FuzzyBrew

Nashville’s Blackstone Brewing Company celebrated a milestone this week. It capped its one millionth bottle since opening a bottling line in the summer of 2011.

The bottle was an American Pale Ale, one of my favorites from Blackstone, which you can find in Memphis along with the Nut Brown Ale, St. Charles Porter and Picnic. Congrats to Blackstone!

Bottle number 1 MILLION ! Thank you TN for helping us reach this HUGE milestone! twitter.com/BlackstoneBrew…

— Blackstone Brewery (@BlackstoneBrew) October 26, 2012

Check out the bottling line in action below:

Ghost River founding partner Chuck Skypeck with the ceremonial scissors.

Bottles of Ghost River Brewing’s Golden Ale began appearing on retail shelves in the Mid-South over the past few weeks.

But on Monday afternoon, the Memphis craft brewery officially christened its new bottling line with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Nearly 100 people showed up to sample beer and get a look at Ghost River’s bottling line, which is part of a $750,000 expansion that also includes new fermentation tanks, a new steam boiler, new refrigeration and a modern keg filler and cleaner.

For now, Ghost River’s Golden Ale is the only beer that is being bottled.

The new bottling line was made by an Italian company called Comac.

Ghost River’s capacity is doubling, increasing from 2,500 barrels to 5,000 barrels.

Six-packs of Ghost River Brewing’s Golden Ale have started filtering out into the retail market in the Memphis area.

Ghost River shipped about 500 cases of the 12-ounce bottles to its distributor, Southwestern Distributing, on Nov. 18, another 500 cases on Nov. 26, and it will ship 500 today, according to Ghost River founding partner Chuck Skypeck.

Ghost River has been in the midst of a $750,000 expansion to double its capacity and add a bottling line in recent months. James Dowd, of The Commercial Appeal, wrote a nice story today that looks at that expansion.

On Tuesday, Ghost River will host an official ribbon cutting with the Greater Memphis Chamber to celebrate the bottling line. The event, which starts at 4 p.m. at the brewery, 827 S. Main Street, is open to the public and will include a free tour and sampling.

“Short fills” of the Golden Ale — which are typically not more than 1/2-ounce short — can still be purchased at the brewery dock for $7 a six-pack or $24 for a case.

Ghost River beer — in 12-ounce bottles — is coming soon to a beer aisle near you.

Ghost River Brewing, Memphis’ only craft brewery, has announced a major expansion for 2011, with plans to double capacity and add a bottling line.

Ghost River is adding additional fermentation tanks, a new steam boiler and new refrigeration, as well as a modern keg filler and cleaner at its 827 S. Main Street facility, according to a release.

In addition, Ghost River is installing a new 12-head bottle filler to package Ghost River beers in bottles.

The expansion is expected to be completed by mid-summer, and beers will soon be headed to Memphis area retail shelves.

Ghost River was founded in 2007 and has three year-round brews — Golden Ale, Copperhead Red and Glacial Pale Ale — as well as a variety of seasonal beers, that Ghost River supplies to more than 80 bars and restaurants and sells in growlers from its docks.

Check back to FuzzyBrew.com in the coming weeks and months for more on Ghost River’s expansion plans.