E-Malt.com News article: USA, TX: Saint Arnold Brewing Company announces record beer shipments for 2011

Saint Arnold Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in Texas, reported on January, 24, record shipments of more than 40,000 barrels of beer in 2011.

The year-over-year increase of approximately 9,000 barrels is roughly equivalent to what the brewery produced in all of 2004, representing a 29 percent boost in overall production. The 2011 production is equal to all of the beer produced by the brewery during its first 9 years (from 1994 to 2002). It was the biggest growth spurt since the brewery recorded a 30 percent increase in 2007.

All 11 of the brewery’s year-round and seasonal beers saw increases. As a group, Saint Arnold’s rotating lineup of seasonal beers remained its top seller, with production up 31 percent. Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer remained the brewery’s number one year-round label for the third consecutive year, with production up 42 percent. Saint Arnold Amber Ale and Saint Arnold Elissa IPA were second and third respectively among the year-round beers. Production of Amber Ale increased 22 percent while Elissa IPA saw a 55 percent jump.

“2011 was a busy year for us,” said Brock Wagner, founder/brewer of Saint Arnold Brewing. “It was our first full year at the brewery and we finally had the capacity to brew some new beers that had been in the pipeline for a while. We also added fermenters and began several needed capital projects to try to keep our production capacity ahead of demand.”

Beers introduced in 2011 included year-round brews Santo and Weedwacker, special release Divine Reserve No. 11 and seasonal Pumpkinator and Sailing Santa, each of which was very well received by the craft beer community. Santo, a black Kölsch, is a light, refreshing yet dark and flavorful beer with attention-grabbing “Day of the Dead” style packaging by Houston artist Carlos Hernandez. Released in the final 10 weeks of the year, Santo was Saint Arnold’s number three seller during November and December.

“In the coming months we have more new offerings on tap, including Saint Arnold Endeavour, which will be the first double IPA in our year-round lineup, and Bitter Belgian, which extends upon our Moveable Yeast series,” said Wagner.

Saint Arnold Endeavour, which is based on the wildly popular Divine Reserve No. 11, will be the first of Saint Arnold’s Divine Reserve series to join the brewery’s year-round beer offerings. Saint Arnold Pumpkinator, based on Divine Reserve No. 9, was the first of the Divine Reserve series to join the brewery’s seasonal rotation.

Houston remains Saint Arnold’s top market. Sales remained strong in all markets in Texas while Louisiana outpaced 2011 projections.


01 February, 2012