Craft brewing booming in Central Mass. amid sustainability concerns
PHOTOS/ZACHARY COMEAU
Craftroots Brewing co-founder Robin Fabry pours a beer with employee Russ Gallant. The Milford brewery opened in March.
As long as the beer is new and unique, “You'll be OK” in the surging craft beer market, said Nancy Bixby, co-founder of Altruist Brewing Co. in Sturbridge.
Nancy and husband Bob Bixby plan to open the brewery and taproom sometime this fall. They're still plugging away and working to get the space in a renovated mill building on Main Street in Sturbridge ready.
Once Altruist opens and the beer is flowing, it will join more than 140 breweries in the state, a huge leap from the 45 breweries operational in 2011, according to the Brewers Association and Mass. Brewers Guild. That growth is matched in Central Massachusetts, with breweries opening in places like Northbridge, East Brookfield, Milford and Hudson this year and next year – joining companies like Wormtown Brewery in Worcester, Jack's Abby Craft Lager in Framingham and Wachusett Brewing Co. in Westminster who only a couple of years ago were the new kids themselves.
Nationwide, numbers are skyrocketing. In 2016, breweries numbered 5,301, compared to just 2,047 in 2011, according to the Brewers Association.
Friendly competition, so far
Despite a craft brewery seemingly opening in every town recently, the competition – at least among small breweries – remains friendly, the Bixbies said.
“It's not me against Rapscallion,” Bob Bixby said, referencing an established craft brewery in Sturbridge. “It's all of us against the big guys: Budweiser and Coors.”
Another brewer from Framingham drives by the building each day and routinely stops in to ask if he can be any help, Bob Bixby said. A Hudson brewery sold Altruist a fermenter at a discounted price.
The couple pointed to Treehouse Brewing – which recently opened just down Rte. 20 in Charlton and has boasted two-hour lines of patrons – as a sign interest in craft beer isn't slowing.
Tree House and Altruist are among many breweries that have opened recently or are opening soon in Central Massachusetts, including Medusa Brewing Co. in Hudson, Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. in Worcester, River Styx in Fitchburg, Purgatory Brewing Co. in Northbridge, Craftroots Brewing in Milford, Timberyard Brewing in East Brookfield, Exhibit A in Framingham and Start Line Brewing in Hopkinton.
Yet, this rapid growth of craft beer may not be sustainable if growth continues at anexponential pace, said Rob Burns, president of the Mass. Brewers Guild and co-owner of Night Shift Brewing in Everett.
A time may come when too much beer oversaturates the market. Burns specifically cited the California market with its 623 breweries last year as reaching that peak, noting certain smaller breweries on the West Coast filing for bankruptcy, closing or being bought out by larger companies.
Yet, the number of Massachusetts home brewers or beer enthusiasts even considering turning the hobby into a company is definitely growing. At a July brewery bootcamp held by the guild, 65 people attended, Burns said.
“You look out at the room and say, 'Oh my God, this many people are in this room today, but how many other people out there are getting close to opening?'” Burns said.
Purgatory Brewing Co. in Northbridge, had such humbling beginnings as a home brewer, said Co-Founder Brian Distefano.
Now, the brewery is opening a location in the Linwood Mill in Northbridge sometime in September. He and business partner Kevin Muvehill have received nothing but support from other local breweries offering discounted equipment, including Worcester's Wormtown Brewery.
Because of this collaboration and support, Distefano isn't thinking ahead to when the brewery boom begins to slow.
“Just like any other business, I think growth is awesome and very exciting,” he said.
Steps to be successful
Rob Vandenabeele, a beer enthusiasts who runs Massachusetts-based massbrewbros.com, said the craft beer market remains friendly, but the rapid expansion is turning would-be entrepreneurs away.
Van's website says 59 breweries are pending opening in Massachusetts. That potential for competition, coupled with the time and expenses of opening a brewery has deterred some from exploring the idea, he said.
To succeed in the current craft beer environment, breweries need at least two of three things: amazing beer, a fantastic location and a really well-thought out business plan, he said.
“If you don't have two or three of those things in this environment, I think you could be really struggling,” Van said.
Nurturing American creativity
The founders of Craftroots Brewing in Milford feel they meet those criteria. Though the brewery is located in a warehouse in an industrial park by I-495 (per town bylaws), their business model promotes the reinvigorated local commerce scene: all of the brewery's grain and hops come from family farms in New England.
Like most local breweries, Craftroots holds fundraisers for local organizations and sports teams and collaborates with other local businesses.
The brewery has the means and resources to expand and grow, but it has resisted so far – mostly to protect the integrity of the beer and brand.
“I want to ensure that the beer is being consumed as I intended it to taste,” said co-founder Maureen Fabry.
Craftroots, too, has been the beneficiary of discounted supplies from other local brewers. Despite the failures of some smaller breweries, Fabry contends beermakers' elbows aren't getting any sharper just yet.
Fabry called the growth a flourishing of creativity rather than a dog-eat-dog, cutthroat business.
“Suddenly people want to know where their food and beer comes from,” she said. “What's cool about American creativity is that we can sustain this growth because no beer is truly alike.”
Co-founder and wife Robin Fabry equated the boom to the growing local restaurant scene.
“Every restaurant is full,” she said. “There's enough food and enough beer to make everybody happy.”
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