Beer

Toiling in his garage, Connecticut brewer has hopes for hops

By JOSEPH T. O'LEARY, Associated Press

2 minutes to read

BOLTON, Conn. (AP) — In cycling, the breakaway is a risky all-or-nothing move that, if successful, separates one rider from the rest of the pack.

If the early reception for Matthew Soucy’s beer holds up, he couldn’t have chosen a better name for his brewery.

Soucy’s Breakaway Brew Haus, which opened in mid-April, is garnering early word-of-mouth around town and online — even on a Reddit.com forum for fans of local craft beer.

Though Breakaway is a literal household business right now, as Soucy brews beer in his garage and sells it from a stand on his property, he plans to expand as soon as possible.

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The demand appears to be there. Though the brewery was set to open on a Friday and Saturday, the limited allotment sold out in just a few hours on Friday.

“It’s a good start,” Soucy said. “People have always loved my beer to the point of requesting it.”

Soucy paraphrased a line from “Field of Dreams” to describe why he decided to make a business out of beer — “If you make good beer, people will come,” he said.

With encouragement from friends and family and a desire to start his own business, he decided to open a brewery, as he’s been making beer since 1994.

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Breakaway has two meanings, he added. In addition to the bicycling term, Soucy said, he the name because it also represents a break away from the corporate life that will allow him to build his own business.

Soucy’s been working for almost a year to attain all of the necessary local, state and federal licenses, and has trademarked his brewery and its three flagship beers.

Two of Soucy’s beers, the Face Plant Ale and the Wandering Fool Ale, follow the German-derived “purity law” for beer known as Reinheitsgebot, which allows only four ingredients.

His small-batch, hand-crafted beers are made with just four ingredients: water, malted barley, hops, and yeast, he said.

A third beer, the Bonfire Stout, adds Ecuadorian cocoa and Pete’s Coffee for a darker flavor. Soucy said those ingredients retain his beer’s organic nature.

While he has experimented with different styles in the past, Soucy said, he specializes in ales, porters, and stouts. He said all of his beers feature high alcohol by volume at around 7 to 8 percent.

“If people are going to drive to pick it up, it should have some merit,” he said. “All natural ingredients will pack a punch.”

Early reviews have been excellent, Soucy said, though he admits some were from friends.

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While he’s heard comparisons to prominent local craft breweries, Soucy added that the beauty of the craft beer market is that it can support a variety of levels.

He’s not looking to compete with established brands yet, but because his operation is still small, it’s “easier to make beer where it can compete on that level.”

While the brewery is small now, he hopes to expand within the next year.

He said he’s going to look at locations locally, in Bolton or Manchester, that could sustain a small but growing brewery.

For now, though, he plans to focus on his strengths, which means keeping up production of his high-quality product.

He said he doesn’t expect he’ll sell out every day like he did on opening day, though early results remain promising.

After all, Soucy said, even if the craft beer market becomes saturated with more producers, “the good will flourish.”

Breakaway Brew Haus is located on Steele Crossing Road in Bolton.

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