ST. PAUL, MN – Summit Brewing Company will be breaking ground on its brewery cellar expansion Friday, Nov. 9 during taproom hours, 3-8 p.m. The ceremony is open to the public and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman will toast to the expansion at 5 p.m. Summit will feature music from the X-Boys, a special cask of Unchained 11: Old 152 and Stanley’s Food Truck will be on the patio. The first 100 people to purchase a beer beginning at 3 p.m. will receive a commemorative stein.

“Although Summit has been quietly investing an annual average of $1.7 million into the brewery over the past ten years, this is the most ambitious expansion since the new brewery was built in 1998,” said Mark Stutrud, Summit’s founder. “The truth of the matter is that we’ve hit the wall on capacity. We had to cut 12 brews this year due to capacity issues, so the original expansion date of June 2013 has been moved to this month.”

The $6 million expansion, which will be completed by June 2013, will add 7,632 square feet of cellar space and will double production capacity to 240,000 barrels per year. Summit is partnering with Minnesota companies on the project: DCI (St. Cloud) for tank fabrication, PCL Construction Services (Burnsville) for general contracting and Van Sickle, Allen and Associates (Plymouth) for engineering and architecture.

For more information about the brewery please visit http://www.summitbrewing.com.

About Summit Brewing Company:

Founded in St. Paul, Minn. in 1986, Summit Brewing Company has stayed close to its roots, serving the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Summit’s beers are currently available in 17 states including Minnesota, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Summit now produces 12 varieties of premium craft beer, including seven year-round, four seasonal beers, and the limited release Unchained Series. Since its inception, the brewery has been a consistent pioneer in the craft beer movement.