This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Deb Carey, co-founder and president of New Glarus Brewing Company.
The brewing business, which was founded in 1993 by Deb and her husband and brewmaster Dan, broke ground Tuesday on a $55 million addition to its Hilltop facility in southern Wisconsin. The 65,000-square-foot addition will include hospitality space as well as more brewing capacity and a distilling installation.
Carey says the initial planning process for the expansion began before the pandemic. The company had been lining up contractors right when COVID-19 hit, putting a hold on the project.
“During COVID, we lost 40% of our business overnight, and so coming back from that, the craft industry has really struggled,” Carey said. “There have been years where they’ve been down better than 10%, and I’m very proud to say that we’ve held our own and been steady, but steady isn’t the same as previous growth.”
Now, the project is underway as the company moves to double the facility’s main brew hall with four additional copper kettles, while also adding a distillery for spirits. Distilling is a new venture for the beer company. Dan Carey has been conducting research and development for some time, but “it’ll probably take some years” to begin actual production.
Their daughter, Katherine May, is involved with the project as an architect. Carey said “she’s been at the forefront” of the project the whole way.
“It’s just a remarkable undertaking, she’s really done a remarkable job,” she said, adding: “I’m very, very proud of her.”
Along with quadrupling parking at the Hilltop location and installing electric vehicle charging, the project will also add geothermal heating and cooling for the four-story building. Fifty geothermal wells will be located beneath the new parking lot, according to project details shared by the company. Keller Inc., based in Germantown, has been tapped for construction and project management on the expansion.
Carey also discusses the company’s business model, which only distributes its beers within the state. In the announcement for the expansion, she said the company has no plans to change this approach.
“It’s an incredibly competitive market,” she said. “I think sometimes people miss the point, that we compete on the same stage as international brewers who’ve been around for hundreds of years … When you look at the return on investment for distribution beyond the borders, it just becomes increasingly less profitable.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
