New CT breweries planned for 2015

Veracious will be excellent I expect. They have so much knowledge from the home brew business, I can't see them doing anything that isn't spot on. Poor me, I drive by there 2x a day. Maybe that should be "pour me". March is coming soon.

 

Im really looking forward to Kent Falls. Met one of the guys at Steady Habits opening and seemed like a good guy.

 

Serious question, how many breweries do you think CT can support? This isn't the biggest beer drinking state, in both total numbers and percentage of population. Don't get me wrong, I would love for each of these places to do well, I just don't see how all the breweries that opened recently are all going to survive (unless they get a reputation that will draw out-of-staters, like NEBCo and beer'd).

 

I just moved from MN where over 30 breweries have opened in the last 2 years. the Twin Cities has a population of ~4 million, so its a decent sized metro area, but 30+ is a lot of new breweries. Somehow the market hadn't hit saturation when I left at the end of the year and more are still opening, so the bubble keeps growing. I suspect the market will hit saturation soon and the bad ones will close in the next couple years, but still, craft beer is trendy right now which will probably help support an artificially large number of breweries in the short term. So to answer RMoe's question, more than you think.

hopefully we get an Alchemist or HF quality brewery in CT of the bubble at least. We have some good ones already, but I can hope for an 'anointed brewery' like HF cant I?

 

A little birdy told me they'd be brewing first batch next week...

 

Pat - appreciate the update on what's happening in 2015.

As new breweries continue to open and competition increases, I hope it pushes the quality of all beer produced in CT higher. There are already too many less than mediocre breweries in this state.

 

You're asking for a lot to have a Alchemist or HF quality brewery anywhere else. Those type of breweries are far and few between. That being said, people are travelling for NEBCo and should be travelling for OEC. They both have consistently provided top notch offerings.

 

After Shebeen closes there will be one less.

 

FWIW - Alchemist and HF are very different beasts. As mentioned though, I feel we have some breweries in that same realm of quality (Nebco, OEC) however it's hard to touch HF of diversity of fantastic brews.

 

There are a couple others that I could see not lasting too long either. Things are going to get interesting over the next couple years.

 

I think CT has room for more breweries. I think the difference between us and say, CA, is that because of the population there will be a higher demand for greater quality. Not to say states like CA do not have high quality breweries as they have many but I think there will be less chance of a pretty good brewery surviving and the demand will be good to very good in order to survive. As with any market for beer the breweries in state will need to satisfy a need whether it be better/fresher beer than out of state breweries (NEBC) or providing something different (OEC).

 

I've just been told that Kent Falls sold their first keg today! So they are officially open. You have to go to @thecorner in Litchfield to try it though.

 

I did see that - which is pretty awesome. Bad news is its a pretty far drive for me

 

Anyone who has stepped foot in Maltose the last few weeks has likely gotten to try some Veracious beers. So far what I've tasted has been very good!

 

Outer Light Brewery is opening up a mere 5 min walk from where I currently live. I can't wait and hope that a) they are awesome and b) they open before I move later this year. Fingers crossed.

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/lastingbrass/status/576108068968271872/photo/1

 

if they do it like steady habit, i think we can support a lot of them. i don't mean small so much as "makes very freshness based beer, didn't open next door to NEBCO."

see for example stubborn beauty, who i wasn't as impressed with but definitely want to give another chance. they have a nice big space, great attitude, brew a variety of beers several very freshness-based, and could really thrive on local traffic. both breweries mentioned are doing it "the right way" in my opinion. ie don't try to take over america, just keep pushing to build the local scene and sell good beer to locals.

get a bunch of good brewers doing that kind of thing and honestly i think we could handle a good 20 or so breweries with heavy business easily. can't handle 20 Two Roads, but 20 small startups with steady growth would be awesome for CT.

edit: yeah and kent falls look to be doing it exactly right to.

and re: HF quality beer, NEBCO is the shit.

 

The institution of craft breweries can influence the culture and possibly make it a staple to the population.