Night Shift Brewing Will Open Two Beer Gardens on Charles River

Sounds like cool spots. If I'm in the area I'll check them out but definitely won't make them a destination. Too many breweries that make better beer I'd rather drive to.

 

Anyone have an ETA on the Esplanade garden near Fieldler?

 

Getting really close, tying up a few final loose ends. Should be open sometime next week. Stay tuned!

 

Excellent news!

 

Getting real close...

 

Grand opening is today for the Esplanade location. Come down for some beer!

 

It's interesting that you think this. I can understand why you do, because Nightshift is in so many stores. But it's just not true.

Nightshift's Everett facility produces 20k barrels per year, and was aiming to produce 30K barrels total in 2018. https://www.brewbound.com/news/nigh...m-inside-converse-world-headquarters-building

Trillium's Canton facility alone was sized for 35K barrels per year, and that was before they bought the huge space up the road.

It's deceiving because Trillium sells almost everything out of their front door.

 

That is indeed surprising! Though NS also contract brews a bunch of their canned stuff so I wonder if the difference is as stark as those numbers suggest?

 

At least Santilli is brewed at Smuttynose I think? And I think half of that facility is Nightshift beers (someone correct me if I'm wrong on any of this).

And while not THEIR beers, they also have a distributing company, which I'm sure brings in some decent money.

@cmurphycode the Canton facility has the capacity for 35K barrels, but are they using all of it yet?

 

Right, they contract out a bit, which is why their production number is higher than the 20K for Everett, as I noted. Numbers change, of course, but here are some hard numbers: https://www.brewbound.com/news/night-shift-brewing-contract-brew-smuttynose (20K everett, 5K at smutty)

As for Trillium: not sure, but given their growth trajectory, what the facility looks like (I mean, it's stuffed to the gills with FVs), and buying the additional space, I think they must've.

Treehouse, too. Charlton is theoretical 100K BBL, and based on their case counts, they're brewing at least 35K BBL run rate right now. Probably a touch higher.

You know what'll really blow your mind? Jacks Abby sold 45K BBL last year.

 

And yet, we still don't have a new batch of Lager Ness Monster...

 

That one doesn't surprise me at all actually. I would have guessed JA was moving much more than NS given their bargain priced 12/15 pack options.

ETA: plus their space is absolutely gigantic

 

For sure - & sells it at a premium price above what would be expected at a package store without all the middle man deductions.

Doesn’t take a genius to realize Trill (& TH for that matter) are printing money. Kinda disappointing they don’t give some price breaks back to the customer - which is why I rarely visit their brewery.

Both TH & Trill have good beer IMO. But I can absolutely find equal to or better beer for the $ elsewhere.

I’m sure I’ll be told how wrong I am by fanboys. Bring it on.

 

Santilli, Nite Lite and some Morphs are being contract brewed at Isle Brewer's Guild in Pawtucket owned by Narragansett (they brew seasonal/limited batches there with Lager still coming from NY). Once the auction was forthcoming NS bailed from Smuttynose.

The Guild also contract brews Wash Ashore, Devil's Purse, Willie's Superbrew, Newburyport, Great North Aleworks and Monopolio.

 

I agree with @meefmoff this isn't surprising. I remember hearing a few years ago that Jack's Abby was only second to Harpoon in beer production in the state (Sam Adams' JP brewery being mostly an R & D facility).

Moreover, just from reading the forums, it seems like Jack's Abby is distributed to a lot of different states. Nightshift is too, but JA's distribution network seems larger, anecdotally at least.

Does the 45K barrels count Springdale too (I assume it doesn't)?

You know me, I'm FAR from a fanboy, but for my palate Trillium makes the best IPAs. I drink them mostly on draft though, as their stuff is expensive, and I don't feel like going to Fort Point even though it's fairly close for me. And I sure as hell am not driving to Treehouse. Plus, as you said, there's IPAs just as good, or close to it, that you can find at your local store.

Just out of curiosity, what do you like that's as good or better?

Ohh right, I remember this now. Good post, very informative.


On topic, the beer garden looks like a nice spot, does anyone know the exact address?

 

For what it's worth, I was intending the JA 45k number to be a surprise low. It's barely more than trillium and treehouse will soon surpass it, despite their insanely large presence as you all noted.

 

“Owl's Nest Esplanade is located on the west side of Fiedler Field along Boston's Esplanade. It's a 3-minute walk from the Hatch Shell, a 10-minute stroll from Boston Common, a 10-minute bike from Kendall Square (we have bike racks!), and about 15 steps from the Charles River. Look for people + beer + river...you'll find it.“

https://www.nightshiftbrewing.com/owls-nest/

 

When does the Brighton one open up?

 

I don't have any skin in this game one way or the other, but I'd really like to see some actual numbers as we get further into this topic. The only figure I can find online is that Jack's Abby *actually* brewed 45K barrels in 2017, and that Trillium has a theoretical ability to brew 35K barrels.

 

Found this article about the new space in Boston (which sounds like it's getting close!):

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/05/30/trillium-plans-connecticut-farm-fort-point.html

"The brewing capacity of the new space will reach 1,500 to 2,000 barrels a year, but JC said that won't be enough to meet the demand for that location. “So we’ll bring beer over from Canton," he said. "It’s a logistics hurdle for us to manage.

But rather than abandon their original Congress Street location in Fort Point, Esther said that they will hold on to the space to brew small test batches”

Those two things together seem to suggest that they can't be brewing to capacity in Canton otherwise they wouldn't be able to absorb the extra demand created by the new restaurant/taproom and the conversion of Fort Point to test batches only.