USA, ME: Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co. opens its eighth brewpub in New Gloucester

Barely a month after opening its seventh location in Brunswick, Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co. opened its eighth brewpub in New Gloucester over Memorial Day, the Press Herald reported.

Just a few weeks into June and business was jumping at the former Nu Brewery, ringing up some 225 customers on a Wednesday night in this town of 5,600. It’s a jump-start with weekend numbers even more impressive.

The New Gloucester location is much more than just another brewpub selling craft beer and craft pizza though, with a 30-barrel brewing setup part of the acquisition of Nu Brewery.

The added brewing capacity is the real gem, greatly expanding the chain’s brewing output and ability to supply all eight locations with its line of craft brew, something the original Yarmouth location couldn’t do because it only has a five-barrel capacity.

“As we grew, we couldn’t keep up with the brewing there (Yarmouth), so we found some really good partners who could help us with what we call contract brewing,” Brickyard co-founder and President Brad Moll said, “but we’ve been very eager to get back to doing all our own brewing again. It was important for us.”

Contract brewing comes with a cost, but for small or expanding breweries who aren’t ready to make the capital investment for the infrastructure — like fermenters, brew kettles, mash turns, chillers, a canning line and more — contract brewing is a great alternative. The third party uses the brewery’s recipes and in some cases their ingredients to produce their brews.

After three years of contracting most of their brewing, Brickyard Hollow’s head brewer in New Gloucester, Worth Hamilton, fired up the brewery the first week in June.

“We’ve done two brews so far, and you know that’s going to continue to grow every week at this point,” Moll said. “We’re just really sort of dialing in the system and you know, figuring out things that we need to do for our beers.”

They expect to have enough beer brewed to end their contract brewing relationship in two months. That means all the kegs, bottles and cans of Brickyard Hollow beer will now be supplied out of New Gloucester. A new 5,000-square-foot warehouse is being added to accommodate storage and distribution needs.

Moll said they’ll have nine beers on tap in the restaurant at any one time, and over the past five years in business, they’ve brewed about 40 different beers, some one-off brews, some seasonal and some brewed once a year. “We brew a beer, actually we just brewed it last week, for a clam festival in Yarmouth,” Moll said. “It’s called Aww Shucks and we brew it once a year. It’s only for the clam festival so you know we have things like that.”

Without having to contract out their brewing, Brickyard Hollow can increase its profit margin and the company will have more capacity than it needs, which opens the door to the shoe being on the other foot — doing contract brewing for other breweries.

In its latest assessment of the craft brew industry, the Brewers Association, a not-for-profit national trade association, said overall craft production volumes were roughly even year-over-year in 2022, with distributed sales down, with the exception of nonalcoholic brews, which was up. The group cites factors like competition from canned cocktails and fewer people from Generation Z — those born between 1997-2012 — drinking alcohol, among the reasons.

The growth, the association said, is in taprooms and brewpubs, which saw a combined rate of 7% in 2022. Taprooms in particular are known for their focus on community, hosting charity events and connecting their customers to each other and the local community. That is something Moll said Brickyard Hollow has taken to heart and made a part of its mission in all its communities.

06 July, 2023