Yankee Brew News Archive

Microbrewery Profile: Downtown Brewing Company

Originally Published: 08/97

By: Kerry J. Byrne

While brewers throughout New England complain that distributors are dropping their beers like acid at Woodstock, one brewery's beers are flourishing after just two months.

Downtown Brewing Company's Boston Burton India Pale and Burton Lager (also known as Trent Lager in its kegged form) hit the streets May 23. Within a month the West Bridgewater-based contract brewery's two beers, along with previously released flagship Boston Burton Ale, could be found throughout Massachusetts, even in the far reaches of Martha's Vineyard.

"They're available readily," in Massachusetts, Downtown owner Joe McCabe says proudly. "There's not a major store, or even a secondary store, that doesn't have (them) yet."

How's a new brewery do it? It helps when the brewery is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Liquors, where McCabe worked for 14 years, several as its beer sales manager.

McCabe, a 54-year-old Marlboro, Massachusetts, resident, is Downtown's owner and sole employee. In April, 1996 he went from United sales manager to director of Downtown Brewing Company. He says the United connection hasn't been a factor in his young company's success.

"I have to get in line like all the other suppliers," McCabe said. "It's not a given that they will concentrate on my beer and not the other ones out there. As it's developed (other brewers) can see that's not happening. I have to dig for business as hard as they do."

While Downtown Brewing Company is unique, so is its flagship Boston Burton Ale. Local beer fans might remember Burton Ale as the award-winning bottled version of Commonwealth Brewing Company's beer of the same name.

In 1992, McCabe says, he met with the owner of the Commonwealth Brewing Company brewpub, Joe Quattrocchi, to discuss bottling Burton Ale. Soon after, bottles of Burton Ale were produced under contract by Vermont's Catamount Brewing Company and distributed by United Liquors.

"Last year I met with (Quattrocchi) again," McCabe says. "He had no interest in bottling it anymore, so he gave it to us. I shouldn't say give. We paid for it dearly." The price he said, "was thousands, not hundreds." He would not give an exact figure. (Quattrocchi, by the way, seems to have lost track of what happened to Boston Burton Ale. "What's Downtown Brewing Company?" was his first response when reached at his New York City office. He also said he sold the beer to McCabe two years ago.)

Whatever the case, Boston Burton Ale is Downtown's most recognizable beer. Both McCabe and a Catamount representative said the Burton Ale recipe is unchanged. It will soon be joined by a fourth product, Summer Fling, a plum-flavored beer.

The Downtown line of products is a steady one, with the IPA perhaps the strongest selection. Plus, they are brewed at Catamount, which ensures a certain level of integrity. The three newer products - IPA, Lager and Summer Fling, have been developed by head brewer Tony Lubold and the rest of the Catamount brewing team.

"We take as much pride in brewing Joe's products as we do our own," Catamount brewer Jeff Close said.

There is no doubt that Downtown Brewing Company is unique among New England breweries, perhaps even among all American breweries. California-based industry analyst and author Jack Erickson said the Downtown situation is indicative of "the crazy times in the marketplace.

"You're seeing all kinds of shenanigans and jumping through hoops because people think it's a hot industry. It's not." Erickson believes, like many other observers, that the craft brew industry is in a cooling down phase and that it's a tough time for anyone to enter the game. He wonders if Downtown will survive, and hopes they'll be able to maintain the qualities that made this industry boom for a decade.

"These are not brewers," Erickson observed. "They're marketing a package, and I don't think in the long term that's what the market will support. People out there know their brewers and put a face on the product and support it."

"What has been the greatest value to this whole industry going back to day one," he continued, "what captured the media and what captured the consumer, is that people were making great beer. People liked the integrity they saw and said they'd support the product."

"The consumer liked it because it was genuine. There's all kinds of schemes out there and I think we're losing some of that allure consumers loved," concluded Erickson.

Despite the concerns, McCabe and Downtown Brewing Company have a lot going for them: How many other new breweries have an advisory board that includes the owners of the two most important beer bars/restaurants in Boston? Downtown does in Rob Gregory and Mark Kadish, the respective owners of Redbones and Sunset Grill & Tap.

Despite these advantages, McCabe believes his hard work will make the difference. In his company, he said, he does most everything. He even writes his own commercials and does the radio spots. And when he's dealing with his distributor...

"I'm treated as a supplier that has a product that the salesmen have to sell. It's up to me to motivate them."

Because the beer is brewed at Catamount, it is already available in many Vermont locations. He said those motivated salesmen should have his products in Rhode Island in the near future, then the rest of New England.