Firefly Hollow Brewing Suspends Operations

Yeah, this is too bad. As Duff said, Dana and staff are good peeps. I never like to see this happen to people who are just trying to make a living doing what they love. The possibility exists where they stick around though. Stay tuned.

 

Keep you fingers crossed something can be worked out and they come back better than ever.
Firefly is one of the most underrated breweries in CT. Cone Flakes is a phenomenal IPA up there with Heady Topper IMO. They brew wonderful classic styles (Best Bitter, Oatmeal Stout, Amber) and their lager game was on point with the best of them in the state. Not to mention their barrel and specialty beers (Boris, Wood Drip, Twinkler) were always interesting, balanced, and fun.

They brew great beer and deserve more recognition.

I lived in Bristol for a while, and Firefly was one of the breweries that got me into craft beer and brewing. I really hope we can see a turn of fortune and a return.

 

Cone Flakes to Heady seems like a bold statement but I haven’t had a Firefly beer in years.

Definitely unfortunate as there are many other CT candidates for breweries that should cease operations.

 

Never heard of them but it still makes me sad

 

They had a nice wax top barrel aged barleywine. I had one in my basement but drank it a year or two ago. Would buy it again if I saw it

Better Half brewing down the street from them also closed somewhat recently. They opened at the worst time possible (covid)

 

By a fluke, considering the geography, Imperial Coconut Porter in the 22oz bomber format was one of my very first big beers and probably went some ways toward getting me hooked on the dark stuff.

I made a point of getting bottles for the next couple of years but then somehow lost track of them amongst all the newer, shinier breweries. I feel a little responsible.

 

‘Choconaut.’

Curses, spellchecker. I got ‘Chico aug’ and ‘chocolatier’ before finally misfiring on coconut. Wtf is chico aug?

 

Cone flakes is nowhere near Heady. Cmon man, have some respect.

 

Opened at a bad time, had bad beer, had a bad concept (family restaurant? brewery?), space was weird, and not great food. They didn't close cuz of Covid. I know you didn't say that, but they wouldn't have survived no matter when they opened.

On the other hand, this thread, and discussions I've seen elsewhere, epitomizes why Firefly didn't make it even though I've never seen anyone criticize their beer....people just forgot about them and didn't have enough reasons to go out of their way to visit. Their location didn't help.

 

I mean, there is a clear IMO in the statement...

I stand by what I said. Not sure how it is disrespectful. There are plenty of great beers out there that dont get the recognition they deserve because they arent attached to a hype brewery. To me, Cone Flakes is one of the better IPAs in the state.

My comparison to Heady comes in that it is a hazier beer with a strong hop character that has a bracing bitterness, which are qualities I link to Heady and the qualities I personally search for in an IPA.

 

Without airing too much dirty laundry, there where some special factors at play that forced Firefly to suspend operations. From an operations perspective, they where performing fine! It wasnt that they died out due to lack of sales or interest. Hence why they are looking for ways to resume operations.

I do agree the location isnt the best... As someone that lived in Bristol for a long time, downtown is in a sad state and really provides zero reason for someone to visit...

 

Interesting. I never went to BH, so didn't know it was like that. I only went to Firefly once and it was a nice place, with a good atmosphere. I feel like if it wasn't in downtown Bristol, it would have been a very popular spot. Not much seems to survive in that City

 

Sorry to hear about Firefly. I live 40 miles away so I visited the brewery only once, and enjoyed my time there. Inside kind of an interesting old factory; and a food truck was present which provided me dinner that evening. I haven't spent much time in Bristol, so I don't really have clue about the local scene. But I have picked up their canned brews over the years in package stores and have never had a bad beer from them.

I hope they resurrect their business in a new location.

 

This probably deserves it's own thread, but I'm not a thread starting kinda guy.... Anyway, Looks like Hog River is also closing up shop, for now at least.... That's too bad, I've always enjoyed going there, hopefully they find a new spot to make things work, apparently moving over to Parvkville Market didn't work out. If you have a chance, help them out and help them drain their inventory during their new limited hours.

https://www.hogriverbrewing.com/

 

I wonder if production will be halted as well. Can’t tell from the article. But I can’t imagine what shutting down for a while and trying to find a new home does to your bottom line. I imagine for many it’s a hope,
But reality would be just ending the business

 

Their social media posts say they will still be distributing to retail and bars/restaurants. So maybe they will still brew there for awhile until their lease is done? Don't know if they will contract brew elsewhere or if they will have a new location before inventory depletes.