Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X I I I J U N E 1 3 , 2 0 1 6 24 K ai Adams leans forward, his trademark smile widening as he talks about Sebago Brewing's high growth over the past two years, during which it changed its branding as well as its pack- aging to cans to better suit wholesale buyers, saw wholesale sales volume rise 65%, while also endur- ing a costly, self-initiated recall of some of its beer it thought was of poor quality. Adams, vice president and co-founder of the brewery, predicts another banner year in calendar 2016, with sales expected to grow to more than $12 million, up from the $10 million in calendar 2015. Of that, he expects beer sales to rise 36% to 40% and sales at the company's four restaurants to rise 6% to 7% year-over-year. And there's more to come next year, when Adams and his co-founders, President Brad Monarch and Treasurer Tim Haines, plan to invest $5 million in a new building in Gorham that will double the size of the brewery to four vessels and 40 barrels. e money will come primarily from a new bank loan, Adams says. e company was scheduled to go before the town's planning board on June 6 with a pre-approval application. e company is headquartered in Gorham Industrial Park. It is seeking approval to construct its new corporate headquarters, manufacturing and ware- house space, a brewery, restaurant and event center on lower Main Street (Route 25) in Gorham. If approved, the company's new location will be on a large piece of land owned by the Shaw Brothers Family Foundation . Adams says Sebago Brewing will move into a new 21,000-square-foot facility from the 12,000 square feet it now has in two buildings. It would also be closer to Sebago's distributor, Nappi Distributors. Adams hopes another brewery moves into Sebago's current location. "We hope to attract a budding brewery that can save hundreds of thou- sands of dollars," he says. If the company is granted a permit by this October, it would open the Gorham location in the fourth quarter of 2017. e planned fi ve-acre campus will be a desti- nation brewery, says Adams, meant for brew bus and other tours to stop by and taste the beer. e trails in the nearby woods will be further devel- oped for hiking and snowmobiling with access to the Presumpscot River, which is the main outlet of Sebago Lake, the brewery's namesake. Changes pay off Even though Sebago Brewing is in the Top 10 of Maine craft brewers, says Adams, he still sees it as a small brewery about one-third the size of Baxter Brewing Co., a mid-sized craft brewer based in Lewiston. But he's keenly aware of his own com- pany's growth. "I look at the percentage growth every day," he says. "We've had huge growth in the past two years because of a bunch of great decisions. One of the biggest things was embracing the changes that need to be made in a business. Brad, Tim and I listened to our employees and our customers." One of the turning points was a visit Brad made to a Hannaford supermarket to try to fi nd one of their beers. "It was in the third door at eye level," Adams says, but all that was visible was the name of the particular beer, not the company's brand name, which now is displayed prominently at the top of each can, on top of the individual beer's moniker. "We upgraded the logo and rebranded the whole company in 2014," Adams says. e company also changed its packaging to all cans instead of bottles when it needed to upgrade P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Brewer's investments pay off Changes in past two years yielded bubbling growth for Sebago Brewing B y L o r i V a l i g r a F O C U S Kai Adams, co-founder of Sebago Brewing Co., takes a sample of Frye's Leap IPA from the fermenter at the company's Gorham brewery.

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