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Campus-area brewery to begin bottling beer

Gentle Ben's expands production

Gentle Ben's Brewing Company, Tucson's first brewery, will soon be expanding its operation to include bottling beer, owner Dennis Arnold said.

"We just bought a bottler," Arnold said. "It's in a warehouse at 802 E. 16th St. That'll be a real gem for us."

Arnold said the company has been working on this $700,000 expansion for about a year, and the new locale will provide an extra 18,000 square feet. That space includes a 4,000-square-foot walk-in refrigeration room.

The restaurant - which started out as a three-beer brewery - is currently responsible for production of 2,500 kegs a year - a number Arnold said will nearly quadruple in their new 16th Street home.

"We're moving all our brewing stuff (to the new space). We'll have a 200 percent increase in capacity," Arnold added.

In addition to the brewing facilities, Arnold said Gentle Ben's, 825 E. University Blvd., will begin bottling beer to sell in the Tucson and Phoenix areas. The company has sold kegs since it began brewing, but Arnold said bottling is a more complicated process.

"You have to avoid what's called oxidation pickup," he said. "If any oxygen gets into the bottle - even in that space in the neck - it can oxidize the beer, which can make it taste skunky."

Arnold also said sunlight can contribute to marring the beer, and the storage facilities must meet certain standards.

"We never put any preservatives in our beer, and we don't pasteurize it either, so we're trying to keep the distribution area tight (to avoid spoiling)," he said.

Arnold said bottling would begin shortly after the new facility is completed.

"We currently brew about eight or nine beers a year," he said. "We'll be looking to try out some new special beers, including the lagers."

Lagers take about three times as long to brew as ales and will be more easily produced in the new facility, Arnold said.

Gentle Ben's will sell the beer in six-packs through liquor stores in Arizona, with possibilities of growth, Arnold said.

"We'll play it by ear, and if (Phoenix and Tucson business) works out, we may expand distribution," he said.

Arnold said the acquisition of equipment involved in the expansion was substantial.

"The bottling line came from California, and the tanks came from McFarland's in Phoenix when it closed," said Arnold. "We got two 3,000-gallon lagering tanks, and a grain silo - it's already down there. It's a 50,000-pound silo - about 20 feet by 10 feet."

Arnold explained that the expansion would not solely concern beer production, and that Ben's current location will undergo a metamorphosis, as well.

The changes to the university location include a roof over the deck, and remodeling the patio - changes Arnold said will cost about $100,000. The company will also change the brewing space at Gentle Ben's into private meeting and dining rooms.

In the new brewery, Arnold said there will be a catering kitchen and a tasting room.

He said the company will keep about 70 employees at the main location and about 20 at the brewery.

Gentle Ben's will continue to host tours of their brewery and would probably increase the frequency of tours at the new location.

"We're basically running three businesses on top of each other, so it's hard to do tours very often," he said. "Right now, we do them about once a month. Every new employee has to go through a beer orientation, and we try to roll in the public tours with those."

Gentle Ben's has been brewing their own beers since 1991, when Arnold bought the restaurant from the owners of Dirtbag's, 1800 E. Speedway Blvd.

INFO BOX:

Fast Fact

Gentle Ben's was founded in 1971 as the city's first brewery - and it was named by a UA professor.

"It was in a house at 841 N. Tyndall - it's now the lobby of the Marriott (Hotel)," Gentle Ben's owner Dennis Arnold said. "A professor named Dr. Oswald came up with the name - he won a contest to name it. He thought the manager looked like a character named Grizzly Adams from a TV show, whose co-star was a bear named Gentle Ben."

Ian Caruth can be reached at catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu.