UGI Helps Fuel Lion Brewery’s Growth

A Pennsylvania brewery with a long history of making beer is now pumping out beverages of a different kind: carbonated drinks by the case. At least 60,000 cases of non-alcoholic drinks a day, including energy drinks, are being made and packaged by The Lion Brewery in Pittston, Luzerne County.

Fueling this 24/7 drink production is natural gas. A new larger natural gas line, installed by UGI, running into a recently opened canning line facility provides the energy needed to produce steam. Lion Brewery uses steam across its production, from pasteurization to dissolving sugar.

Eric Cours, Lion Brewery’s Vice President of Technical Support, sums up the facility’s reliance on natural gas saying, “Without it, we probably couldn’t be profitable.”

Along with supporting profitability, Lion Brewery credits UGI’s service with providing a safe and reliable energy source.

“It’s cleaner from an emissions standpoint. And from a usability standpoint, I don’t have to think about the gas. I’m not worried about refills of a tank or spills,” says Asher Odhner, Lion’s Director of Engineering.

The new facility, which started operations last year, is about 10 miles north of the company’s brew house that has been open for well over a century.

Lion Brewery survived Prohibition with a so-called “near beer,” and now Lion is working to meet another type of drink demand.

“This plant is set up in a way that it can be expanded into multiple lines,” says Cours.

For Lion Brewery, the Energy to Do More provided by UGI means possible expansion and additional jobs to the 90 already created at the new facility.

Cours says, “The demand for continued expansion in the energy beverage market continues to grow and we are looking to continue to capitalize on that.”