Matt Brewing Company - 2008 Fire

2008 Fire

On May 29, 2008, a fire broke out in the packaging section of the F.X. Matt Brewery. Brewing and kegging of Utica Club resumed the following week, but canning and bottling was disrupted for over a year. On June 30, 2008, the bottling operation returned at the brewery. However, as of June 23, 2008, canning operations have temporarily been moved to the High Falls Brewing Company (makers of Genesee beer) in Rochester, NY, until the damaged equipment can be replaced.

Since the fire, brewery officials have focused on a rebuilding effort that essentially enhances their brewing operations. As current brewery chairman Nick Matt told the Utica Observer Dispatch in May 2009:

We have had an opportunity to upgrade equipment. We are going to end up with a canning facility that is more flexible, faster and more efficient. It will be a facility that is better than before. We lost 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of warehousing space, and now we are building 23,000 square feet (2,100 m2) of warehousing space. And as a result of changing and moving operations, we are going to be able to streamline some of our operations.

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