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Rob Martin is an impressive guy – not everyone can go from a brewery employee to the President and Owner of Ipswich Ale Brewery in just 5 years. That’s a big achievement at any brewery – but Ipswich Ale is not just “any” brewery. Since 1995, this brewery has been crafting great beers not only for themselves but also by contracting out their services to other up-and-coming breweries.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Ipswich Ale’s Rob Martin to discuss what’s new at Ipswich Ale Brewery and the realities of the contract brewing business.
How much beer will you be brewing this year?
This year, we will brew approximately 24,000 bbls, which is our ultimate capacity at our old facility. Our new facility, which we are currently moving into, will support 42,000-45,000 bbls out of the box with the infrastructure to get to 80,000+ bbls already in place. All that would be needed would be fermenters.
I love your 5 Mile series of beers. According to your site, “5 Mile’s mission is to use at least 50% Massachusetts ingredients while always having at least one ingredient from within 5 miles of Ipswich.” Can you tell us more about the series?
That line was based on my love of farming. In the past, I had a small herd of dairy goats, and I made cheese and cut hay to support the herd, which is where I first got the farming “bug.” Being able to spend time outdoors cutting, plowing, harrowing, planting, and harvesting is a great way to spend a number of days, and to be able to make a finished product from that labor is incredibly rewarding. It’s also neat to be one of the only, if not the only, brewers to own their own tractor, plow, harrow, spreader, grain drill, and combine with both a grain head and a corn head. The series itself is currently a one-off quarterly offering. Going forward, we hope to expand it into a year-round product line with limited-edition one-offs as the harvests dictate.
You have 4 different brands of beer that you brew at Ipswich Brewery: Ipswich Ale, 5 Mile, Limited Edition, and Stone Cat. What’s your most popular beer?
Our flagship brand Ipswich Ale, which we have been producing for the past 22 years, is definitely our most popular brand as far as volume goes.
Along with brewing your own portfolio of beers, you also contract brew. How did you get into the contract brewing business?
Out of necessity…when we purchased the old facility, we were unable to purchase the name “Ipswich Ale” so we contract brewed it until 2003. In April 2003, we purchased it back and it has been brewed at our brewery ever since.
What percentage of beer in a year do you contract brew?
Approximately 40%…
Daniel Lanigan recently announced that he would be opening an $18 million contract brewery in the North Shore of Massachusetts. Could this affect your contract brewing business?
I have been in the brewing industry for 20 years and I have always made it a rule to concentrate on my business and what we can do better. For the past 2 decades, we have seen many brewers say they are coming, come and go, as well as make their mark, and I don’t expect that trend to change. We are very proud to have started in 1991 as one of the “first wave” of craft brewers and over the past 22 years, we have developed a proven track record. We are very excited about our new facility and the additional capacity it provides us. We believe that we have positioned ourselves well for the future in regards to continued growth.
Any new beers on the horizon?
With the moving of our facility, a 2-month operation, we don’t have any new products slated until after the New Year – but rest assured there will be some great new offerings coming to you in 2014!
If you could have a dream six-pack, what beers would you pick to be in it?
I love Belgian beers, so my dream six-pack would be six un-imported products fresh from small breweries unknown here in the states. I suppose I need to book my flight to make it happen!
The craft beer market is growing rapidly in Massachusetts, as it has all over the country. Do you think that the market can continue to sustain this kind of growth?
I believe the consumer is hungry (or better put, THIRSTY) for variety. The big challenge for our industry will be quality. As with the late 90’s, there are many “bootstrap” brewers out there, which in itself isn’t a bad thing, but when quality suffers because of tight finances, it reflects poorly on the entire industry. If we relive the quality issues of the 90’s, I believe we will relive some of the contraction that we experienced back then. Conversely, if we can keep our quality and innovation top-notch as an industry, then I believe the sky is the limit.
