Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 30, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 15 F O O D & D R I N K I S S U E F O C U S VISIT INTHINKAGENCY.COM/CONSULT TO BOOK YOUR ASSESSMENT NOW! REVENUE YTD: 98% CONVERSION RATE: 537% WEBSITE TRAFFIC: 116% A GUARANTEED RETURN ON YOUR MARKETING INVESTMENT —OR YOUR MONEY BACK! destination is rising, Watson said. e city's credibility with beer experts rose a bit in September with the news of Scott Metzger, founder of Texas-based Freetail Brewing Co., joining Worm- town as a general manager. Metzger – a director at the Brew- ers Association – and Freetail helped launch the Texas cra beer scene and, said Watson, is a well-known figure in the industry. Metzger himself admitted he was not privy to Worcester's beer scene before inquiring about the job, but his placement in Worcester has boosted the city's image as a beer town. e city's status as an unheralded destination for beermakers can actu- ally play into its hands, with plenty of market share to go around. With more mature beer markets like Portland, Vermont and Greater Boston flooded with new breweries, Watson said, businesses will look to establish themselves in cities like Worcester, an urban setting with less competition. According to the Brewers Associa- tion, Massachusetts had 155 breweries in 2018 vs. 45 in 2011. Nationwide, that number has increased to 7,346 in 2018 from 2,016 in 2011. "at's a place where you're not going to be defined by competition," Watson said. "You'll be defined by what you do." In Worcester, each brewery oper- ates on a different business model. Wormtown is the largest brewery, with a multi-state distribution network, on pace to exceed 35,000 barrels this year aer brewing fewer than 25,000 in 2018. Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co., with a large distribution network via Auburn-based Atlas Distributing, is on track to brew 7,000 barrels this year. Redemption Rock sells beer in its taproom and a few restaurants, while Flying Dreams and 3Cross offer taproom sales and brew a few hundred barrels each annually. Worcester's enthusiasm for beer Locally, there is much more excite- ment about Worcester's growing beer scene, according to local brewers. at has culminated with the announce- ment of incoming breweries and the first-ever Worcester Beer Week, kicked off with the Massachusetts Brewers Guild's Great Mass Collab on Sept. 21 featuring a beer brewed together by all five existing Worcester breweries. e event included a shuttle service from Union Station to all of the city's breweries on Sept. 27 and a beer-themed scavenger hunt on Sept. 28. Worcester is growing as a beer desti- nation, which is why the guild chose it for its signature fall festival, said guild Executive Director Katie Stinchon. "With five breweries … and a ton of great beer bars, Worcester is definitely emerging as a go-to beer town in the state," Stinchon said. However, that comes with a caveat. With the U.S. cra beer market becoming saturated, the model has shied from large regional brewers to smaller taproom-focused operations. at's partly why Greater Good Founder Paul Wengender chose to open in Worcester aer contract brew- ing in Williamsburg. Aside from having business relationships in the city as the former CEO of Blue Sky BioServices, Wengender said Worcester's demographics, colleges, urban setting, new housing developments and being the second largest city in New England were attractive. ose reasons are why Greater Good is pursuing moving its Soul Purpose brand of lighter beers to a location at Union Station. e brewery is negotiating with the city on a lease to put a small production facility and taproom within several hundred yards of the overall $240-million devel- opment of hotels and market-rate housing anchored by a $101-million ballpark for the Worcester Red Sox. Local beer tourism is now being discussed among the city's breweries, Wengender said. e Worcester Beer Week offered a glimpse of what it could be with the shuttle. In towns like Portland, third-party companies offer brew tours to collaborating breweries. "It was only a question of getting to that critical mass of breweries around the city," Wengender said. "We're get- ting to that point very quickly." A downtown beer cluster According to Worcester's breweries, efforts to foster growth in the cra beer scene should focus on collabo- ration. at includes walkability and transportation options. "In Asheville, you park your car and walk or take Ly and just go to brew- eries all day," said Babineau. So far, the only breweries within walking distance of each other are Wormtown and Redemption Rock on Shrewsbury Street. However, once Wa- chusett, Bay State and Soul Purpose open, five breweries all will be within a 30-minute walk, crossing paths with the city's dining destinations in the Canal District and Shrewsbury Street. At the epicenter of all of that is Union Station, with train service from MetroWest and the Boston area. e city needs to continue to support those small businesses that breweries look for when surveying sites and their customer base, Babineau said. "Worcester has a lot of the things you want in a city, but we don't have quite a ton of them," she said. "As long as we continue to do that and support those businesses, I think we're on the right track." Portland, Maine 23 17 Burlington, Vt. 11 13 Northampton 5 9 Beverly** 4 5 Hartford 8 3.2 Somerville** 5 3 Framingham 4 3 Worcester* 5 1.3 Boston* 11 1 *Three breweries pending **One brewery pending Sources: Brewery websites, Mass Brew Bros., U.S. Census Beer towns Worcester trails New England cities well known for their craft beer. A timeline of Worcester breweries 2010 Wormtown Brewery opens on Park Avenue. 2013 3Cross Fermentation Cooperative opens on Cambridge Avenue. 2015 Wormtown moves to new space on Shrewsbury Street. Flying Dreams Brewing Co. opens in Wormtown's old space on Park Avenue. 2018 Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. opens on Millbrook Street. 2019 Redemption Rock opens on Shrewsbury Street. Bay State Brewing Co. plans to open in the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. Wachusett Brewing Co. plans to open on Kelley Square. 2021 Greater Good plans to open Soul Purpose in the Union Station garage. Source: Secretary of the Commonwealth, brewery websites, media reports Breweries Breweries per 50,000 W

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