Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Here are some links to aerial photographs of some large breweries. You can see several tankcars at the third one. It seems like those are corn syrup tankcars, however it has been a few years since I have been by there.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.235652,-122.091815&spn=0.004635,0.01177&t=h&om=1
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=34.219068,-118.477174&spn=0.004879,0.01177&t=h
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=34.126655,-117.938533&spn=0.004885,0.01177&t=h
I would think that a medium sized brewery would not get anything but grain in by rail. Since the brewery is not large and distribution is regional, probably no beer would leave by rail, for the real thing. That does not mean that it cannot be that way on your layout.
It sounds like this is a modern operation. If so, then insulated boxcars would be correct. Athearn Genesis (PCF 8' & 6' double plug door; PCF 14' plug door; PCF exterior post, 10' plug door; PCF interior post [probably few still in revenue service]; NACC 10' plug door[probably none still in revenue service]), Athearn RTR (Evans double plug door, FGE single plug door), Atlas (Evans double plug door), Walthers (FGE single plug door), and Rail Shop, Inc all make models of cars commonly used to haul beer, and several types of canned and bottle foodstuffs that do not require refrigeration. I bought five of the Rail Shop kits back when they were made by Eel River Models. They require more work than most kits (they also come RTR) but they are nice cars.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)