AVBC Retires a Bit of Brewing History
April 4, 2001 – Boonville, CA – After more than 13 years of dutiful service, Anderson Valley Brewing Company is retiring its original bottling machine. The 1946 Liquid Carbonics 12 head filler was purchased from Sprecher Brewery in Milwaukee in 1988. The Liquid Carbonics machine was originally set up to fill 12 ounce soda bottles, but AVBC retooled it to fill 22 ounce bottles. Anderson Valley was one of the first American micro-breweries to sell beer in the 22 ounce package. The 22 ounce package size was a hot item in the 1990s, but sales in that category have slowed some in recent years. "The six pack is a larger percentage of our sales now, but the 22 ounce is a nice package and it still does very well for us," says President Dr. Ken Allen. So much so that Anderson Valley Brewing has purchased a "new" 1978 Crown, Cork and Seal Uniblend 28 head rotary filler. Dr. Allen points out that "our old filler served us well, I kind of hate to see it go, but this new Uniblend filler does more bottles with fewer people and less oxygen pick up – this will help keep our shelf price stable and make the beer fresher for the consumer." The old Liquid Carbonics filler will most likely go to Ukiah Brewing Company or another small scale bottling operation in the area.
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