USA, ME: Ebenezer’s Brewpub closed and is for sale

Ebenezer’s Brewpub on Pleasant Street has closed and is for sale, The Forecaster reported on August 10.

“The place is closed. And we may or may not re-open it,” co-owner Chris Lively said over the phone on August 7.

By August 9, the business was advertised for sale as a turnkey brewpub, for $255,000. A new owner gets the brewing equipment, assumes the building lease, and will be offered the opportunity to buy recipes and provide beer for Lively’s other business, Ebenezer’s Pub in Lovell.

Just a mile away, meanwhile, a new brewery is getting ready to launch later this year.

Plans for a downtown brewery advanced on August 7 when the Town Council adopted a new zoning ordinance that will now allow breweries in the district without being part of a restaurant.

Mattie Daughtry and Philip Welsch, the business partners behind the venture, said they hope to open Moderation Brewing within the next six months.

Daughtry, who is also the state representative in House District 49, said on August 7 the pair purchased the commercial building at 103 Maine St. last week in anticipation of the council action. Their business plan is modeled around the downtown location, where they hope to snare pre-dinner pedestrians and thirsty shoppers.

The space is the former home of The Looking Glass salon, which moved to 17 Mill St. In anticipation of the brewery’s plan to pay homage to Prohibition-era Maine, two posters of flappers have appeared in the papered-over windows that face the street.

The space still requires significant renovations to make it a production facility, which Daughty said could take about the same amount of time the business will need to acquire federal, state and local licenses.

Ebenezer’s Brewpub, by contrast, combined a full-service restaurant with an in-house brewing operation, Lively Brewing, which also provided beer to its world-renowned “mother ship,” Ebenezer’s Pub.

Though Lively Brewing’s output dropped from more than 7,800 gallons of beer in 2015 to 3,900 in 2016, Lively denied that was the reason he shut the brewpub. The online business listing said the brewpub had gross annual revenue of more than $849,000.

Lively declined to discuss details, although the business-for-sale listing said he intends to devote his attention to Ebenezer’s Pub, which has been named “Best Beer Bar” in U.S. by BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com.

The couple bought the 30-year-old business nearly 15 years ago, and started the Brunswick-based brewpub in 2014, Lively said.

10 August, 2017