NORTH

Wachusett teams up with Westminster crackers for oyster stout

Paula J. Owen
Telegram & Gazette
Alyssa Cook pours a draft of the Oyster Cracker Stout, brewed with Westminster Oyster Crackers and Cuttyhunk Oysters, at Wachusett Brewery. [T&G Staff/Ashley Green]

WESTMINSTER — Less than a year after the Wachusett Brewing Co. opened its brew yard, it has grown into one of the region’s most popular destinations, necessitating an expansion of Wachusett’s brewing capacity and the addition of space for parking across the street.

The 24-year-old large craft brewing facility with a major retail location opened the brew yard at the same location, 175 State Road East, in December as changes to state liquor laws, some of which dated to the end of Prohibition, were taking place. And it has taken off.

“It has been amazing,” said company President Christian A. McMahan. “Every month it gets bigger than the last." Wachusett has been named one of the top 50 largest breweries in the U.S.

The brew yard is in a rustic building made from beams and wood trim of a deconstructed 200-year-old local dairy barn. In the heart of the brew yard is the bar, built inside the steel frame of a 1968 silver Airstream trailer. The bar opens to a patio that is closed off and heated during the colder months.

“The inside has a barn vibe and people love that piece of it,” Mr. McMahan said. “The feature element is the bar and our Wally flagship New England IPA is named after the founder of the Airstream, Wally Byam. The label has an Airstream on it.”

Wachusett also bought a fleet of Airstreams for sampling events around New England, he said. Tastings and brewery tours are also offered at the Westminster facility, and there is food and music in the brew yard.

“We have a ton of talented employees — welders, engineers, electricians ... at the core of the business,” he said. “Almost all the work for the brew yard was done by our own employees, and we all take a lot of pride in that. That is not always the case with restaurants and bars. Everyone pitches in, and it has created a great vibe with employees and people in north Central Mass. People come back again and again to come have a beer and see friendly faces, meet employees and hang out and spend time with the brand.”

Bars and restaurants in Central Massachusetts are the fastest growing in New England — double the rate of other parts of the region, he said.

Wachusett’s brand has become so popular that the company recently sought approval for another expansion. The plan includes increasing brewing capacity from an estimated 80,000 barrels by the end of this year to 500,000 barrels by adding brewing equipment over the winter, Mr. McMahan said.

The company is leasing land across the street on a monthly basis from the town for additional parking. Mr. McMahan said they that are in the process of buying that property.

“The amount of cars is pretty incredible,” Mr. McMahan said. “The town is pro-business and great to work with and has been super-supportive.”

By law, Wachusett can only serve in the brew yard what it makes, but it recognizes that not everyone drinks beer. Mr. McMahan said they are also producing hard ciders and seltzers and a scratch margarita.

“We work hard to offer as many options as we can make to diversify the list as much as we can,” he said.

That includes the creation of an oyster stout made by boiling six dozen oysters and adding about 30 pounds of the Westminster Oyster Crackers in with the grains.

“It is amazingly popular,” Mr. McMahan said. “Cooking the brine off the shell puts the character of the shell into the beer, and gives it a smooth hint of wonderful essence.”

Wachusett worked with Joseph Serio, founder of the Westminster Cracker Festival, on the concept for the oyster stout, he said. Wachusett’s new oyster stout was offered at this year’s annual festival.

“Westminster is home to the famous oyster crackers, and we talked to Joe, and thought about how we could make the first-ever oyster cracker stout,” he said.

Brewmaster David M. “Howie” Howard Jr., who has been with Wachusett since it opened and participates as much as he can in the brewing, said he “got to eat the crackers and oysters” during the process.

“It was received well,” Mr. Howard said. “It is a neat, gimmicky thing, but the history of stout is over 300 years old, and using oysters in beer has been around for 80 years. In those days, oats and milk were added to stouts to keep people nourished. As a brewer, it is hard to get your head wrapped around it until you try it and are pleasantly surprised.”

Mr. Howard said he is always open to new ideas, and a lot of things are discovered by accident, such as big IPAs that contain twice as many hops.

“The craft beer industry is still young, even though beer has been around since the Egyptians,” he said. “It’s artistic, and you get to use different ingredients. Right now, we’re working on a lot of different things.”

He gave a short preview of what is to come, including new flavors of seltzer they are working out in the lab and the possibility of a German Altbier (historically made in Germany where Mr. Howard was born) made with a special malt from Stone Path Malt’s new facility in Wareham, which uses grains from Europe.

For the oyster stout, the oysters themselves also had a local connection, provided by Seth and Dorothy Garfield, owners of Cuttyhunk Shellfish Inc. on Martha’s Vineyard. The couple is originally from Princeton and came up when the stout premiered in the brew yard, setting up a raw oyster bar for the event, Mr. McMahan said.

“We have 24 beers on draft all the time, and it is one of the most popular,” he said.

Other popular beers made with locally sourced ingredients include Wachusett’s Willy Dilly IPA beer made with pickle brine from Stretch’s Pickles of Westminster served with pickle garnish; Bo Knows Hops “Wet Hop” IPA made from fresh cascade hops harvested down the road at Bo Basler’s Farm; and Monsterland spiced cider made from local apples and named after local author Ronny LeBlanc’s book that chronicles weird Leominster phenomena, including UFO and Sasquatch sittings.

“People love supporting local and when put the two together in a beer, they love it even more,” Mr. McMahan said. “There are always 16 Wachusett beers you can only find at the brew yard that make people come back to find out what is up, so there is a ton of variety.”