Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing Prepares for Launch
Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing Prepares for Launch
Aeronaut Brewing Company is not what it seems. Tucked away by Somerville’s Union Square alongside Brooklyn Boulders and Artisan’s Asylum, the former Ames Safety Envelope building is as yet unmarked (a sign on the door reads “AirCraft Aerial Arts”). Once inside, co-founder Ben Holmes appears sporting a camo-colored knit beanie and a bright blue woot! hoodie, looking much less like an MIT grad student and more like he should be out playing hacky-sack on a grassy quad. Despite his relaxed demeanor, it’s clear he has a solid vision for the internally funded space, down to the name: “It reminded us of a time when technology was hopeful and fun.”
As of late January, the Tyler Street warehouse is a sketch of a brewery — the fermentation tanks and canning equipment sit in the corner of an empty room, awaiting construction of a bar, draft lines, and a seating area. Holmes says future visitors will be able to sample fresh batches on the premises and compare variations of the yeast strains he and co-founders Dan Rassi (tank logistics/fermentation monitoring) and Ronn Friedlander (microbiologist) have been engineering for the past year. But for now, construction on the space is actually focused on agriculture–an indoor farmer’s market, to be exact.
Holmes envisions a symbiotic relationship between the brewing facility and the urban market–a space for farmers and artisans to lend their ingredients to the craft beer brewed in the adjoining room. Neighboring illustrators and designers will also be pulled in to help with artwork on six-packs of cans and growlers. As for brewmaster Michael Labbe (formerly of Connecticut’s Thomas Hooker Brewing Co): “He was really excited to be in a place where he was going to be challenged to design beers that were either different microbiologically–which is where we come from–or constrained by local ingredients.”
Despite the building’s currently unfinished appearance, Holmes says the brewery will officially open in early Spring 2014. In the meantime, they’re prototyping at a rapid clip using experimental fermenters and cellaring batches in Western Massachusetts, leaning on Chelsea’s (GABF Gold Medal-winning) Mystic Brewery for advice: “We’ve been working with Mystic through this whole process; they’re like us, because they’re also scientists-turned-brewers.” With all eyes on Aeronaut as Somerville’s first craft brewery in more than a century, I’m pleased to learn they’re in excellent company.