Contract/Host breweries

Not quite southern New England, but Shipyard in Portland Maine does contract brewing.

 

FX Matt (Saranac) in Utica

 

Mercury Brewing in Ipswitch, MA

 

Two notable ones are the new "Two Roads" brewery in CT which was build to "...brew our own brand, but we’re also here to fill a demand for contract brewing on the East Coast...”, and Wachusett Brewing Co., which this article notes is "...“actively pursuing” contract partnerships with other New England brewers..." since buying a high speed canning line.

 

Definitely this one, and another one north of Albany, NY, Olde Saratoga, is a large scale host too.

OS contract brews

 

Since you're in RI, maybe your definition of "southern New England" is probably more limited relative to other people, so I'll assume Mercury In Ipswich MA is too far north for you. Buzzards Bay in Westport MA does contract work. Although Pretty Things is brewed there by Pretty Things themselves (gypsy brewing), I remember seeing from a tour there that Buzzards was contract brewing for Offshore Ale's presence on the mainland. And I believe they do some contract brewing for Narragansett as well.

EDIT: It's also possible to do this at small brewpubs, such as Watch City in Waltham MA. http://watchcitybrew.com/our-brews/contract-brewing/

 

Check probrewer.com too

 

Cottrell in Pawcatuck, CT.

 

Now you really need to do your own homework. Asking consumers for advice on production? I'm sure there are other, better venues for this type of query. Emannths suggested probrewer.com. I'd check that if you didn't want to do something more professionally responsible.

 

It is pretty clear to me why a brewery wouldn't want to get tied up with a start up. They have limited time and resources, and if they can put those towards a going concern with known volumes it is way more effective than dicking around with a start up. Business 101.

 

I would highly recommend spending some time at probrewer.com and/or hiring a consultant who is familiar with contract brewing specifically. Looking at canning to cut packaging costs might be tough.

Paper City Brewery in Holyoke, MA might be a good option to check into.

Good luck!

 

They aren't open yet, but the 7th Settlement Brewery (brewpub) in Dover, NH is going to have a tenant brewery (One Love Brewing) operating in their space as well.

 

You could have started with that info...

 

Beat me to it. I second this statement.

 

What's your brewery's goal? Put out one beer and then thats it? Boot strapping a contract brewing brand won't get you far or really be worth the time/effort it takes to even get a batch on the shelf. I suggest you talk with local contract brewers like Helder from Backlash, Chris from Notch, and so on about what it is like working in that type model. I would bet they would tell you to raise more funds and/or don't do it at all. 8k won't buy you much. Best of luck in your endeavorer.

 

I'm not asking these questions expecting you to answer, and I don't intend to crap on your idea, but have you really thought through this? What experience do you have brewing, or have you just made up a recipe/idea that you think is a good one?

That first batch may not come out how you want it to. Then what? Scaling up from a small/homebrew operation into a multiple-bbl batch requires more than just extrapolation. The first batch you make may not be any good, and you certainly shouldn't put all your chips on it.

Kind of makes you think there may be a lot of people out there who think they have what it takes to break into the industry, doesn't it? They just need someone else who has already done the homework, taken the risks, invested the capital, and established a working system to do the actual brewing for them. Be aware of what you are asking. They've already paid their dues and are not still in the business because they have a habit of letting the client dictate the details of the transaction.

You're right. You're not the only one who has thought they had this great idea. There have in the recent past been a few threads dealing with some specifics and containing some really good information from people who have done the research and been willing to share what they came up with. You should search for those threads, most of which will be in the Homebrewing subforum since that is where this seed of an idea usually germinates from. But there's not much of it really--folks who are serious about this have worked hard to get that information, and they don't take someone very seriously who just shotguns a general query out onto the webs and hopes to incorporate consumer opinions into their business model.

My consumer opinion: this is the point where you hire a trained industry consultant. They will know what is possible and what is not, and they will have leverage with contacts that you will never build.

 

Ummm...so you sell out of that first batch and it has great sell through at retail. What happens in the 4-6 weeks that you're out of product waiting on that second batch