We saw our new bottling line in action for the first time this week. After three months of work, it was great to see bottles march their way through the system without several employees helping. 

A little background.  For the past two and a half years or so, we have been bottling on a pair of small bottlers.  Coming into 2008 they were getting in the way of our ability to keep expanding sales and hence had to go.  We looked at several intermediate steps, but finally decided we would be best served by really stepping up and creating capacity for us to grow. The new system is fully automated and has about 6 times the capacity of the old system. 

As with any new system, we will have to work through a few challenges, however we can't wait to see the results over the next few months.

A few places where you may notice differences are:

Caps: They will have a tighter crimp with the new system.  Over the next few months, they will likely become twist off as well.

Labels: Our new labeler has many more capabilities than the old one.  We may do some special releases with front/back labels and may play with a neck label. You will also now see date stamping on the bottles which will help our retail partners maintain proper stock rotation.

I'll keep you posted on the system as it continues to evolve.

On a seperate note, a special congratulations to Brian and Lisa Ford on the one year aniversary of the Auburn Ale House.  A great place to eat and drink in the foothills.

Cheers!