Mark Anthony Brewing will invest US$400 million in opening a new facility for White Claw Hard Seltzer in Columbia, South Carolina, which is expected to be operational by next summer.
The new ‘state-of-the-art’ production site will be located in Pineview Industrial Park in Columbia, Richland County, and claims to one of the largest breweries to be built in the US for more than 25 years.
The more than one million-square-foot site will be constructed at ‘record speed’ with work slated to begin almost immediately. In January this year, Mark Anthony Brewing invested more than US$250m in opening a new facility in Arizona, which has already been completed.
The production site will produce White Claw Hard Seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s Harder Lemonade and Cayman Jack Cocktails. The project will create 300 new jobs and represent one of the largest investments in Richland County.
“Mark Anthony is a private, entrepreneurial company, built through innovation and by making long-term strategic investments in projects like this,” said John Sacksteder, president, Mark Anthony Brewing.
“One of the primary reasons we selected Richland County was the spirit of collaboration and engagement from the state of South Carolina, the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the Richland County Council that have embraced our vision and understand our ambitious timeline to transform this location from initial concept to a fully operational facility in record time.
“Once complete, this new, state-of-the-art facility will be a centre of excellence for our patented Pure Brew process, which allows White Claw, Mike’s and our growing portfolio of market-leading beverages to taste like no other.”
The new facility will provide ‘much-needed’ capacity to keep up with consumer demand in the southern US. Warehousing and distribution operations will also be located on the same site.
Sales of hard seltzers are predicted to be worth US$14.5 billion by 2027, boosted by markets such as Australia and Canada, according to findings from Grand View Research.
This year saw White Claw expand its presence internationally by entering the UK and Australia.
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Author: Nicola Carruthers