USA, MA: Arcpoint Brewing Company opens in Belchertown

Brewed with tenacity, poured with purpose.

The two slogans of Arcpoint Brewing Company, Belchertown’s first brewery located at 30 Front St., stand out in bright red letters against the blue grey walls painted the same color as the skins of the air force jets owners CJ Eldridge and Chris Peterson maintained during their first years at Westover Air Reserve Base together, Daily Hampshire Gazette reported on August 21.

While the sayings come from their military values, the brewery and taproom would have never laid roots in Belchertown without the persistence and determination of the two veterans and their business partner Dave Pare.

“I don’t think it’s really hit yet,” Peterson said about finally opening Arcpoint last weekend. “It’s just been so incredibly non-stop, the amount of hours that Dave and CJ have put in these past few weeks have been nuts.”

Peterson dreamed of opening a taproom since he started brewing a decade ago and asked his best friend to go into business with him two years later. When the two veterans finally got a loan and a location in 2019 — after the town approved a new bylaw to allow breweries, distilleries and wineries — the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in their business plans. Only after Pare came on board as co-owner in 2022 did the vision for Arcpoint’s taproom begin to manifest.

All of this, of course, was before the last month, where Arcpoint owners poured every second of free time into brewing, training for 18 new hires and finishing odd and ends around the storefront. In the spirit of their slogans, Eldridge, Peterson and Pare set out to put their brewery in Belchertown because they hoped to create a new space for residents to socialize and relax, and that purpose pushed them through every hindrance.

Based on the long lines out the door and packed lawn where people sat in chairs and played cornhole during opening weekend many residents are embracing the town’s first brewery experience.

“Whenever anyone comes in, everyone’s constantly saying ‘everyone is talking about (Arcpoint’s opening),’” Peterson said. “There’s been multiple times that the fire department has been here because the alarm goes off and the cops will pop in and they’re like, ‘This wasn’t even our call, we wanted to see it.’”

Located next to the soccer field at the Belchertown State School campus, Arcpoint’s taproom is two floors, a bottom bar where people can order drinks and a mezzanine looking out at the brewing equipment. Since the narrow space cannot accommodate hundreds of people, customers can take their beer to a small patch of grass with picnic tables during warmer months. On their opening night, food truck Rustic Fusion and musical act Take 2 kept people outside on the summer night.

Eldridge said on the Tuesday before opening that he probably wouldn’t consider it a victory until Sunday night, when the taproom closes until Thursday evening and he can finally collect his thoughts.

“I feel as if it’s just gonna be just rushing, running around being kind of all over the place,” He said. “It’s exciting, nerve wrecking, but it’s gonna be adrenaline rush.”

Arcpoint offered seven beers for their opening selection, each named after a movie quote, military saying or local spot. Peterson named the crisp and bright pale ale Cold Spring after an archaic name for the town.

The deep purple blueberry saison Shut up and Color is much more pleasant than the begrudging phrase, with a fruity, sweet flavor that borders on the line of a summery soda.

The kolsch Hydrate! is light enough to trick customers into believing this lager look-alike could actually hydrate someone during bootcamp.

Revielle, a coffee stout made from locally-sourced coffee, is a caffeinated punch like the famous trumpet song it’s named after.

To cater to New England drinkers, two IPAs on tap, The World Chico and Everything In It and Journey, take opposing sides, with the former tasting more of spice and stone fruit than grain and the latter taking on a traditional flavor.

But the drink names aren’t the only homage to life on the Westover base. Many of the small elements in the brewery’s decor are hidden allusions to the military. The red floor where six fermenters, six brite tanks, two hot liquor tanks and brew house references the red lines on an Air Force base that, under no circumstances, is anyone allowed to cross or it’s considered “breaking red.”

Just as veterans trade military patches, customers can bring patches and stickers to decorate a patch wall and tag wall near the entrance.

Even the name Arcpoint is a term Peterson uses when describing intersecting points between satellites on the navigation and autopilot systems the two friends worked on.

Brewing all this beer in a brand new set up poses many challenges for Peterson. Not only had he never brewed on this system, but he had to test the system, and learn how to crouch-walk from tank to tank to prevent bruises, scraps and bumps. Twice, his tanks rose to too high of a temperature overnight, threatening to spoil hours of work and gallons of product. It took him three full days to get into a brewing flow.

“So there’s a lot of crash courses and things I’ve read about that, you know, I had the theory on, but not the practical experience,” he said.

Many steps along Arcpoint’s journey involved new experiences. Eldridge, using his background managing large teams in the Air Force, wrote an entire employee handbook for his new team. Even applying for licenses and writing bylaws was new to the team.

“There’s roadblocks all the time. We’ve had numerous delays: some were self-inflicted, others were not. This is our first time going through the process and we’re learning a lot along the way,” Pare said. “We’ve never quit. Even with some of our meetings with town officials, they were like ‘keep going guys, don’t quit.’”

The Arcpoint owners look forward to adding more murals, installing two televisions, attempting new brewing techniques and recipes and building out their team. Even customers can plan ahead with the beer-it-forward policy, which allows people to order a beer for someone else to redeem on their next visit.

That communal aspect, which started as soon as the place opened, is what all three men are most excited to keep seeing.

“Our goal was never really to distribute cans out only because it’s really difficult; you don’t have the connection and the atmosphere of people enjoying your product. In the taproom, you get to see people connecting over something you put your heart and soul into. That atmosphere, that’s what we thrive for,” Eldridge said.

22 August, 2024