Wiley Roots set to quadruple capacity with this ABS Commercial brewhouse

In an effort to meet customer demand, Wiley Roots Brewing Co. in Greeley, Colo., is quadrupling its production capacity with the installation of a new 30 bbl brewhouse in their production facility. The three vessel brewhouse comes from ABS Commercial, a commercial brewery equipment supplier based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

This latest move by the brewery comes on the heels of Wiley Roots’ announcement in 2018 that the brewery had acquired an adjacent building, expanding the production footprint from 800 square feet to 5,000 square feet. This expansion, along with additional equipment, enabled the brewery to immediately increase production capacity by over 50%.

This year, Kyle Carbaugh, Head Brewer and Co-Founder, estimates that the brewery will double their capacity from 830 barrels produced in 2019 to over 2,000 barrels by the end of 2020. In order to reach those goals, Wiley Roots announced in June that the brewery had partnered with Two Six Craft Distributors, an independent Colorado craft distributor, to expand their wholesale distribution across the front range.

What began as a humble taproom operation in 2013, has grown to the point where demand is pouring in from multiple states across the country, garnering attention from international consumers, reaching as far as Japan.

“The continued growth of the brewery completely blows our minds. Suddenly, we are getting requests from liquor stores in California, New York, Canada, Spain, and all over the world, for these beers. It really opened our eyes to the beer trading and cannabis pairing scenes that are starting to take off.” said Kyle Carbaugh, Head Brewer and Co-Founder.

What’s selling best? Since then, Wiley Roots has been able to maintain growth both through onsite taproom and offsite wholesale channels, pivoting their overall strategy by creating new and innovative beers that have often pioneered national craft beer trends. “A Visit from the Fruit Lady” and “Ice Cream Truckz”, two new smoothie style sour ales series, have both drawn international demand from craft beer fans for their use of unfermented fruit and ice cream inspired flavors, often selling out within hours of the beers being posted online.

“At the same time, our wholesale distribution has grown exponentially thanks to our friends at Two Six Craft Distributors doing an incredible job communicating our brand and getting people excited about Wiley Roots in stores. It’s been a lot of hard work by our team to try to keep up. Hopefully with the new brewhouse, we’ll be able to meet demand locally, and we will be able to continue to increase the number of new and unique offerings that we’ve become known for” said Miranda Carbaugh, Director of Sales and Co-Founder.

Brewhouse specs. Wiley Roots estimates that with the new brewhouse and unused building capacity, that the brewery will be able to double production again next year, growing from 630 barrels in 2017, when expansion began, to over 4,000 barrels by 2022.