Icicle Brewing Company expands into a second home for brewing

The local, family owned brewing establishment is expanding to keep up with the constant growth and demand of the hometown hotspot - Icicle Brewing Company is opening another brewing branch off of Chumstick to keep up with its success. It's a brewery that resonates positively, both in and out of the community - locals have indulged in a Bootjack IPA paired with a Bavarian pretzel on Front Street while those as far as northern Idaho sell the six pack cans. Icicle Brewing has hit max capacity and needs a larger location to keep up with its increasing output. The demand for Icicle Brewery products caused the company to have to construct an additional facility just up the road from their current Front Street location.  
    "We have really outgrown our space down on Front Street," said Chris Danforth, marketing manager for Icicle Brewing Company. "The brewery equipment was just really packed in there and the demand was really outpacing what we could do in that facility."
    The trigger to the additional facility was an organic process when the company realized the demand required roomier accommodations. In the downstairs portion of Icicle Brewing there wasn't enough space to not only handle the capacity, but also give the company room to continue to grow as the company flourishes over time. The owners, Pam and Oliver Brulotte, wanted to stay in Leavenworth city limits due to the local connections, both personally (Icicle Brewing Company got its start here) and professionally (the usage of local ingredients in the beer).
    "This is our community so it was important to the owners we stay here," said Danforth.
    Back in mid-September they broke ground for the new facility and in October they poured concrete. With only a few weeks stretching between the final touches of the facility, it's apparent Icicle Brewing wasted no time getting its newest addition ready for business. The building is finished, but now the company is focused on the interior work where the magic happens.
    "It's actually the same brewhouse that we had at the old facility. That's not any bigger - but our fermenting capacity and ability to brew more beer is," said Danforth.
    In this facility there is no tasting room, but the mechanics of the Icicle Brewing machine is churning out products. The beer is brewed, fermented and packaged in this facility. Increasing distribution numbers was the primary focus in this location.
    "What was holding us up before is that the batch size was the same but we didn't have anywhere to store and ferment it so we added a bunch more fermenters and fermenting space that allows us to brew more beer," explained Danforth. "We really focused on packaging so we can get more beer distributed outside of the Leavenworth area."
    When outsiders trickle into Leavenworth, many file into Icicle Brewing Company for a seat around one of the fireplaces on the patio to enjoy the cozy ambiance with a pint of local beer. After the travelers leave with a taste of the brew, they can be eager to find it after vacation. People across Washington have become quite familiar and fond of the brand, causing the brewing company to fill the need of distributing far and wide in the state.  
    "We're really focused on Washington state. That's where we are from and people are familiar with our brand. So we're just trying to get our beer out to our core market, Washington state," said Danforth.
    For scale, in the former brewery, the company was able to produce 6,000 barrels of beer annually. According to Danforth, in the new facility the company is estimating 10,000 barrels in the first year coupled with the ability to produce up to 25,000 barrels eventually with some additional equipment.
    As for the Front Street location, it isn't being neglected as the new facility gets up and running - rather the company is replacing the former brewhouse with a five barrel system (meaning it can brew 10 kegs at a time) rather than a 25 barrel brewhouse.
    "We're basically going to remodel that facility so that there's more seating on the brew floor and you'll have the brewery down there. It will increase the number of people that we can fit inside the building and we'll have this five barrel system that'll allow us to get more creative with our beer. So we can do a lot of small batch beers with that system while we do the production brewing out here for distribution," said Danforth. "This will allow us to introduce more beers in the taproom."
    With many ties to the Leavenworth community, such as boasting that Icicle Creek water is streamed into the popular beer it produces, the company is a continuing community success story.  The brewery should be completely ready to utilize all its function (brewing, packaging, etc.) by mid-May, according to Danforth.