USA: City Brewing Co. reconsiders buying Memphis plant

City Brewing Co. of La Crosse probably won’t purchase the Coors Brewing Co. brewery in Memphis, Tennessee, that is slated to close this year, company President Randy Smith said May 17.

“But the La Crosse company is eyeing another brewery,” he said.

The Memphis brewery’s union membership recently rejected a City Brewing contract offer that would have paid them what La Crosse brewery employees receive, Smith said in his keynote speech at the La Crosse Area Convention and Visitors Bureau annual meeting. For every Memphis union member who voted in favor, three voted against.

Workers at City Brewery are paid $16.22 per hour, less than the Memphis workers are making, Smith said in an interview after the convention bureau meeting.

Because of the Memphis vote, “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Smith said of buying the brewery, where the La Crosse company would have made beverages for Coors and other customers. The Memphis brewery, which Smith confirmed in March they were considering, would have been its first acquisition of another plant.

Smith said Wednesday that City Brewing has looked at another brewery that is for sale, but he declined to name it. City Brewing hasn’t determined whether the brewery would be a good match, he said.

He might have been referring to the Latrobe (Pa.) Brewing Co. brewery, which makes Rolling Rock beer. The New York Post newspaper reported last week that Rolling Rock is close to being purchased by Anheuser-Busch, which probably would make Rolling Rock at its own breweries and close the Latrobe operation.

In his speech Wednesday, Smith traced the history of the La Crosse brewery, which began in 1858 as the City Brewery. It later became the G. Heileman Brewery, which The Stroh Brewery Co. closed in 1999 as Stroh was leaving the beer business. It reopened later in 1999 as the City Brewery.

City Brewery production continues to increase and should set another record this year, Smith said. So far in 2006, more than half of its volume has been nonalcoholic beverages such as energy drinks and tea. The brewery makes its own brands of beer, but most of its production is for other companies.

The number of employees peaked in 2005 at 402, a new record since the brewery reopened in 1999, Smith said. There are 395 employees this week, and a new record probably will be set in the next two weeks, he said.

City Brewery will introduce a sesquicentennial beer in about a month, to help celebrate the city’s 150th birthday. Smith said the brewery is starting to make plans to celebrate its own 150th birthday in two years.

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