http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/...

Post Dispatch is reporting that Schlafly (St. Louis Brewing Co.), largest craft brewer in the St. Louis area is expanding its suburban Maplewood brewery (in a former supermarket) to its max capacity of 45,000 bbl per year.

They have also entered into a contract to allow contract brewing an needed at Stevens Point, Wis., and Latrobe, Pa.

Latrobe is the site of the Rolling Rock brewery. Owner InBev sold the Rolling Rock business to Anheuser Busch (before InBev acquired AB) and the brewery to City Brewing owners of the old Heileman brewery in La Crosse, WI. They contracted to toll brew for Sam Adams (Boston Beer), but they ended up buying the former Schafers brewery in Allentown, PA. Sam Adams also had acquired land for a new brewery in Boston, but that plan was cancelled when other brewery capacity became available. Meanwhile, Sam Adams still has breweries in Cincinnati and Boston, but most of their beer has been brewed under contract by Miller.

Stevens Point Brewing has a website and looks to be one of the largest craft brewers and reports investment in new capacity and multistate distribution.

http://pointbeer.com/point/index.php?option=com_content&...

Second largest craft brewer in St. Louis, Ofallon Brewing has 3000 bbl capacity, but has also entered into contract with Stevens Point to brew its year round capacity.

Consolidation in the beer industry means many breweries out there have excess capacity. (Miller Coors has redundant plants from the recent joint marketing agreement.) This idle capacity makes investing in new capacity iffy. Its easier to find a contract brewer eager for your business.