Yankee Brew News Archive

Below the Frost Line:Connecticut Preparing for Craft Brewing Boom

Originally Published: 04/96

By: Kerry J Byrne

Have you had enough of people calling it the craft brew movement, the brewing Renaissance or the brewpub fad/trend/craze? I have, though I am as guilty as anyone for using those terms. But there comes a point when it no longer is a movement, fad or trend. There comes a point when it just is. Have we reached that point yet? Well, by the end of the year there may be close to 100 establishments brewing beer in New England. One-hundred! Is it still a trend? You tell me. What follows is about 2,000 words on this little trend's progress in southern New England.

Massachusetts

In February Brian Friguliette of the Middlesex Brewing Company opened a new facility in Wilmington. The brewery has a 25-barrel system and is a big jump from the cottage brewery Friguliette ran out of his home in Burlington. "I'm looking at my filter and it is bigger than my kettle used to be," said the proud father of the bouncing baby brew house. Middlesex may be the only brewery in the region to use a system from Price-Shonstrom of Ontario. "I went and looked at it, it does really nice job and is pretty much exactly like I wanted," said Friguliette. He will continue to brew a Brown Ale, Raspberry Wheat and Oatmeal Stout and has no immediate plans to introduce a new product. His beer will now come in 12-ounce bottles as well. He is "not sure" about continuing to use 22-ounce bottles.

Boston's Brew Moon was recently named one of the top restaurants in the country for 1995 by Bon Appetit magazine. The brewery-restaurant was noted for Executive Chef Donald Chapelle's menu, which was described as an appealing mix of saloon classics and modern pub fare. Such notoriety makes for a Feiner day at the Moon! Brew Moon's second site in Saugus opened in January, though this intrepid traveler was unable to get a tour, having arrived during the busy Monday lunch rush. Brew Moon's third location, on Church Street in Harvard Square, is tentatively scheduled to open in June or July.

Skeeter's Tavern in Brockton will play host to the first South Shore Brewoff & Homebrew Expo on Saturday, March 23. The expo is being sponsored by Skeeter's in conjunction with the South Shore Home Brew Club. The event will include a homebrew competition, brewing demonstrations, discounted equipment from local homebrew shops and displays by breweries such as Atlantic Coast Brewing Company and Old Harbor Brewing Company. Admission is free. For information about attending the event or about entering the homebrew competition call Chip Yannone of Skeeter's Tavern at (508) 583-1900 or Randy Reed of the South Shore Home Brew Club at (617) 341-8170.

Old Town Trolley Tours of Boston has added for the spring and summer what it is touting as the country's first brewpub trolley tour (see story elsewhere in this issue). A fearless crew leads you on a three hour tour, which includes stops at three brewpubs as well as stories about Boston's brewing past. For information call Tammy Biasin of Old Town Trolley at (617) 269-7150.

The Black Cow in Hamilton has become quite a popular spot in Boston's northern suburbs and recently came to the attention of this roving reporter. The Black Cow has about 30 taps and over 40 bottled beers and features a number of great selections from the wealth of breweries which dot the North Shore, such as Ipswich, Ould Newbury and Clamtown. The beautiful beer bar/restaurant is being run by Mike Duratti who previously managed Sunset Grill & Tap in Boston. The Black Cow is on the southbound side of Route 1A near the Wenham border. Look for a review in a future issue of YBN.

A new pub in Boston worth checking out has also come to my attention: the Hill Tavern, Cambridge Street, at the base of Beacon Hill. The small but superb beer selection includes cask-conditioned Tremont Best Bitter, big and yeasty Ipswich Ale and Harpoon IPA. A sign of the times: It's kind of cool to sit at a pub and hear perky young women who obviously want me order beers by the style, such as is the case at the Hill Tavern.

The Hill Tavern has plans to do beer dinners with the Tremont Boys of Atlantic Coast Brewing Company. Call Atlantic Coast at (617) 242-6464 for more information about its dinner events at pubs and restaurants throughout Boston. Tremont Porter should be on tap at your favorite watering hole about this time of year. If not, make a big, bloody stinkin' scene and say, out loud and to no one in particular, that you mock openly the owner of said tavern.

Call it the YBN jinx: Not an issue or two after we ran a story on the overwhelming success rate of brewpubs and breweries in New England comes reports of one Massachusetts brewery going out of business. Paul and Bridget Stone of Olde Salem Village Brewing Company in Danvers have apparently decided it's time to shut the doors on their cottage brewery and look at other options. Good luck and thanks for the Copper Ale. Good stuff.

Word has been circulating that the Cape Cod Brewhouse in Hyannis would also be closing. However, one representative of the Brewhouse vociferously denied the rumor. Manager Tom Benton called the rumor "vicious" and said that they had no plans for closing.

On the south side of Boston is the blandest part of town. And if you go down there just beware that there's no good beer to be found. With all due respect to the late Jim Croce, long suffering beer lovers on the South Shore will be happy to know that help may be on the way. Scuttlebutt says that Karen Baker, owner of the Beer & Wine Hobby Shop in Woburn and the Brewer's Bier Haus in Merrimack, New Hampshire, has her eyes on Boston's South Shore as she plots the expansion of a chain of brewpubs. We will keep an eye on this region, which remains one of the few areas in New England ungraced by a brewpub or craft brewery (see Editor's related diatribe on page 3).

Boston Beer Works is at the tail end of their bout with stout. At last check the Beer Works list included Buckeye Oatmeal Stout, Curley's Irish Stout, Chocolate Cherry Stout and Russian Imperial Stout. With the spring thaw comes the addition to the long BBW beer list of Mayflower Maibock and Patriot Pilsner. Brewer Bryan House had expressed interest in having a reunion of Siebel alumni at Boston Beer Works during the week of the National Craft Brewers Conference which takes place in Boston April 27-30. Call the Beer Works at (617) 536-BEER for an update on the reunion plans.

Modern Brewer, the home brew and brew-it-yourself shop in Cambridge, will soon become a commercial brewery. Owner Jeff Pzena said he has applied for a farmer-brewer's license and hopes to be making his own beer for distribution as well as contract brews for local restaurants in the near future. The plan requires some alterations of the facility because state law dictates that in order to be a farmer-brewer Pzena will need a separate facility. What he did was take two of his eight U-brew kettles, put them in his lagering room, and change the lagering room into a separate fermentation facility. He has sacrificed lagering capability at his U-brew so that the commerical venture can be made a reality. By the way, Pzena and the Modern Brewer crew hold free brewing classes every Monday night at 6:30 p.m. The lessons are basically for beginners. Call 1-800-SEND-ALE for more information.

By the time you read this Watch City Brewing Company on Moody Street in Waltham should be open for business. Restaurant manager Frank McLaughlin expressed hope that the 170-seat brewery-restaurant would open in early March. Steve Lincoln is slated to be the head brewer. He's had stints with Ipswich and Cambridge brewing companies. Lincoln will work on a 14-barrel Peter Austin system. Initial plans call for a golden, bitter, American ale, "probably a stout" and a rotating specialty beer, though plans were not definite as of our discussion. Watch City will complement what has become a rather interesting little restaurant boom in downtown Waltham.

Main Street Brewing Company in Worcester is scheduled to have its official grand opening for the public on March 27 The brewer is Dana Fisher, who worked previously at Casco Bay Brewing in Maine and studied at the UC-Davis master brewers' program. Fisher had five batches brewed as early as February. The Main Street beer list will include Main Street Stock Ale (an IPA), Park Ave. Pale Ale, Seven Hills Stout, Regatta Point Porter, Old Eddy Engine No. 39 Railway Red and MacGregor's Scotch Ale. "I'm looking to bring it up to 8 or 10 styles eventually," said Fisher, who will be working with a 15-barrel DME system. "We'll definitely be doing some lagering," he added. Main Street will also have a selection of what the brewer called "our version" of cask-conditioned ales.

I got the following information from a story published in, of all places, The Boston Globe. Tom Swetland and Patti Williams were preparing to open the Honeymoon Meadery in Norwood. Honeymoon is believed to be just the second meadery in the state, following the As You Like It bakery of Fitchburg. As You Like It opened two years ago, as was first reported here in YBN. Swetland and Williams were scheduled to have a final meeting at a public hearing in early March and, if all goes well, they will soon be working out of a 2,700-foot facility in the Norwood Commerce Center.

Redbones' Stout and Porter fest ran through mid March. Featured during Stout and Porter month at the legendary Somerville institution are hard-to-find draught versions of Sierra Nevada Stout and Porter and North Coast (Mendocino, California) Brewing's Old No. 38. Beginning in March and lasting through April, the beers of Maine will be featured at Redbones. Owner and pitmaster Rob Gregory also expects to do a Ray McNeill month in the near future, in tribute to the award-winning Vermont brewer.

Connecticut

The state which gave us Bridgeport and Benedict Arnold is looking to make amends with the following flurry of brewing activity. The Nutmeg State has lagged behind the rest of New England in terms of its brewing scene, but that looks like it is about to change. YBN readers in Connecticut have Associate Editor Gregg Glaser to thank for being on top of the scene and providing the bulk of the following information. I attempted a state-wide reconnaissance mission myself, but was turned away at the border of Fairfield County because of my Boston accent and plebeian appearance.

Bar, a New Haven nightclub, celebrated the opening of its brewhouse and the accompanying Bru Rm. (sic) on February 17. The brewhouse was designed by Blair Potts and will produce a Pale Ale, Ambar, Damn Good Stout, Bar Blond Ale and Sweet Potato Ale. Promotional literature for Bar's Bru Rm. said it will feature 'Fresh beer, brick oven pizza and dancing.'

Blair Potts is also consulting Dave Woolner on the opening of the Wyndham Mills Pub & Brewery in Willimantic. Woolner is the owner of the Main Street Cafe which is one of the best beer bars in Connecticut with 15 local taps, 25-30 bottled beers and cask Old Thumper. Wyndham Mills will be a large facility with 1,700 square feet spread out over three levels, with a game room, bar and dining area.

The 9th Square Project in New Haven has been the subject of a number of rumors hinting that a brewpub may be coming its way. The latest says that Phil Hopkins of the New Haven Brewery is planning to open the Pound Sterling Brewery at the site. The brewery will reportedly have a tailor-made Peter Austin brewing system, much like the one used at New Haven Brewery. Based on that and the name, it is a safe bet that Pound Sterling will produce English-style ales.

The Adventure Brewing Company in Bridgeport should open sometime in 1996 with a 10-barrel DME system. Larry Berkman, a real estate management professional from the region, is the owner.

Another brewery that looks like a go is the Alewife Grille & Brewery, which is being built by Tom O'Neill in Glastonbury.

We will follow up on all these as more information becomes available. Glaser also sends reports of a number of other possible breweries in the Nutmeg State:

A project called Bank Street Brewing Company is underway in an old bank building in downtown Stamford. It is reportedly being built in conjunction with the folks from Shipyard Brewing of Maine, though this has not yet been confirmed.

The Stetson Brewing Company is allegedly looking for funds to complete its plan for a a 15-barrel microbrewery in Manchester.

Ralph Bergman, a lawyer from Mystic, is preparing to open the Mystic Harbor Brewing Company, a microbrewery which will produce English-style ales.

I've heard rumor that the Brown & Thompson's restaurant chain is looking to either turn a Hartford restaurant into a brewpub or build one in the area.

Look for news in the future on a brewery in Essex and a brewpub or chain of brewpubs in Fairfield County.

Rhode Island

Head brewer Norm Allaire of Union Station Brewery in Providence is pumping out East Coast Common, which is his version of California Common or Steam style beer. East Coast Common was first made in January and quickly became the brewpub's No. 2 seller. "We want to keep it as a standard beer," said Allaire. Also on tap recently has been Celtic Strong Ale, a Honey Porter brewed with 60 pounds of the golden nectar for each 10-barrel batch, and a Dry Stout, served via nitrogen tap, for a rich, creamy head and smooth body.

Ray McConnell of the Emerald Isle Beer Works in West Warwick recently introduced his newest beer, Beaver Tail IPA. The IPA can be found at the the Cowessett Inn (West Warwick), the Red Parrot (Newport) and the Twin Willows (Narragansett) as well as at Redbones (Somerville, Mass.). On Friday, February 16 McConnell and his pals celebrated Emerald Isle's second annual Mardi Gras (shouldn't it be Vendredi Gras?) at the brewery in West Warwick. McConnell celebrates Vendredi Gras because, like most brewers, he gives up beer for Lent. In his own words: "Poor Raymond doesn't drink until Easter." The party included tastings of his Nut Brown Ale, IPA, Porter, Bank Street Ale and Holiday Ale.

A final note from the Wrath of Grapes department: I've determined, after testing at many a high-brow affair, that the best way to piss off a wine snob (or perhaps you'd prefer to piss on a wine snob) is to tell them that beer is more complex than wine. Do it and watch the reaction. Then e-mail me with the results.

Pull quote:

The Nutmeg State has lagged behind the rest of New England in terms of its brewing scene, but that looks like it is about to change.

Photo caption:

Bartender Dawn Adams pours a pint of locally-made beer at The Black Cow in Hamilton, Massachusetts. The pub puts a special emphasis on serving brews made in neighboring North Shore towns. (Photo: Kerry J Byrne)