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Sweetwater Brewing prepares to open new expansion

ATLANTA — Workers are wrapping up kegs and rolling up hoses at Sweetwater Brewing Company.

They are preparing to move into a new production facility, an expansion that will create new jobs.

"Our industry is great for the economy. We're adding jobs," founder Freddy Bensch told Channel 2's Linda Stouffer.

"It will quintuple what we're doing now. So, we produced about 100,000 barrels last year. It will get us hopefully in that 450-500,000 barrel range," Bensch said.

When Stouffer asked how many jobs, the company said they are still calculating staffing levels.

Currently, Sweetwater has 80 full-time staffers. The creation of the $19 million expansion also created local construction jobs.

The expansion is next to the building on Ottley Drive in northeast Atlanta.

Workers are testing bottle production lines and tweaking equipment to get everything ready for a grand opening next week.

Stouffer asked Bensch if he considered moving to any other locations. He said they looked at several Southeastern states.

"About 5 or 6 states. This is home. This is where we sell 65 to 70 percent of our beer. It's super exciting- now we're flipping switches and beer is coming off of something that was a pipe dream a couple years ago," Bensch said.

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