Moosehead to Open Small-Batch Brewery on Main Street West in Saint John
SAINT JOHN– Moosehead Breweries announced Friday that a new small-batch brewery and tap room will be built at the company’s historic West Side brewery at 89 Main Street West in Saint John.
Construction on the new addition gets underway next week, with opening scheduled for May 2018.
The new small-batch brewery will feature a 20-barrel brewing system and a 3-barrel pilot system, allowing Moosehead to create new beers in smaller quantities for offer at retail, on-site in the tap room or at bars and restaurants. The Moosehead brewery currently has a 450-barrel brewing system.
“As a company, we’re excited to have the flexibility to experiment in ways that can be difficult within our primary brewhouse,” said Andrew Oland, president and CEO, Moosehead Breweries, in a release. “We have a talented team ready to bring incredible new innovations to life and I can’t wait to introduce these new beers to Saint John and to Canada.”
News of the new small-batch brewery comes after a plan to build one on the Saint John foiled back in January, after it was learned the project would cost much more than expected.
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“The entire team at Moosehead has worked incredibly hard to bring our small-batch vision to life in a way that I know is going to delight both new and existing Moosehead fans,” said Karen Cousins, director of brewery experiences at Moosehead.“Housing the new small-batch brewery within our historic brewery allows us to uniquely bring together our past and our future as one of Canada’s leading brewers, and reaffirms our commitment to our Saint John home.”
The new small-batch brewery will feature a retail store, growler fill station and a selection of Moosehead merchandise for sale. An on-site tap room will give consumers the opportunity to enjoy fresh beer on the floor of the new brewery. The small-batch brewery will also serve as the beginning and end point for Moosehead Brewery Tours, which the company started offering in June of this year. To date, the brewery says more than 1,000 visitors have taken part in the tour.
The brewery confirmed that they expect to make a number of new hires in the lead-up for the 2018 opening.