Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | September 27, 2021 | wbjournal.com and part-owner Bruce McDowell, who joined the team in February, spoke with WBJ about these plans and more. How did Lost Towns Brewing come to be? e backstory is Lost Towns Brewing opened in December of 2018. e original venture was done by three partners. e brewery opened in 2018 and continued operations through 2019 and then, obviously, COVID happened. And during COVID, the brewery tried to be open sporadically aer, basically, the world shut down. ey tried to do what they could to stay open. e brewery essentially went into hibernation in August of last year. So while it was in hibernation, two of the three owners, due to personal reasons, stepped away from the business, leaving Jim and Pam Spurrell at a crossroads with what to do with the brewery. ey loved the brewery, loved the community, and wanted to keep it going. ey approached me in January of this year to come in as part owner as well as the head brewer, beginning in February, and we started brewing beer again that month. We opened our taproom again in April. What's the story behind the name? It's in reference to the four towns lost when the Quabbin Reservoir was created. at's how the name came to be: It's an homage to the four lost towns. Our logo depicts that. If you look at it closely, you see the water, and you see the top of a barn with a weathervane sticking out of the Quabbin. How would you describe LTB's vibe? e vibe is very low key. We try to have a very low-key, very quaint, personalized environment. It's a very small location; we can only seat about 49 people in the taproom. We're very family-oriented. We're dog-friendly. at's the brewery we want to be; we don't want to be like some of the other breweries out there. We want to be the kind of place where everybody knows your name, where you come in and have conversations with the staff. How can people access your beer? We have the taproom. We're open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We distribute straight out of the taproom, so we not only serve dra, we sell cans and growlers. We have limited distribution, including an agreement with Kappy's Fine Wine & Spirits in Fitchburg. We have our cans at a local restaurant in Barre called Pie Town, as well as Ye Olde Tavern in West Brookfield. F O C U S F O O D , D R I N K & B R E W E R I E S L ost Towns Brewing in Gilbertville, a village of Hardwick, is getting into the groove of things aer first opening in 2018 and facing pandemic challenges shortly thereaer. Open Fridays and weekends and frequently hosting live music, the brewery plans to soon nearly double its seating capacity with the addition of a new outdoor beer garden. Head brewer Lost Towns Brewing in Gilbertville, under a new head brewer, plans to expand BY MONICA BENEVIDES Worcester Business Journal Senior Staff Writer Brewing on the Quabbin Bruce McDowell joined Lost Towns Brewing in February as head brewer. PHOTOS/SLOANE M. PERRON

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