E-Malt.com News article: USA, MA: Loophole Brewing Services to offer contract brewing services in Holyoke, Massachusetts

Loophole Brewing Services announced on March 6 its plans to open its brewery and taproom at 104 Whiting Farms Road in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Brewbound reported.

The initial iteration encompasses 13,000 sf housing a state-of-the-art brewery as well as a taproom with outdoor seating. Loophole Brewing Services’ mission of “meeting the needs of craft brewers” is central to the planning and design of the operation.

“We saw some of our favorite breweries with small systems simply not being able to keep up with demand. At the same time, they could not expand or relocate due to space or financial constraints,” said Jeffery “Heffe” Goulet, one of three Loophole Brewing co-founders, “We saw an opportunity to support these great breweries, giving them access to the brewing space at the volume they need.”

Loophole’s small batch contract brewing option provides growing regional breweries with a right size option for increased demand, new products, or collaborations among the area’s prominent brewers.

“Loophole is providing a tremendous service by offering additional small batch capacity,” said Jared Methe, co-founder of Rustic Brewing, “It is a game changer to know that our growth doesn’t have to depend on a huge equipment purchase or relocating our brewery.”

Loophole has placed particular importance on lowering the barrier to entry for new brewers. Loophole’s Aspiring Brewers Program will provide support to homebrewers seeking to launch their own brewery.

“It is a long, complicated, and expensive process to establish a brewery,” said Loophole co-founder Aaron Saunders, “Our goal with the Aspiring Brewers Program is to ensure that talented brewers can offer great beer to the public even if they don’t have a million dollars in the bank.”

Loophole’s goals include not only producing great beer for the region, but also building the talent pipeline of brewery employees.

“As the craft beer industry continues to thrive, breweries are going to need talented and knowledgably employees for their operations,” said Todd Snopkowski, Loophole cofounder and owner of SnapChef, the region’s largest culinary training and staffing company, “We want Loophole to be a training ground for the next generation of brewery operations professionals.”

The Holyoke site was chosen after a regional search over a number of months. “The City of Holyoke, and Mayor Morse in particular, have been very supportive and wonderful to work with,” said Saunders, “The Mayor and his team made it an easy decision for us to locate in Holyoke.”

“It’s such a pleasure to welcome Loophole Brewing to Holyoke.” commented Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, “They’re bringing decades of business and industry knowledge to an exciting new private venture here, and doing it in a way that fosters an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the City and all of Western Massachusetts. I look forward to seeing their facility plans come to fruition.”

With a target of a late 2019 opening, Loophole Brewing has partnered with renowned brewery design firm Austin Design, Inc. to transform the existing Whiting Farms Road warehouse space. “We are thrilled to have Tom Chalmers, Peter Webster, and the Austin Design team on board,” said Goulet, “Their experience speaks for itself and the team’s expertise will help us better serve our customers for years to come.”

Goulet anticipated additional announcements over the next several months, “We are in the process of finalizing our brewing and operations team and are excited to make those announcements soon.”

Breweries and aspiring brewers interested in working with Loophole Brewing Services are encouraged to contact them at contact@loopholebrewingservices.com.


10 March, 2019