Beer elves celebrate in Thomas, WV

The beer elves are already celebrating in West Virginia’s high country this season. Santa “Beer” Claus left an early present at Mountain State Brewing Company in Thomas. 

On the heels of their recent mega-expansion, Mountain State Brewing unwrapped a major new toy: an automated canning line.

This is definitely a big-boy toy. It’s the piece of equipment you need to run profitably at a higher volume.

Manufactured by Cask Brewing Systems, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it has a sweet touch-screen control panel and a 5-head filler. It can fill 35 cans per minute (90 cases per hour).

The canning line came complete with its own de-palletizer unit to unstack and load the empty pre-printed cans from storage onto the canner.

The new Ball-manufactured cans look fantastic. The printed colors are so bright and sharp. The difference from their old can is noticeable.

Mountain State ordered 880,000 pre-printed cans divided among their four brands. That is a lot of cans. With all those cans in storage, their building is really looking like a major brewery. You won’t find anything else like this in West Virginia. It’s a beautiful sight.

Previously, Mt. State had been contracting a mobile canner that had to come across the mountains from Northern Virginia, which is a long haul that required scheduling weeks ahead. Now, they can fill cans whenever they feel like it.  And, filling cans they are. Hundreds of cases are being readied for distributors around the state each week.

Their new canner is very efficient and operates with less waste/loss. These advantages are big pluses for Mountain State Brewing’s beer quality.

This is the next to the last step in Mountain State’s current expansion program. The state’s largest brewery will complete this expansion when they outfit and equip their brewery laboratory. We look for this to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.

You gotta love seeing the beer elves celebrating in the West Virginia’s high country. Our brewery industry is maturing and providing many benefits to the local economy. Let’s keep it up.

Link to last fall’s article detailing Mountain State’s expansion and their new brewing equipment.