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Sly Fox expanding, leaving Royersford

In case you didn’t know this, Sly Fox is upgrading, but leaving Royersford. Here’s the release from their wesite slyfoxbeer.com.

Sly Fox Brewing Managing Partners John and Peter Giannopoulos said today that the family-owned company, which opened its first brewpub in Phoenixville in December 1995, will open a large production brewery in Pottstown later this year.

As a first step, the company is selling the restaurant side of Sly Fox Brewery & Restaurant located at 312 N. Lewis Rd. in Royersford, which opened in November 2004, to a longtime employee and her husband.

The 30,000 sq. ft. new brewery, situated on six acres at 331 Circle of Progress in the Pottstown Airport Business Center, has housed the brewery’s executive offices and been serving as a warehouse since the beginning of this year when Sly Fox took possession. In addition to the new brewery, a tasting room/pub will eventually be added if a zoning variance is granted by the township.

The brewery will feature a fully automated 50-hectoliter BrauKon brewhouse from Germany which is expected to arrive by November and be up and running by the end of the year. Production capabilities will be tripled. Currently, Sly Fox can brew 25 hectoliters twice a day but will be able to brew 50 hectoliters three times a day at the Pottstown location. The company will purchase three new 150-hectoliter fermenters from JV Northwest and will move eleven 50-hectoliter fermenters from the Royersford location to the new plant.

“We’ve already raised the roof over a 1,000 sq. ft. section of the new building to accommodate the bigger tanks,” John Giannopoulos said. A 2,500 sq. ft. cold storage box is already in place.

Cime canning line from Italy will complete the Pottstown production facilities. That equipment, which will fill 60 cans per minute vs. the 28 cans per minute done by the existing line, will go on line in Royersford next month and then be moved to the new plant. The current brewhouse, several 25-hectoliter fermenters and the existing canning line will be sold.

Peter Giannopoulos said that the sale of the restaurant will enable the company to concentrate on its core business and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

“We have to be able to make more beer in order to meet the demand and we also want to grow the business in both our present markets and look to expand into some new markets. We want our focus to be entirely on beer going forward.

Bryzgalov's agent speaks his mind, attacks ... - Courier-Post Blogs

Here are excerpts from my conversation with Ritch Winter, the agent for Ilya Bryzgalov, today:

He’s excited about Philadelphia for multiple reasons. He likes what the team has to offer on the ice and he’s also a big American history fan. So I’m sure he’ll be delving into the likes of Benjamin Franklin and many others. When I first mentioned Philadelphia as a possibility to him I was surprised at the depth of knowledge he has of the city. He surprised me on multiple occasions.

The second thing I’ll say is that any reference to contractual negotiations or discussions with the Philadelphia Flyers, whether it’s the term he’s looking for or the amount, I’ll say for the record will be a complete fabrication because the only people privy to those conversations are Ilya, myself and his wife. Our intention is to always have those conversations with the Flyers and Flyers only.

The reason I’m mentioning it is because I’m being asked to comment on Twitter accounts for 45 years and $300 million or various amounts. I think it’s important that all of you (reporters) know that these references and perspectives on negotiations other than what I give you will be inaccurate.

I think it’s important to say that because unfortunately there appears to be a very big gap between the publishing media in Philadelphia today and the days of Benjamin Franklin. There doesn’t seem to be as much interest in being accurate as they were back then. We’ll never negotiate through the press. It’s not something I do and it’s not something fans much appreciate. The fact is there will be no disclosure by the Bryzgalov camp. Anybody that guesses at this point will be proven only to be one thing: a guesser and misrepresenting things to the public.

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