After six years of contract brewing with partners in the far corners of Massachusetts, Springfield-based White Lion Brewing now has a space to call its own at the city’s Tower Square development.
“It’s been a journey, but through perseverance, a good team and good support, we are where we are right now,” White Lion founder Raymond Berry told Brewbound.
Berry founded White Lion in 2014 and began contract brewing at Ipswich Ale Brewery in Ipswich, Massachusetts, located nearly 115 miles from Springfield on the commonwealth’s northern coast. Three years ago, when cans became more prominent in craft beer, White Lion’s production brewing moved to Brewmasters Brewing Services in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, which provided canning services and a much shorter commute for Berry.
In its new 8,000 sq. ft. space, White Lion will have a canning line and the capacity to brew 5,000 barrels annually. White Lion’s new brewery is fully operational, and its taproom and kitchen, which will be operated by a local restaurant partner, are on track to open in November.
“We have everything on-premise, so our model is going to change a little bit,” Berry said. “We’re going to try to create a very robust taproom environment because we’re in the middle of downtown. Pre-COVID, there was a tremendous amount of foot traffic and activity.”
Within walking distance of White Lion’s brewery are several theaters and hotels, the MassMutual Center with an arena and convention space and the MGM Springfield casino and resort — all of which have been dormant since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the U.S. in mid-March.
“We’re not in any rush to open up the taproom, from a food and beverage point of view, but we do want to be in that position to make it work,” Berry said, adding that White Lion will offer beer-to-go sales until the taproom can open for on-premise service.
The pandemic has hurt White Lion’s business, which increased 40% from 765 barrels in 2018 to 1,056 barrels in 2019, according to data from not-for-profit industry trade group the Brewers Association.
“We lost 100% of our outdoor summer and seasonal programming,” Berry said.
In 2019, White Lion ran “very robust” outdoor beer gardens in Springfield and Westfield, which were both canceled, as were the city’s road races, for which White Lion provided beer, Berry said.
White Lion self-distributes its offerings in Massachusetts, focusing on the central and western parts of the commonwealth. During the pandemic, the company grew its distribution portfolio to include products from Florence, Massachusetts-based Brew Practitioners, Belchertown, Massachusetts-based Arc Point Brewing, and Worcester, Massachusetts-based 3Cross Fermentation Cooperative. While Lion is also exploring a partnership with a wholesaler in Connecticut.
“Sales took a little bit of a dip, because obviously restaurants and bars had to go through their own pains and strain,” Berry said. “And some of those establishments are not ordering at the volume that they were accustomed to ordering.”
As is the case with many other breweries during the pandemic, White Lion’s packaged beer sales are up.
“From an off-premise perspective, we have seen an increase in sales, so that does help balance some of the loss of production and revenue generation from the on-premise,” Berry said.
White Lion’s overall business has been buoyed by financial support from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the city of Springfield.
“We’ve been very fortunate to bridge some of those gaps and maintain balance in our financial picture,” Berry said.
To fund the new brewery and taproom, White Lion is using a combination of “all of the above,” he said.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate over the years continuous sales and a revenue model, so we’re not looked at as a brand new startup with projections that cannot be justified,” Berry said. “Between cash flow from existing business operations, we onboarded an equity partner and we have some private and city finances.”
To celebrate its new space, White Lion will release a collaboration beer brewed with Weymouth, Massachusetts-based Vitamin Sea Brewing. During the summer, White Lion teamed up with another eastern Massachusetts brewery, Canton-based Trillium Brewing, to brew a batch of Black is Beautiful, the national collaboration beer started by San Antonio, Texas-based Weathered Souls Brewing as a way for craft brewers to raise funds and awareness for organizations working to combat police brutality and racial injustice.
White Lion donated proceeds from its batch of Black is Beautiful to the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley, based in Springfield. Berry, who is one of a handful of Black brewery owners in Massachusetts, hopes to start an annual collaboration release with fellow Black brewery owners. The inaugural brew day is scheduled for next month at White Lion.
Although White Lion has been in business longer than several of its peers, Berry doesn’t see himself as a role model, but views their relationship as a free-flowing exchange of ideas between both upstarts and established professionals.
“It’s good to be able to bounce ideas off of each other, whether you’re a new person entering the trade, or whether you’re an OG that’s been around for quite some time,” he said. “I think it’s important for any one of us to be able to roll with the changing environment, because with the changing environment, you will get stuck in your lane, and you can become obsolete.”
When conditions allow, Berry said he hopes White Lion’s space can help foster connections that will become a force for good in the Springfield area.
“We would love to be in a position to hold community conversations,” he said. “We’re big on giving back to the community — other like organizations that are in the nonprofit space that can move the needle relative to social justice and equality, just general conversation around what’s morally right.
“We want to be able to partake, and see how we can help move that needle as well.”