USA, NY: Medusa Brewing Company brings Wild Hare restaurant, brewery to Hudson

Six years ago, Medusa Brewing Company opened and brought fresh beer and a popular taproom to downtown Hudson, the MetroWest Daily News reported on December 20.

Now, the group is taking on a new project, Wild Hare, which will feature gourmet pastries and coffee, a lunch and dinner menu heavily influenced by European cuisine and wood-influenced beers.

“It’s a little more sophisticated for us,” said co-owner Keith Sullivan. “It’s a part of us that we’ve always had inside of us, but we haven’t been able to explore it.”

Wild Hare will be located at the Landing at Hudson Mills, 43 Broad St. It will be in the anchor location with a 5,000-square-foot interior along with another 1,000 square feet of outdoor dining space, Sullivan said.

Unlike Medusa Brewing Company, which only offers limited food, Wild Hare will be a full restaurant, with chef Ryan Boya being hired to head the kitchen. He was previously a chef at the Liquid Art House in Boston and ArtScience Culture Lab & Café in Cambridge.

“Food will be a major draw,” Sullivan said.

Although connected to Medusa, Wild Hare will have its own brewery license. The wort, the non-alcoholic liquid that beer begins with before the addition of yeast, will be brewed at Medusa and then trucked over to Wild Hare for the fermentation and other elements of the brewing process.

The beers at Wild Hare will be much different than Medusa's. All of them will have wood involved in the brewing process, either in former liquor or wine barrels, or in the newly made foeders (large barrels made with American oak) or in some other way.

“The beer program will be all of the beers we’ve been dying to do,” said Sullivan. “We’re going to explore the relationship between wood and beer and it doesn’t mean every beer will be barrel-aged.”

Wild Hare will be an all-day affair. It will open in the morning with French-inspired pastries, coffee from Devocion of Brooklyn, New York, as well as “a ridiculously good breakfast sandwich,” Sullivan said.

The lunch will feature house-made bread paired with charcuterie plates with local meats and cheeses, as well as other locally made spreads.

Dinner will feature small, European-influenced plates meant for sharing.

“The dinners will be intimate and made to show off the potential of pairing food with some of the delicate beers will be offering,” Sullivan said.

Wild Hare will open in phases, Sullivan said. The bakery and coffee service will begin in January, followed later by lunch and dinner services.

“Wild Hare is certainly a new project for us,” said Sullivan. “I like to say it’s Medusa’s wild side coming out.”

21 December, 2021