What’s happening to the iconic Budweiser factory on Routes 1&9?

NEWARK — The long-time Anheuser-Busch brewery along Routes 1&9 has become a launchpad for a company backed by the beer giant, with a focus on the health supplement market.

As that venture has announced an eventual shift in its U.S. headquarters, the brewing roots of the facility continue to run deep.

The company on Tuesday announced it would be building a production facility in Missouri, on the brewery's St. Louis site, as first reported by St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

EverGrain will continue to use its Newark facility for testing and small-batch production, even after the one out-of-state is up and running, according to the company.

EverGrain officially launched in January as a sustainable ingredient company, with both a barley-based protein powder for drinks (EverPro) and a barley-based supplement that adds fiber and protein to baked goods (EverVita). It runs a small-scale production facility within the Newark brewery's footprint.

The brewery, first opened in 1951, still does make and package a number of the company's beer products, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Rolling Rock, Busch, Natural Light and King Cobra.

It's the second oldest of Anheuser-Busch’s 12 major breweries, with 1.7 million square feet of space and a brewing capacity of roughly nine million barrels a year, as reported by Jersey Bites in 2018.

Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev announced in January that it would invest $1 billion in its U.S. manufacturing capabilities through next year, including about $100 million for sustainability projects.

InBev also is moving the brewing of Stella Artois for U.S. consumers from Europe to St. Louis and three other U.S. breweries.

(Includes material Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.)