USA, CT: Boondoggle Beers planning its first brewery in Rocky Hill

The owners of Boondoggle Beers are planning to build their first brewery and tasting room along the Connecticut River in Rocky Hill, the Hartford Business reported on September 19.

Micah Kerr, who co-owns the Wethersfield-based beer distribution company with his wife, Sarah, said he set aside $400,000 to develop the brewery and taproom at 45 Evans Road.

But he still needs one or more partners to invest $100,000 or more to bring his vision of launching the town’s second brewery to life. Kerr also plans to crowdfund another $200,000 to $400,000.

“We really thought we would have the ability to roll with the upswell in the industry,” said Kerr, whose two-year-old company distributes 16 types of beer to 400 liquor stores and restaurants across Connecticut. “I'm trying to make something happen, but I need a business partner to work with me.”

Kerr, a Wethersfield native, presented his conceptual plans for the brewery last month to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which would eventually need to authorize a zone change to allow for a brewery and taproom on-site. Boondoggle would also need to obtain certain approvals from the town’s building department, inland wetlands commission and a federal and state liquor license.

According to plans, Kerr would initially lease 3,000 square feet at one of two brick buildings on-site for a tasting room, and construct another nearby building spanning about 4,000 square feet for beer production. Kerr said he hopes to someday purchase the land owned by ADC Enterprises.

The property is 36 feet above the river and scales about eight acres of coastline, he said.

There is no timeline scheduled for construction or a potential opening date. Kerr said he began talking with potential investors at the Small State Great Beer event Saturday in Hartford.

“The town has indicated that if things go well, zoning should be easy because it’s in the plan of conservation and development,” said Kerr.

If approved, the Boondoggle site would become the town’s second brewery, in addition to Still Hill Brewery. There are currently 93 breweries operating in Connecticut, according to the Brewers Association.

Kerr began homebrewing beer in 1993 before establishing Boondoggle, registered as Hartford Brewing Company LLC, decades later in Sept. 2017.

Boondoggle currently brews an assortment of stouts, porters, New England IPAs and pale ales, among other types, at Cottrell Brewing Co. in the Pawcatuck section of Stonington.

Expanding its sales with a physical footprint in Rocky Hill, Kerr said, would allow for the company to begin distributing beers to western Massachusetts and in his original home of Long Island, N.Y.

26 September, 2019