. 5; Olympia, Vancouver and Tacoma, Wash. by Febr. 14, and Seattle by March 1.
