Widmer Brews $6 Million Expansion Plan
7/12/1994

Robert Goldfield
For the Daily Journal of Commerce

The Widmer Brothers brewing family is used to growing their business by leaps and bounds.

When they moved their microbrewery four years ago from Northwest Portland to 929 N. Russell St., they quadrupled the company's annual production capacity to 40,000 barrels. Last year they added more equipment and doubled that capacity.

Now a new expansion is fermenting in the minds of Brewmaster Kurt Widmer, company Vice President Rob Widmer and their father, co-founder Ray Widmer: a $6 million to $8 million addition that would boost capacity to 250,000 barrels in a first phase, and to 500,000 barrels later this decade.

Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. took the first step late last month, purchasing a 54,000-square-foot building across Russell Street. The company paid $575,000 to Automotive Electric Distributors, which occupied the structure at 2424 N. Interstate before recently moving to a larger Swan Island facility. Widmer Brothers also expects to buy an adjacent 4,000-square-foot structure.

"We're taking bids from four German (brewery equipment) manufacturers and one U.S. manufacturer," Kurt Widmer said. The entire project should be completed in two years.

Noting the past expansions, the taciturn Widmer at first downplayed the latest plans but then related: "Actually, it is a big jump - it's a huge jump. Our biggest challenge has been keeping up with demand this should help us in that regard," he added.

Widmer said plans to join Rose's Restaurants in siting a combined restaurant/microbrewery in the Portland Trail Blazer's arena complex remain in negotiation. He said Widmer Brothers Brewing's North Portland expansion plans would have no impact on the arena decision.

Widmer Brothers projects sales at the privately-held company will exceed 50,000 barrels this year, up from 41,000 in 1993.

He anticipates increased sales for Widmer Brothers Brewing's German-style draught beers both within the existing market area - Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and California - and in new markets. The new site could eventually house a bottling line to allow supermarket sales, but that decision is farther down the road.

Widmer Brother's plans make sense, observed Tony Adams, president of competitor Portland Brewing Co. The micro-brew industry has been growing at an average annual clip of 40 percent and some industry members believe it can win a 10 percent share of the nation's beer market, up from a little more than 1 percent. If Widmer produces 50,000 barrels now, it could well need that exponential capacity later, he said.

"Building a brewery is incredibly expensive, you have to spend well in advance of your need," said Adams, whose own brewery is boosting capacity this year from 50,000 barrels to 70,000, along with the infrastructure to eventually meet a 150,000-barrel level.

Widmer Brothers' plans for its expansion site involve extensive remodeling. The company will raise one small building and knock out part of the larger structure. In the short-term, the new site will accommodate production and storage, but not the in-between step of packaging. For that, Widmer will pump the suds from the new plant through new, stainless steel pipes under Russell Street to the current facility.

Mark Garvey, an architect on previous Widmer Brothers projects, is providing some initial advice but the company will also receive engineering services from the equipment maker, Widmer Brothers said. Financing has yet to be arranged and no contract has been selected.

William S. Wright & Associates represented Widmer Brothers Brewing in the real estate purchase and Rod Brokenshire of Macadam Forbes Inc. represented Automotive Electric.

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