Jan 30, 2023
Dedicated to the idea that beer should be inclusive, approachable and excellent, Castle Island Brewing Company has been pumping out award-winning beer across various styles much to the delight of beer lovers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island–and now Castle Island is coming to New Hampshire!
The company’s headquarters in Norwood, MA is home to its production facility and original taproom. Castle Island also opened a second taproom and brewery in South Boston in 2021, in an industrial building once owned by the great-grandfather of Castle Island founder, Adam Romanow. Both locations have a wide variety of experimental R&D beers alongside their core brews with lots of fun events happening. Kudos to their in-house food partners at Bardo’s Bar Pizza, who were recently named the best bar pizza in Boston.
While plenty of folks have been flocking to Castle Island’s two MA locations, beer lovers in NH can pick up a 16 oz. 4-pack or grab a pint in their home state, starting in February. “We are really excited about introducing our beers to New Hampshire,” says Romanow. “Since we opened in 2015, we’ve been getting phone calls, emails and DMs from Granite Staters asking us to send our beer north but we’ve always embraced an “inch wide, mile deep” distribution philosophy, so we wanted to take our time and not expand until we were in a sustainable place to do so. We’re glad that time is finally here, and we’re excited to have a partner like Amoskeag to make it happen.”
“With the explosion of the craft beer space, quality has become the price of entry, so we pride ourselves on making beers across a range of styles that are balanced in flavor, embrace the art of subtlety, sport a mid-range ABV and are reliably consistent,” adds Romanow. “Our production team has over 50 years of combined experience to help bring this vision to life. I like to say – only partly in jest – that we make beer we like to drink, not sip and our variety and recipes all reflect that mentality. At the end of the day, it’s just beer – it’s supposed to be fun. We want to keep it that way.”
Coming soon to a cooler or a bar near you–Keeper, their flagship IPA, is the product of many late-night and weekend home brewing sessions. This smooth but punchy, balanced yet intense beer was named after a great friend of Romanow who exclaimed, “well, this one’s a keeper,” after trying it. Fiver, their Hazy IPA, was born early in the pandemic alongside a companion program called the Fiver Initiative, where Castle Island partnered exclusively with five charities for a whole year to maximize the impact of their financial giving efforts. Hi-Def, DIPA, hits with fresh melon, papaya and tangerine flavors. White is a Belgian-style wheat ale brewed with Valencia orange and coriander. This bright, beautiful, award-winning American White Ale won the Silver Medal in the Belgian Witbier category at the 2019 U.S. Open Beer Championship.
There’s a sign that hangs above Castle Island’s loading dock that reads, “If you’re not proud of it, don’t ship it.” That sign was originally put up by one of the building’s prior tenants but Castle Island quickly adopted it as their own internal mantra and have infused that mentality into their culture, brand and their product.
To learn more about Castle Island Brewing Co, head on over to their website here, and be on the lookout for their amazing beers all over the Granite State very soon.
Words: Kelly Kirkpatrick, editor of The Heady Times. To learn more about The Heady Times, check out our Publications page.
Photos: Mike Lianza, Marketing Director at Amoskeag Beverages