The Brewery
The Drake’s brewing plant was born in 1989 in the original era of the American micro-brewing movement. Founder Roger Lind put together a humble assortment of equipment including two stainless steel dairy tanks, a 15 bbl boil kettle, one fermenter, and a handful of British pub cellar tanks or “Grundy tanks.”
Over the years, Drake’s has been a true bootstrap brewery, growing tank by tank as production expanded. Unlike modern production breweries, there aren’t any computers controlling the mash, the boil, or the general brewing process. Every part of the process is “hands on” for the Drake’s brewers. (The words “hand-crafted” were never more appropriate).
When Triple Rock Brewery founder and long time friend of Drake’s, John Martin and his business partner Roy Kirkorian took over operations in November 2008, Drake’s was ripe for its next steps.
Since 2008, the brewery has been in constant expansion, growing in production by 50% each year. In 2011, we began the project to build out a new cellar in our brewery in the space that formerly served as the warehouse space and barrel storage. Since September 2011, we have added several 60 bbl and 80 bbl tanks, a new 20 bbl boil kettle and brew deck, and a brand new Prospero bottling line. The growth is not stopping any time soon.
Even still, as we grow, we never lose sight of the fact that our greatest assets are the passionate and talented brewers who meticulously strive to produce amazing and innovative craft beers every single day. It’s their pride and passion that fills the glasses of our fans and that is the heart of all of our success past, present, and future. Cheers.
If you would like to come see the brewery for yourself, click on this link to get information on our Brewery Tour page.
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