(Alpine, CA) – It has been exactly four months since Alpine Beer Company founder, Pat McIlhenny, announced that the company would grow production by 400% with the help of another brewery. Late last month, McIlhenny told BeerPulse that he is close to inking a deal similar to the one he envisioned this past fall.

The plan calls for the beers of Alpine, ranked #19 in the world by RateBeer, to be produced at a fellow craft brewery in the U.S., one with a “phenomenal water source,” says McIlhenny. He wouldn’t disclose the brewery, citing that a contract had not yet been signed.

Alpine production will go from 1,000 barrels to 6,000 barrels under the terms of the deal. The additional 5,000 barrels will comprise of 2,000 barrels of Nelson IPA, 2,000 barrels of Duet IPA and 1,000 barrels of Hoppy Birthday, an American Pale Ale. McIlhenny recently secured the hops he needed from New Belgium in order to add Hoppy Birthday production into the contract. Formats for all three beers will include 22 oz. ‘Belgian-style’ bottles, kegs and Ball Corporation’s Alumi-Tek aluminum 16 oz. bottles.

Alpine would become only the third craft brewery to adopt Alumi-Tek bottles after Oskar Blues and Sun King did so with their collaboration beers.

As for what this means for distribution, nothing has been finalized but there is a possibility of Alpine distributing in the Bay Area and Sacramento.

McIlhenny also tells BeerPulse that another location in town they had been planning to develop is on the backburner for now.