USA, MA: Two Weeks Notice Brewing preparing to open in Westfield this fall
Sitting in his cubicle one day thinking about his hopes to one day open a brewery, Mark Avery said to himself, “I can’t wait until I can give my two-weeks notice.”
And just like that, the future Westfield nanobrewery had its name, Reminder Publications reported on May 6.
Avery has nothing against his current employer, but the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream is something he’s been eager to obtain.
The Southwick resident and his partner, Rich DeSouza, are in the midst of a large-scale project to bring a Two Weeks Notice Brewing Company to Westfield with the goal of opening in the fall.
“I’ve always had an interest in brewing even before I got into home brewing. I wanted to be involved in the brewing industry in some way,” Avery said. “I emailed breweries and applied for jobs and never got anything back because I just didn’t have any experience.”
His first experience with brewing actually came in a very similar manner to most home brewers.
“My wife got me one of those Mr. Beer kits,” he said. “That was the first thing I ever brewed and ever since then I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
Approximately three years ago, Avery began giving serious consideration to opening his own brewing company after a friend at work continuously urged him to take it on.
“He kept saying I should start a brewery, but it’s really easy to just say that,” Avery said. “It’s a lot of work; it’s a really big undertaking, but as time went by I thought to myself that I could probably do a nanobrewery and see where it goes.”
Avery started working on a plan and perfecting his recipes and soon after DeSouza came on board.
“Rich would come over while I was home brewing and he really believed in it and that’s when he came aboard,” Avery said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. He’s a doer and that’s why we work well. I’m more of the creativity side and he’s the guy who will get stuff done.”
Standing in what is currently an empty industrial space on South Broad Street that will be Two Weeks Brewing’s home, Avery sees a bright future.
“This happened really quickly. We’d been working on the business plan for a while, then this spot came open,” he said. “The landlords have been awesome and they’ve worked with us really well. They’re actually helping us out with a lot of the basic construction. There’s a lot of room to grow in here.”
Two Weeks Notice will start operating with a one-barrel brewing system that has quite a history.
“It’s a legendary system. It was Sean Lawson’s [of Lawson’s Finest Liquids] original pilot system that got him up, then he sold it to Chad at Prohibition Pig and that got them off the ground,” Avery said. “When I saw that unit for sale, I said, ‘We’ve got to jump on this, man. There’s a lot of great beer karma with this system.’”
In keeping with the theme through which the brewery’s name came to be, the beers on tap will feature office-related names, such as the Resignation IPA, the Casual Friday pale ale and the Coffee Break maple coffee porter.
Beyond the names, Avery has received attention for the quality of his beer. Recently he won best in show, best IPA and best dark beer at The Beer Shop’s inaugural Homebrew Competition, adjudicated by local breweries such as Amherst Brewing Company, Abandoned Building Brewery, Brewmaster Jack and Glass Bottom Brewery as well as the public.
He will also participate in the home brewer’s competition at the Worthy Beer Fest in Springfield on June 18.
The brewery will initially open one day a week and will feature a full-pour taproom. When the company eventually moves to a larger system, Avery said it would add full growler fills.
He added he has received a great amount of support from the community.
“The city of Westfield in general, people at the City Hall and the offices have been nothing but extremely helpful in getting us in here, which was just great,” he said. “Just from starting the Facebook page and Instagram, I get emails almost daily – a lot of Westfield residents who want to know when we’re going to be open. Hearing people’s excitement makes me very excited too and I think we made the right choice.”
12 May, 2016
