CORONADO BREWING COMPANY
EXPANDS BREW CAPACITY
CORONADO The Coronado Brewing Company (CBC) was founded in 1996 by brothers Rick and Ron Chapman and began commercial distribution in early 1997. They are now in their 15th year of business.
The brewery has recently acquired a 20,000-square-foot location in Tecolote Canyon from where they will begin brewing by Spring 2012 to meet the enormous demands for their microbrews.
The warehouse, located at 1205 Knoxville, will be modified to include a new 30-barrel brew house, tasting room and retail shop. “We’ve exceeded our capacity at our Coronado facility,” said Rick Chapman, co-owner and president of Coronado Brewing Company, “and we’re really excited about this new expansion.”
Currently the Coronado Brewing Company brews on a 10-barrel brew house at their Coronado pub. The new facility will afford them a 30-barrel brew house with 60-barrel fermenters. On the production side of the business, CBC has grown from four to ten employees in a short period of time and will continue to add employees to meet the demand.
“Essentially, we have been operating like a brewpub on steroids,” said Chapman. Currently they package five different six-packs and six 22-ouncers (as well as draft) throughout the year. The Coronado Brewing Company produced 2,700 barrels in 2009, 4,300 barrels in 2010, and they will exceed 6,000 barrels this year.
“Our core business is Southern California,” said Chapman. “We were up 64% last year in San Diego alone, and that’s typical of the incredible growth we’ve been experiencing this past few years nationally.”
All of the CBC beers have attributed to this growth, but the Orange Avenue WIT and Islander IPA are responsible for a good portion of their success. One has an intense hop bitterness and medium body (IPA) and the other is made from California orange peel and local orange blossom honey (WIT).
“Our Orange Avenue WIT is now our top selling brew,” said Chapman. It alone is up 61% in sales this year. This brew has been a huge success and we couldn’t be happier with the response to it.”
The Coronado Brewing Company continues to do all of their bottling and labeling at the Coronado location, located at 170 Orange Avenue. Most of the production will be moved to the new facility once modifications are completed, freeing up the Coronado brewpub to focus on one-offs and specialty beers, which are very popular and in high demand.
The CBC award-winning microbrews are sold in 13 states throughout the USA. The Coronado Brewing Company is currently also selling in Japan, New Zealand and England. Opportunities are being considered at this time for distribution to other states and countries.
In addition to the new brewing facility, Coronado Brewing Company, Inc. has two restaurants on Coronado. One is part of the Coronado Brewing Company facility (serving lunch and dinner), the other is Tent City Restaurant, located at the other end of the island at 1100 Orange Avenue (serving breakfast, lunch and dinner).
The Chapmans keep a vintage 1924 Model T beer truck on the road seven days a week that has redefined the term “advertising vehicle.” The doors are emblazoned with an oversized CBC mermaid logo to keep people on Coronado thinking about cold beer all the time. Coronado Brewing Company, Inc. is family-operated and majority owned by Rick and Ron Chapman.
The Coronado Brewing Company is located at 170 Orange Avenue, in Coronado. For more information call 619.435.4452 or visit their website at www.coronadobrewingcompany.com.
Ron (left) and Rick Chapman, co-owners of the Coronado Brewing Company.
This 1924 Model T beer truck has redefined the term “advertising vehicle” for the Coronado Brewing Company.
