A-B-backed food company constructing $100 million facility at St. Louis brewery

ST. LOUIS — A new Anheuser-Busch backed company that turns the remnants of barley from brewing into protein and fiber supplements is putting nearly $100 million into a new production facility and headquarters on A-B’s St. Louis brewery campus.

EverGrain, led by former Anheuser-Busch sustainability chief Gregory Belt, announced Tuesday that it would build its first full-scale production plant in Stockhouse 10 on the brewer’s Soulard campus.

“This announcement is a key milestone in EverGrain’s journey to realize the full potential of barley,” Belt said in a statement. “As we grow our operations in St. Louis, we will be able to deliver new options to consumers who seek a healthier and more sustainable future.”

The company aims to commercialize the byproducts of brewing — about 1.5 million tons of remaining barley after sugar and starch is removed to make A-B beers. It’s part of Anheuser-Busch’s plan, released in January, to invest $1 billion in its U.S. manufacturing capabilities through next year, including about $100 million for sustainability projects.

The project follows other new investments the largest U.S. brewer, a subsidiary of Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, has recently announced in its almost 170-year-old flagship brewery in St. Louis. It’s expanding production capacity for hard seltzer beverages with construction of the first new building there since 2006, prior to InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch. InBev is also moving the brewing of flagship beer Stella Artois — for U.S. consumers — from Europe to four U.S. breweries, including in St. Louis, executives recently announced. Local brewery officials said they expect about $175 million in investment in the St. Louis brewery over the next couple of years.

Launched in 2020, EverGrain produces EverPro, a barley-based protein powder for drinks, and EverVita, a barley-based supplement that adds fiber and protein to baked goods. A Portland, Oregon, company, Take Two Foods, recently began using EverGrain’s ingredients in a new barley milk product, and Nestle’s Garden of Life is also using EverGrain supplements in new products.

EverGrain currently has only a small-scale, $15 million production facility at A-B’s Newark, New Jersey, brewery, which will continue to be used for testing and small-batch production after the St. Louis facility is operational. EverGrain opted to build its full-scale production facility here because of St. Louis’ “deep roots in food and ag-tech,” Belt told the Post-Dispatch. He said the region offers a “great source of talent” as the company ramps up employment, expected to hit about 50 jobs initially.

Construction has begun to turn Stockhouse 10, at the southwest corner of Arsenal and Ninth streets, into the new production facility, a project expected to stretch into next year. The historic six-story structure, built in 1905 and adorned with a stone eagle sculpture on the corner, has been used for some storage but largely underutilized for the about the last 50 years, said St. Louis brewery General Manager Jim Bicklein.

City officials last month endorsed tax incentives for the project worth about $5 million in property tax breaks over five years. City economic development officials and Alderman Dan Guenther, D-9th Ward, have been working to put together a package luring the EverGrain investment since late 2019.

A groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday drew top Anhueser-Busch executives, Mayor Lyda Krewson, Guenther and even one of A-B’s iconic Clydesdales.

Jacob Barker • 314-340-8291 @jacobbarker on Twitter jbarker@post-dispatch.com