Lone Pine Brewing Co. was the 36th-largest brewery in Maine last year. Expect to see it in the top 10 next year.
Lone Pine has purchased Sebago Brewing Co.’s facility in Gorham, the companies announced Monday. The move represents an aggressive expansion for Lone Pine, which has existed for only 16 months. It brewed 11,844 gallons of beer in 2016, according to data provided by the state; Sebago brewed 327,408 gallons – fifth-most in the state – at the Gorham brewery in 2016.
John Paul, left, who co-owns Lone Pine Brewing Co. with Tom Madden, says the purchase of another facility should help his brew team, which at times made beer for 22 hours straight in its small brew system in Portland.
Sebago first started brewing at a site on the Maine Mall property in the 1990s, and has operated its Gorham brewery in an industrial park near the Westbrook city line since 2005. But Sebago co-founder Kai Adams said in April that the brewery was unable to grow in that location, so it’s building a 31,000-square-foot brewery on Lower Main Street, about a mile away.
Adams said the new brewery will offer hiking and biking trails to customers and enough space that it can build its presence on the beer scene when it opens this winter. Sebago will continue brewing in Gorham until the new location is ready, then will move out to make way for Lone Pine. All of Sebago’s old brewing equipment was part of the sale to Lone Pine.
Lone Pine has been brewing 155-gallon batches of beer at its brewery in the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland. The Gorham brew house can make 620 gallons at a time, and Lone Pine could buy fermenters that could handle quadruple that volume.
Lone Pine co-founder John Paul said the move to Gorham was made possible by the dedication of his brew team, which sometimes brews batches of beer for 22 hours straight because of the company’s small brew system in Portland.
“There’s no doubt about it, we’re probably the hardest-working brewery per square foot in the state,” Paul said. “Those tanks are literally never empty. We’re brewing around the clock and everybody is just extremely dedicated to making that happen.”
Lone Pine’s brewery in Portland will remain open as a tasting room and as a spot for testing new recipes on a smaller system.
The company plans to add seven people to its staff of 10 when the move is complete. It intends to brew its core brands in Gorham.
Lone Pine is already putting a part of the Gorham faciltiy to good use. It brewed a batch of its flagship Portland Pale Ale there last week.
“It was always our intent to sell the brewery installed and in place to a Maine brewer who was growing and needed the capacity, or (to) a new startup looking to find a home,” Adams said in a news release. “We know what it takes to start up a brewery and the costs and planning it takes to install all the equipment. John, Tom and the team at Lone Pine worked hard in a short time frame to make this happen, and we’re really excited to see what they will create here.”
James Patrick can be contacted at 791-6382 or at:
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