USA, MA: Battle Road Brewing Company looking to open brewpub in Maynard

Jeremy Cross, co-founder of Battle Road Brewing Company in Stoughton, served samples of their 1775 Tavern Ale and Barrett’s Farmhouse Ale at Online Wine and Liquors June 17, Wicked Local Clinton reported.

“I think we were the first store to carry Battle Road beer, and it’s been very successful,” said Carl Wollenberg, owner of Online Wine & Liquors in Maynard.

Battle Road Brewing Company, co-founded by brewmasters Jeremy Cross and Scott Houghton, in partnership with Whole House Group, plans to open a brewery and brew pub in Building 5 of the Mill and Main campus (formerly Clock Tower Place) in Maynard.

Cross began his journey to master brewer 20 years ago as an apprentice at Ipswich Brewery. He then moved to Alaska and brewed for a couple of different breweries for about two years, gaining a lot of hands-on experience.

“When you start formulating recipes, it’s really all about learning the raw materials, so handling different malts, hops, yeast, learning the process. You start to get a feel and a taste for what each ingredient contributes, and what you think it can contribute in your head, to what it actually contributes in the final product,” Cross said.

The next step was attending brewing school at UC Davis in California.

“That’s when I really learned the science behind it. Until then, I had a lot of hands-on experience, but it’s a very biochemical process, so learning what’s going on in that process from a science perspective really helps you understand the process a lot more," Cross said.

After finishing brewing school, Cross began working for Salem Beer Works, where he met Houghton. In December 2007, Houghton founded BreweRepublic and Cross followed in 2008. It was right around the time the economy collapsed, which made finding investors difficult. For the next few years, they created recipes and tried to raise money, eventually raising $65,000, which Cross said was barely enough money to get started.

“Our goal was kind of a means to an end. It was 'Let’s get a product out there; let’s get it in the right hands and hopefully we’ll find investors,' and that’s what happened here,” Cross said.
They were able to get their flagship beer, 1775 Tavern Ale, on tap at 29 Sudbury, a restaurant owned by Whole House Group, which eventually spawned the idea of the Battle Road Brewery and Brew Pub.

“(Whole House Group has) a lot of restaurant experience, which I don’t have. We have all the beer-brewing experience that they don’t have, so it should be a good marriage,” Cross said.

Additionally, Greg Hill, founder and managing partner of Whole House Group, hosts a morning talk show on WAAF radio - a big help in generating publicity.

“Obviously a lot of people listen to him every day, so that can’t hurt with regards to having a local celebrity as part-owners with you and getting the name out there,” Cross said.

In keeping with the company name, Cross said the pub will have a rustic, Revolutionary War-era feel.

“We’re on the internal part of the building. A lot of character lies in the bricks, so we’ve actually taken one of the buildings they tore down and we’re reclaiming the brick and some of the wood to line the interior walls so we have that similar feel to the mill,” said Ashley Hanson, director of operations at Whole House Group.

Food at the pub will be homemade, and beer will be incorporated into many of the dishes.

“We’ll have a smoker. We’ll barbecue burgers, homemade pizzas, wings, nachos, but it’s all going to be freshly made and we’re going to use a lot of the beer in our recipes,” Hanson said.

The pub will be a 15-barrel brewing system. Each barrel holds 31 gallons, or two kegs, so one batch produces 30 kegs of beer, which is a much smaller scale than the system where they brew their flagship products, and offers an opportunity for experimentation.

“The nice thing is when you’re brewing in a brew pub environment you don’t have to commit to packaging materials. When you’re doing an experimental batch, maybe we hit it, maybe it’s a little off the mark, but it’s not that much of a loss. As opposed to 1,500 cases of beer that we’ve paid for cans, we’ve paid for the cardboard boxes, we’ve paid for the rings. So we’ll be doing small batches. The ones that work out, we can scale up and produce large batches,” Cross said.

Cross said they plan to have eight to 10 beers on tap for the pub opening, culled from a list of 30 different beers.

“You want to have a good diverse list so that someone who comes in who likes beer can find anything that will appeal to them,” Cross said. “We’re not necessarily the brewers that are going to make pineapple maple jalapeno stout. We respect the traditional styles, but also know enough about the ingredients where we can create some really great beers that don’t necessarily fit into any styles.”

Cross and Hanson added that beer cocktails will be on the menu, expanding the flavor choices to accommodate a wide range of tastes. Cross noted that Houghton is a history buff, so they expect to draw from a long list of ideas for Revolutionary War-themed beer names.

The Battle Road Brewing Company does not yet have a firm date to open the pub, but Cross said they hope to start brewing beer at their new Maynard location in July and will open the pub once they have a supply of beer ready.

In the meantime, prospective patrons can whet their appetite for Battle Road beer with the 1775 Tavern Ale and Barrett’s Farmhouse Ale at Online Wine and Liquors, at 86 Powdermill Road in Maynard.

23 June, 2016