COMSTOCK — Citing "an unquenchable thirst for Bell's," officials at Bell's Brewery Inc. announced plans Wednesday for a $5 million upgrade and expansion at its Comstock operation.

Bell's is expected to produce 90,000 barrels of beer this year, up from 57,000 in 2005, and the Comstock expansion increases production capacity to 140,000 barrels a year.

Nine acres of land for future expansions also have been purchased.

"Rather than make small improvements, we're taking a big step," said Larry Bell, the president of the company, formed in 1983. "The last few years have been terrific for us."

The investment includes six 200-barrel fermenters, one 400-barrel fermenter, a 10,000-spuare-foot warehouse with an energy-efficient "green" roof, a new keg line that can fill 280 kegs per hour and the purchase of 13,000 new kegs.

The project is expected to be completed in February, according to Bell's Vice President.

The expansion in Comstock comes on the heels of upgrades at Bell's downtown Kalamazoo location. Improvements at the Kalamazoo facility included the opening of a general store featuring Bell's merchandise.

Larry Bell said the Comstock expansion and land purchase will ensure capacity for growth.

"We wouldn't be making this kind of capital investment if we weren't confident about the appeal of our beer and the abilities of our team," he said.

"Industrial strength," that's what Larry Bell called the king of beer you usually buy in a store.

So the Kalamazoo man decided o brew his own beer without the pasteurizing and filtering that bring a brew to "an inch of its life."

Bell found he could make good beer with a good head without all the processes that sap beer and ale of their body and flavor.

His beer was so well-liked, and his operation become so large, that he decided to make it pay.

"I OUTGREW a home-brewing hobby," Bell said.

Now, after almost five years in the business, the only trouble Bell has is making enough beer.

Bell managed to convince a local bank to loan him $7,000 to start his business, but it wasn't easy.

"Trying to convince a bank to loan you money to start a brewery? Most of 'em wouldn't even talk to me."

But they're talking to him now. The brewery, which sells much of its beer and ale in southeastern Michigan., including Troy. Ann Arbor, Southfield and Birmingham, is negotiating for a $30,000 loan to increase its capacity and sell in northern Indiana and soutern Wisconsin as well as other parts of Michigan.

THE OPERATION is still small, using 20-year-old school soup cookers and beer cartons that advertise more familiar brands.

Still, customers are loyal to the brews, which come in a variety of styles, from dark ale to pale ber.

"I love it," said Dan Miller, a Dearborn Heights native who lives in Kalamazoo and no longer drinks his better-known nameake. " I buy it by the gallon, so it's not much more expensive than a regular 12-pack."

But for some, there's the rub. The beer retails for from $10 or more for a six-pack. Bell said the price is relative when it comes to enjoying his beer.

"IF YOU"RE eating some spicy food, you really want a beer that will stand up to it, not something you drink like water," Bell said.

The brewery has made 11 different types of beer or ale since its opening. Some, such as Bell's Best Brown Ale, are standbys, while others, like Two Hearted Ale have had swings in populatrity.

"I don't know," Bell said with a laugh. "What's our flavor of the month?"

BELL'S BREWS also have distinctive labels, most often made from drawings of local "characters."

Bell said his brewing process and aging time vary depending on the type of brew. He also does some experimental brewing for a local spice company.

His fledgling Kalamazoo Brewing Co. Inc. — one of the smallest beer-making concerns in the country — received state approval last week to sell Bell's Beer to retail customers.

A week earlier his pale ale got thumbs up from Michigan's Department of Public Health, leaving him free to tap into the tavern trade in Kalamazoo.

However, while some local bar owners gushed at the prospect of serving the home-town brew when Bell first floated the idea, nary a one has ordered a half-barrel of the first commercial beer produced in Kalamazoo since prohibition.

"It's a novel product." said the blond, bespactacled Bell. "But why should retailers carry it instead of Budweiser or Stroh's, which everybody knows?"

After struggling for three years to get his business under way, the fight isn't over, he said.

"You still have to go out and sell (the beer). You have to prove the product."

The 27-year-old Park Forest, Ill., native gave a tour of his diminutive company's quarters, 315 E. Kalamazoo, last week and talked about his venture with the self-absorption that marks many budding entrepreneurs.

The cinder block building, which formerly housed Sentry Hardware, is painted yellow inside and out. A walk-in cooler dominates on room, 15-gallon barrels are stacked in the corner of another and a third houses a handful of 42 gallon plastic cans were the grew is fermented.

Only the small office is decorated. Old and new beer bottles from places as diverse as Kalamazoo and Morocco line a windowsill. Beer-related posters and illustrations clutter one wall.

Bell makes it clear he isn't out to compete with the kings of American brewing. And they probably aren't all that worried about the Kalamazoo Brewing Co. either.

The firm will produce 520 31-gallon barrels of beer its first year, Bell said. That compares with industry leader Anheuser-Bucsh's annual output of 65 million barrels.

Bell says his is a "micro brewery" fermenting a specialty beer.

"We're wholesaling it for the same price as Molson Golden in the keg," he said. " I want to compete with that kind of beer."

The wholesale price of a keg of Molson Golden, a Candian brew, is about $46.

With his recently received Michigan Liquor Control Commission specialty wholesale license, Bell also plans to sell to walk-in customers.

Beer in a cubitainer — or plastic four-liter container with its own spigot that can be refilled at the brewery — will cost $8, he said. The container holds the equivalent of about 10 2/3 12-ounce beers.

Retail customers will pay $56 for a keg of the beer.

Kalamazoo Brewing is one of only four breweries in the state, according to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Two of the others are national brands and the third id local. Stroh Brewery Co. is based in Detroit, but recently discontinued beer production at its plant there. The gient G. Heileman Brewing Co. also brews beer in Michigan. Geyer Bros. Brewing Co of Frankenmuth is a small local brewery.

There are only 65 brewing companies in America, according to the United States Brewers Association in Washingtion, D.C. That is up from an all-time low of 41 in 1979.

West Germany, the world's leading beer producer, has more than 1,000 breweries, although its population is less than half of the U.S.

Bell, who came to the area as a Kalamazoo College student, cooked up his first batch of beer in 1979 as a money-saving rather than money-making effort.

He worked at Sarkozy Bakery, on the downtown Kalamazoo Mall, at the time and shared a house on Wheaton Avenue with three friends.

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