LEWISTON — Baxter Brewing Co. plans to quadruple beer production and add at least 15 jobs as part of a $2 million expansion, president Luke Livingston said Monday.

A new 24-hour beer-making process is expected to be operating by spring 2013, he said.

The Lewiston-based brewer has been operating for two years in the Bates Mill Complex. It currently makes three year-round beer varieties and a seasonal brew. Distribution reaches across Maine and Massachusetts.

However, Baxter has been unable to keep up with demand.

“People are begging for beer,” he said Monday at a press conference called for the announcement. “From our standpoint, it’s tough leaving all that beer and money on the table.”

The planned work will include the construction of a steel and concrete bunker for fermenters, another canning line and new offices in an upstairs suite at the former mill.

For more on this story, see tomorrow’s Sun Journal.

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