Other Half Taking Over Former Goose Island Taproom in PhiladelphiaBrooklyn-headquartered Other Half Brewing will set up shop in the former Goose Island brewery and taproom in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier this week.“Philadelphia has a long and robust brewing history and when the opportunity presented itself to open an Other Half location here — in between our D.C. and NYC breweries — we couldn’t pass it up,” Other Half co-founder Andre Burman told the Inquirer in a statement.
Burman, Matt Monahan and Sam Richardson founded Other Half in 2014. The company now operates breweries in New York (two in Brooklyn, one in Bloomfield in the state’s Finger Lakes region) and in Washington, D.C. The brewery also has plans to open a taproom in Buffalo.
In 2020, Other Half’s volume increased 18%, to 20,356 barrels, according to the Brewers Association’s New Brewer magazine. During the pandemic, Other Half — which previously relied almost exclusively on taproom sales — pivoted to offer home delivery in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, and in Washington, D.C., as well as direct-to-consumer shipments to Washington, D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Anheuser-Busch opened the Philadelphia Goose Island taproom in 2018, and closed it in December 2020 due to the “significant impact” the pandemic had on its business.
Big Grove Brewery Plans Two New Iowa Locations
Iowa City-headquartered Big Grove Brewery will open its third location in Des Moines next year, and its fourth in Cedar Rapids in 2023.
“For me, it was crazy because I came back to Iowa eight years ago to complete our dream of opening a location in Solon,” co-owner Doug Goettsch said in a press release. “For the longest time, we didn’t think anything past that. I’m thrilled by our growth and bringing the magic of Big Grove to Des Moines. It is a perfect next step.”
In Des Moines, Big Grove’s brewery and taproom will go into the eastern side of the former Crescent Chevrolet building, in which convenience chain Kum & Go’s development arm Krause+ is planning to create an “eatertainment hub,” according to the Des Moines Register.
Big Grove is installing a 15-barrel brewhouse in the space, which will produce beer for the taproom and restaurant and will include sections for self-service and full-table service. The hybrid service plan offers “flexibility for bigger parties and people to get up and mingle and just have a different experience that doesn’t confine them to their table,” culinary director Benjamin Smart said in the release.
“In Des Moines, we plan to cover a full range of beer styles, from barrel-aged sours to hazy double IPAs and everything in between,” head brewer Andy Joynt added.
When Big Grove’s Cedar Rapids outpost opens in 2023, the space will focus on brewing lagers and experimenting with open fermentation.
Construction will begin in Des Moines in October, and in Cedar Rapids in fall 2022.
In other Big Grove news, the company will launch Squeeze Hard Seltzer later this summer.
Luna Bay Booch to Open Chicago Pop-Up
Hard kombucha maker Luna Bay Booch will open a pop-up coworking and event space in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood on July 19.
The 2,600 sq. ft. space — dubbed “Boochquarters” by the Chicago-based brand — will offer coworking space and a coffee bar during the day and events on nights and weekends through the end of 2021.
“At Luna Bay, we’re changing the way people celebrate with our boozy booch, and through Boochquarters, we want to change the way people work, gather, learn and play,” CEO Bridget Connelly said in a press release. “Boochquarters is our new work and play space for our Chicago community.”
Luna Bay has partnered with Chicago-based real estate development firm Sterling Bay to bring Boochquarters to life.
“Our team takes a lot of pride in curating retail tenants that thoughtfully deliver unique experiences to our properties,” Sterling Bay director of leasing Jessica Brown said in the release. “We’re confident Luna Bay’s wellness-focused approach to community engagement is a natural fit for the Fulton Market neighborhood.”
Trillium Opens Taproom and Restaurant On New Canton Campus
Trillium Brewing Company opened its new “forever home” last week in Canton, Massachusetts. The new taproom, beer garden and restaurant resides on a 20-acre plot of land that will eventually house the company’s first distillery, as well as all its beer production, according to Boston Magazine.
The taproom can seat more than 500 patrons, with an additional 39 seats at the restaurant bar. Visitors also have the option to order from their phones while sitting outside to have their beers delivered to their seats. The location will also provide pick-up options for online sales.
The restaurant will be overseen by executive chef Tyler Kinnett, and will serve an array of smoked and barbecued meats and pizza. Ingredients will be sourced from a Stonington, Connecticut, farm Trillium purchased in 2018.
Trillium currently operates a restaurant and brewpub in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood as well as a taproom in the Fenway area and a seasonal beer garden on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston.
Holidaily to Open Denver Tech Center Taproom
Colorado’s Holidaily Brewing Company announced a new taproom location, set to open in the Denver area this summer.
Located in the Denver Tech Center area in Greenwood Village, the 2,350 sq. ft. space will feature a dog-friendly patio and serve a rotating selection of Holidaily’s gluten-free brews, according to a release.
“Our mission has always been about getting great-tasting gluten-free beer to as many people as possible,” founder Karen Hertz said in the release. “This additional taproom will allow us to meet a growing demand.”
The Denver location will be Holidaily’s second taproom in the state. The company’s first taproom and production brewery, which opened in 2016 in Golden, Colorado, will continue to brew all of the company’s draft and distributed beers.
Holidaily has expanded production 850% since its inception, shipping beer to Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Texas, according to the release. It is one of the largest dedicated gluten-free breweries in the country, with “not one gluten-containing ingredient” entering Holidaily’s production facilities, according to its website.
Pennsylvania’s Crowded Castle to Close Later This Month
Crowded Castle Brewing Company in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, will close at the end of July, according to a letter posted its website and Twitter last week.
“Due to the economic struggle of the pandemic we were unable to keep our lease extension and have been unable to renegotiate a workable new lease,” the announcement read. “We thank the Borough of Phoenixville, our friends, and customers for the support and great fun you brought to us.”
The brewery originally opened in 2017, founded by W5 Homebrew Club, a group of neighborhood homebrewers, according to Breweries In PA.
Crowded Castle will sell its existing inventory at its taproom throughout the month, with cans, growlers, sixtles, and halves available at “going out of business” prices.
Non-Profit TRU Colors Delays First Beer Release
Tru Colors, a non-profit brewery in North Carolina that sold an equity stake to Molson Coors, has delayed its first beer release, citing “unforeseen complications while working with [its] new brewing systems,” according to Wilmington Biz.
“We made this decision because we believe TRU Colors will be a large national hit, and we think we have such a great opportunity here … We didn’t want to add risk [on the product side] that we couldn’t mitigate,” TRU Colors CEO George Taylor told the outlet. “So we made the decision to push [the launch]. … We have to reset some of the brewing, and we’ve got to test.”
TRU Colors has been in the works since 2017, employing local gang members to help run the business and brew its beer with the hope it will lessen street violence and give members a second chance at life.
The brewery has spent more than a year brewing and testing its recipe for its TRU Light, which was originally set to release July 12. However, when starting to brew the offering, Taylor said the final product did not come out as planned, adding that the launch will be pushed until the brewing process is perfected, reported Wilmington Biz.
In April, TRU Colors forged a strategic partnership with Molson Coors, which is providing the new brewery with access to its distribution network. The beer is set to launch across North Carolina, followed by Virginia, and eventually nationwide.
South Korean Brewery Shutters California Location
The landlord of the Eureka, California location of Seoul, South Korea-headquartered The Booth Brewing Company auctioned the brewery’s equipment last month after the facility closed “without notice” in December, according to a report in Lost Coast Outpost.
The auction included a Wild Goose 16 oz. can line, a 30-barrel four-vessel brewhouse, 60- and 99-barrel glycol jacketed fermentation tanks with conical bottoms and more. Auction company Schneider Industries and liquidation company Tiger Group paired up to run the auction, which closed on June 17. Those companies said the auction attracted 236 registered bidders and “generated proceeds that were 15% above the sale partners’ expectations,” according to a press release. The assets were split among 46 buyers from across the U.S.
The Booth has not updated its U.S. location’s social media pages since July 2020 or its South Korea-based pages since February.
It opened its Eureka location in January 2017, taking over a 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse that once contained Eureka-based Lost Coast Brewery, according to Lost Coast Outpost. The Booth produced 1,125 barrels in 2020, according to the New Brewer magazine.