Blue Mountain Brewery plans expansions

The Nelson County-based Blue Mountain Brewery plans to expand in the Colleen Business Park near Lovingston with two production facilities, a tasting room and retail sales, officials said Friday.

The brewery’s current location on Route 151 near Afton is also being expanded to enlarge its restaurant, retail sales and special events facilities.

The expansions help solidify the county’s reputation for agribusiness and especially for craft foods and drinks. The county is home to 10 wineries, three breweries, a new hard cider cidery and a whiskey distiller.

Taylor Smack, the brewery’s chief brewer and owner, said the brewery had looked at the Colleen location for several years because of the quality of the water.

“The water in this region is an integral part of the success of our brewery process. I had talked with Central Virginia Electric Cooperative [the Colleen Business Park land owner] about locating a brewery here as far back as 2004,” he said. “The site never left my mind as very ideal, and we’re thrilled to finally be making a production brewery in Colleen a reality.”

“This is a major project for the park, the county and the brewery and it’s very exciting,” said Maureen A. Kelley, Nelson County’s economic development director. “We’re happy to be able to successfully work with an existing business to help it expand within the county. They’re a great business and we’re happy to have them in the park.”

To be known as the Blue Mountain Barrel House and Organic Brewery, the new facilities will include a 10,000-square-foot facility for 10 beer lines to be kegged or bottled in corked bottles for natural refermentation. The estimated investment on the project is $1.53 million.

The USDA-certified organic beers include the brewery’s Dark Hollow Bourbon-Barrel Aged Stout and Mandolin brews, but the company plans to also introduce new styles. Production is scheduled for January with a start-up capacity of 2,500 barrels and a final capacity of 5,000 barrels per year, officials said.

The second project is a proposed 50,000-square-foot brewery for the company’s current bottled beers. The facility will help the company meet demand from wholesalers and promote expansion into out-of-state markets.

The new sites will not include a restaurant, but will feature a beer garden patio, tours and on-site sales of six-packs and “growlers” — large, resealable and reusable bottles filled out of kegs.

“We’re really fortunate to have Blue Mountain remaining in our county,” said Stephen A. Carter, Nelson County administrator. “One of our strategies is to actively work with existing businesses and encourage them to grow and, specifically, encourage them to grow in Nelson County. We try to work with them to make them successful.”

Kelley said the county’s plethora of brewers, viticulturists and specialty farmers didn’t cluster in the area by accident.

“It has been a concentrated economic strategy,” she said. “We looked around and decided what was going to be good for Nelson County. People wanted to maintain the rural nature of the county, and vineyards, breweries and cideries do just that. The reason the beers taste so good is partly because of the water, and the grapes make good wine because of the soil and slopes. The jobs the businesses provide are low-impact and skilled and help increase tourism as well.”

Kelley noted that the mix of businesses also draws visitors from nearby counties.

“Our tourism tends to be regional. We draw a lot of people from Charlottesville and from the [Shenandoah] Valley. The valley is very important to us,” she said. “We try to work with our existing businesses because you attract new businesses by taking care of the businesses you’ve got.”

The Colleen Business Park is currently home to California Sidecar, a company that manufactures motorcycle sidecars, the Nelson County Service Authority and Central Virginia Electrical Cooperative offices.

The breweries will share an effluent pre-treatment facility to meet service authority operating standards.