UPDATED INFO MARCH 10, 2015
With a slight delay due to inclement weather, our fermentation vessels and bright tanks are set to arrive to our Craven Street site Saturday, March 14 – Tuesday, March 17, weather pending. We’re still on track to be brewing beer in Asheville by the end of 2015. More info here: http://www.newbelgium.com/
- By transporting 4 vessels during the morning hours on Saturday and Sunday, we aim to minimize traffic impacts later in the day when we will move two vessels at a time.
- NCDOT has altered the route leaving Candler slightly. The route from I-240 to Craven Street remains the same.
The City of Asheville, the Asheville Police Department and NCDOT have gone above and beyond to help make these deliveries happen and we are grateful. We are also thankful for the cooperation of businesses and artists in the River Arts District during this process.
Asheville, NC, February 24, 2015 –New Belgium’s Asheville fermentation vessels and bright beer tanks are scheduled to arrive at their east coast home by mid-March. Two dozen FVs and a half dozen BBTs departed from ZIEMANN in Bürgstadt Germany in January and arrived to the Port of Charleston, SC, in early February. New Belgium is building an east coast location with an expected capacity of 500,000 barrels. The vessels are oversized deliveries requiring rolling road closures and NC Department of Transportation approved routing and police escort, as they arrive to New Belgium Asheville.
“We are thankful for the collaboration of our partners in this process, as well as the patience of those along the route,” said Alex Dwoinen, Asheville Brewing Manager. “Placing these vessels into our new home on Craven Street is another reminder that we are one large step closer to brewing in this great city and sharing our beer more widely, and that’s incredibly exciting.”
The vessels are currently scheduled to arrive during daylight hours between Monday, March 9 and Saturday, March 14, pending weather delays. They will travel in pairs with a minimum of 30 minutes between arrivals. Installation of the vessels will also begin this week. A media alert will follow.
The two dozen FVs have varying sizes between 32 and 52 feet tall with net volumes between 547 and 1860 hectoliters or up to 49,000 gallons. They house the process where yeast ferments wort into beer and allow the liquid to condition and mature. The six BBTs, which store beer before packaging, are approximately 55 feet tall with net volume of 2090 hectoliters, equivalent to about 55,000 gallons.
New Belgium’s 200 hectoliter brewhouse system arrived seamlessly and on schedule in January with support from NC DOT, the districts along the route, Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, and the Asheville Police Department.
Public hiring for the Asheville location kicked off last month, with two dozen positions filled as of February 2015. New Belgium anticipates brewing beer in Asheville by the end of 2015.
Here’s a video of a vessel coming through Texas to Fort Collins, CO, as part of New Belgium’s 2012 tank farm expansion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
NC DOT APPROVED ROUTE
The vessels will travel I-40E and I-240E/I-26W to Amboy Road, take a left onto Lyman Street, left onto Roberts Street, at the traffic circle they will exit onto Haywood Road, go over the West Asheville bridge and turn right onto Craven Street.