Alpine brewery funding misses the cut

The Wyoming Business Council board will not recommend grant funding for an Alpine brewing company expansion project.

The town of Alpine had requested a $3 million “Business Ready Community” grant for a brewery waste pre-treatment facility and expansion of the existing Melvin Brewing Company facility.

According to the town, increasing volumes of wastewater with high concentrations of organic materials and solids have resulted in a 20-fold increase in the volume of residual waste generated by brewing operations.

Alpine’s water treatment facility is unable to handle the volume. As a result, the town is transporting the waste to Afton for treatment at an average cost of $20,000 per month.

The second request was for a 23,000 square foot expansion of the Melvin facility for use in packaging, shipping and office space. That would clear existing facilities for expansion of a kitchen, tasting room and the growth of a brew pub.

The board is made up of five statewide elected officials; the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, and state superintendent of public instruction. The reason for the denial was not stated.

Its recommendation now goes on to the full State Loan and Investment Board.

The board approved a $2.9 million grant to construct the original 20,000 square-foot Melvin Brewing building in 2014.

Ten other projects won funding approval from the Business Council this week.