Breckenridge Brewery Selects TrenStar’s Keg Management Solution

TrenStar’s keg management unit is the 4th largest keg owner in the United States behind Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller and Molson Coors.

DENVER, CO – March 30, 2006 —  TrenStar, Inc. today announced that Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery has selected its MicroStar Keg Management LLC unit to provide keg management services.  MicroStar Keg Management is the fourth largest keg owner in the U.S behind Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller and Molson Coors.

Beginning in March 2006, MicroStar will make kegs available to Green Flash on a “per-fill” fee basis under a 5-year keg management agreement.

In the past fifteen years, Breckenridge Brewery has grown from a small 3,000 barrels-per-year brewpub to one of the most successful craft beer companies in the nation.  They now handcraft over 30,000 barrels of fresh beer each year and sell it acroos Colorado and 14 other states.

“A class act within the brewing industry, Breckenridge Brewery has begun to utilize MicroStar Keg Management for all out-of-state distribution of 1/2 barrel and 1/6 barrel kegs,” said David Webster, TrenStar’s North American Operations Director.  “We’re pleased to see that the increased demand for Breckenridge Brewery’s ‘big beer’ lineup outside of Colorado will be met in the future with the help of the MicroStar program.” 

MicroStar owns more than 390,000 kegs for distribution in the United States. The fleet includes half-barrels and 5.16-gallon or “sixth barrel” kegs, the industry’s fastest growing container for draft beer sales.

TrenStar group companies own and manage a proprietary fleet that includes an additional 4.2 million kegs in Europe. The keg fleets were launched in 2002 when mobile asset management operations began for two of the largest brewers in the region, Scottish Courage Breweries and Carlsberg-Tetley Brewing Company Limited. TrenStar’s outsourcing operation in Europe offers a supply chain solution for brewers, which combines advanced RFID technology and keg management expertise. Asset pooling which is a key feature of the operation will result in lower capital requirements, reduced operating costs and higher service levels for participants. The United Kingdom’s ratio of draft to packaged beer is 60 percent draft as compared to 10 percent in the United States