USA, MA: Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. to open its doors on Friday, December 7

This Friday, December 7 marks a milestone for Waltham: a new brewery and taproom opening within the city limits, the MetroWest Daily News reported.

Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co.—known for beers Kiwi White, Mocha Stout and Cloud Candy IPA—will open on Friday, Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. to the public.

The new taproom and brewery in Waltham marks two major milestones: the brewing company’s first physical space and the only current brewery and taproom of its kind in Waltham.

So far, 2018 sales for the brewery have grown by 900 percent.

The space at 411 Waverley Oaks Road can hold upward of 320 people in a 23,000 square-foot building. Today the company employs around 25 people—part-time and full-time staffers—and plans to add as many as six more in the coming months.

“We want to have a home,” said Naveen Pawar, co-founder of the company. “It is one thing to go and brew a beer somewhere else but at the same time you cannot have the same level of quality control as you do in your own space.”

Pawar and Henry Manice co-founded the company in 2013 after starting to home brew beer that year. They had worked together previously in the medical device industry in San Diego and began thinking about beer when they were not finding a low-carb, high protein, great-tasting option. Today they are both Waltham residents.

“We thought somebody should have that,” Pawar said. “Nobody in the state of California, nobody in the country, nobody in the world had it.”

Pawar and Manice decided to try to make the beer they were not finding themselves when they were based in California. They started by investing $57 in a home brew kit.

The journey led them to brew their beer on a contract basis in Vermont, Baltimore, and Massachusetts before they decided to expand their focus to creating more beers that did not necessarily fit their original vision. They sold to restaurants in Massachusetts, including ones on Moody Street, but ultimately wanted to find their own brewing space.

“We’re not trying to create a bar, we’re not trying to create a pub or a restaurant or a club; we’re trying to create a spot for the community,” Pawar said. “That is our vision from the start: a true taproom.”

After looking at 36 cities to launch a taproom, and multiple places in Boston including in the Seaport and Back Bay—in the old Downeast Cider production site under the Tobin Bridge—the founders got a call in April 2017 from The Haynes Group in Waltham about a space. The Haynes Group designed the space, having previously worked on brewery construction with projects such as Oak & Iron and Trillium Brewing Co. in Andover.

“We came here we saw the space and just fell in love,” Pawar said. “If your heart says something, follow it.”

The space was perfect—except it needed to be able to support brewery tanks weighing a half-million pounds when filled with beer on the second floor. After eight months of working on the problem and over $250,000 later, the tanks now rest on a customized platform. The entire brewing process is on display for customers who can look through glass dividers to see the brewing process while they drink the product.

“Everything happens from start to finish in front of your eyes,” Pawar said. “It’s about transparency. From the brewing perspective you can say it’s a bit more like a fish bowl but that’s our personality. We love that we love to interact with the people.

“We are a space for community and a glorified home brewing space. We’re still in the MacGyver-ing phase right now,” he added.

The company will have launched at least 15 beers this year with plans to launch a new beer each week in 2019. There is a small pilot brewing five-barrel system allowing brewers to have flexibility and creativity in developing new flavors.

The industry allows for such growth, Pawar says.

“Craft brewery is the only brewing from my perspective in which there’s no competition,” he said. “If a brewery opened next to me, it’s a good thing for me. If a restaurant opened next to me, it’s a good thing for me. Craft brewing is a movement right now; it’s almost like a one-way street.

Today five or six of the company’s beers are distributed and the others are available in their taproom via pints or for purchasing. The new location has the capability of housing 40 beers on tap.

Being located in Massachusetts has only helped the company as the love for craft beer and for brewing beer is strong in the state, Pawar says.

“People are getting more aware of the good beers now,” Pawar said. “If you do not make the best liquid you’re doing it just for the namesake then it’s going to be bad for the industry. Luckily the vast majority, especially in Mass., we have some of the best brewers in the world in Mass. right now. I think it’s pretty amazing to see the quality of beers coming out of here.”

Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. is also collaborating with Atomic Coffee Roasters to provide coffee options for customers. The brewery space will also be free of charge—with some stipulations—for Waltham nonprofits to use the space for group gatherings.

The brewery officially opens to the public on Friday, Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. There were soft openings on Nov. 28 and Dec. 4.

“It is a space for the community,” Pawar said. “Come with a dog, with a baby—it’s an open space.”

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