Popular craft beermaker Trillium Brewing is planning to relocate its original brewing facility in the Fort Point neighborhood of Boston to a larger space just a few blocks away, Brewbound has learned.
The new space, according to brewery co-owner Jean-Claude Tetreault, will span more than 15,000 sq. ft. and will include a full-scale restaurant as well as outdoor patio seating. The company is also looking into the feasibility of building a roof deck bar, Tetreault added.
Specific financial details, as well as the exact address of the new brewery, were not disclosed, but the multi-million dollar project will be financed using a combination of bank debt and cash flow, Tetreault said.
“We are still working on the budget, but it will be roughly what we spent to the get our Canton facility open, and perhaps a bit more,” he said.
Trillium’s original outpost is located in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Boston, near the Seaport, but the company currently produces a majority of its beer out of a 16,000 sq. ft. brewing facility in Canton, Mass. It also leases a 36,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Canton for storing raw materials and aging beer.
The company has yet to sign a lease for the new Fort Point property and is currently negotiating the final details of the agreement with building owners and a Boston-based development company. It also needs approval from city officials before it can legally manufacture any alcoholic beverages, Tetreault added.
“We sought and received a zoning variance for our Congress Street location and we are planning to do the same with this new project,” Tetreault said.
Current plans call for the installation of a new 20-barrel brewhouse, multiple stainless steel fermentation vessels, horizontal lagering tanks and wooden foeders for aging sour beer.
Tetreault said the new facility would enable Trillium to finally operate a true “pilot brewery”, and experiment with styles that it isn’t known for.
“It will allow for much more creative freedom,” he said.
Trillium is working with Real Food Consulting for help developing the restaurant component of the business, Tetreault said, and the company plans to add dozens of new employees when the location opens in late 2017 or early 2018.
In addition to highly acclaimed sour and barrel-aged offerings, Trillium is regarded as one of the top producers of hazy New England-style IPAs, which are growing in popularity. The company will make about 10,000 barrels of beer in 2016 and 95 percent of its products will be sold directly to consumers, Tetreault said, allowing the company to retain margins that would otherwise be shared with beer wholesalers.
The company’s beer ranges in price, and some offerings have fetched as much as $22 per 4-pack (16 oz. cans).
Luxury pricing has enabled Trillium to pursue costly expansion projects, like the one in Fort Point, and the company is also considering building a third farmhouse brewery in Connecticut.
“We are doing feasibility assessments, and that’s something that has been going on for a couple years now,” he said. “It will eventually happen. These things just take a ton of time.”