Brooklyn Brewery eyes new $70m NY site

The Brooklyn Brewery has announced plans to build a US$70 million, 1 million barrel brewery on New York’s Staten Island, further expanding from its roots in Brooklyn.

The craft beer brewer has built its name on the New York City borough where it was first founded in 1988, and has since grown to become one of the USA’s biggest craft beer exports named the 9th biggest US craft brewer earlier this year.

However according to reports by the New York Post, the brewer has ambitions to transform itself from a “Brooklyn brew” to a “landfill lager” as part of ambitious plans to increase its production capabilities and reach larger export markets.

The brewery has already applied to the New York City Regional Economic Development Council for a grant to cover the estimated $70m cost of building the proposed 200,000 square foot facility on Staten Island’s western shore.

The proposed plant has been described as a “state-of-the-art 400,000, expandable to 1,000,000 barrel brewery on 20 to 25 acres”, a stretch of land the company has said would be impossible to find in Brooklyn.

Eric Ottaway, the company’s general manager, said the brewer was hoping to produce beer at the facility from 2017, also reassuring fans that production will continue in its Brooklyn plant in Williamsburg, despite the vast majority o its beer now being brewed elsewhere.

“Regardless of our plans for a new facility, we will always have a brewery in Brooklyn,” he said.

“It’s our home, and always will be. We helped create today’s Williamsburg and we look forward to remaining a part of the community for years to come.”

While the brand may have started out in Brooklyn, since the 1980s 80% of the brewery’s beer has been produced in upstate Utica, according to the NY Daily Post, with a move to Staten Island set to make it more of a New York City product than of Brooklyn.

A final decision on funding will be made later this year.