For years, the good people of Concord have been essentially begging for locally made beer.
And it appears as though at least a few people have been listening, because in less than a year, the city is now the proud home to two breweries.
Just over a week ago, the Concord Craft Brewing Co. became an official spot to taste some locally made brews after months of anticipation, joining Lithermans Limited on Hall Street. But things always take longer than you expect, especially when trying to make delicious beer and have enough of it to sell. The last thing you want to do is run out.
“We thought Concord needed this and we wanted it downtown,” said co-owner Dennis Molnar.
“It just took a lot of time,” said co-owner Beth Mayland.
So Molnar and Mayland, who are married with four children, finally opened the doors to the public on Jan. 20 with three beers on tap – Kapitol Kolsch, Old School IPA and Town Pound Porter – and then added a fourth one to the lineup last week, Four Rivers Red.
“There’s so many different directions you can go,” Molnar said of the beer selection. “We kind of like everything.”
And depending on when you’re reading this, a fifth one – a session IPA – just might be available as well. Coming soon is a chocolate stout.
“We’re in the business of having beers our customers like,” Molnar said. “And you never know what they’re going to like.”
“So we’ll have seasonals and pilot batches here to see what people like,” Mayland added.
They hired Doug Bogle, who has brewed for beer makers all over New England, to head up the beer making, with Mayland helping out after going to brewing school.
“I’ve been Doug’s sous chef, so to speak,” Mayland said.
Soon, with any luck for all of us beer connoisseurs out there, they will have enough to fill all eight draft lines in the tasting room, but with only so much space to store all that beer, they can’t make it every day.
The goal is to eventually get to the point where delicious concoctions are being created each day, but as they say, you’ve got to crawl before you walk.
So for right now, they’re sticking with the flagship recipes.
“If you make a mistake, you have 500 gallons to deal with,” Molnar said.
But less than a week in (at least when we got the tour), things were looking quite positive. Cheers and Area 23 already had the beer on tap and from what the crew had heard, it was selling pretty well. Cheers had already ordered more porter.
Of course, the hope is to be in more restaurants in town, but they’ve only been open for a week and a half, so we feel pretty safe in saying the number of establishments will grow.
Unfortunately, you won’t find Concord Craft Brewing Co. in stores. Right now, they’re focused on kegging and distributing to places that serve food and beer.
That’s okay though, because you’re going to want to check out their tasting room. They’ve got a great bar, some tables and seats for 23 people, although they can accommodate way more than that – that’s just what they’re licensed for.
“We want them to taste it here and then buy a pint with a meal at a restaurant around town,” Molnar said.
You can get a 4-ounce taster of each beer they have on tap, and if you really like one, which we’re pretty comfortable assuming you will, they have options to bring some home. There are full growlers (64 ounces), flip-top growlers (33.8 ounces) and a crowler, which we had never heard of, but is a big can that holds 24.5 ounces. And no, they don’t serve food.
“People can bring it in and do their tastings with whatever food they want,” Mayland said.
Molnar and Mayland had been homebrewing together for many years. They even made some for their wedding. And a change in Molnar’s job gave them the opportunity to try something different. Now, after two years of planning and preparing, Concord Craft Brewing Co. is finally open.
The tasting room is open 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. So next time you’re downtown, stop in for a taste – and have one for us, too.
