Next Draft

THE NEXT DRAFT

Breweries are pining for upcoming patio season

Matthew Tota

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

While counting the days until patio season, breweries took a moment last week to celebrate the governor’s lifting of the capacity limit for indoor dining.

Only a moment, and with but a soft golf clap: Because as much as the order — effective now — portends an eventual return to normal operations, it doesn’t change much for a majority of breweries in the state, no matter the size of their taprooms.

The real economic jolt will come when the air warms, the beer gardens and patios bulge, and the sun lingers well past 7 p.m. For now, most breweries do not expect more business just because they no longer have to limit their taprooms to 40% capacity.

Jack’s Abby in Framingham and Tree House Brewing Co. in Charlton — which boast two of the largest taprooms in the state — have no immediate plans to reopen for anything other than take-out. Jack’s Abby wants to fine-tune its beer garden, which it plans to reopen in May. And Tree House remains focused on getting its two new locations, in Deerfield and Sandwich, online.

In Barre, set among the rolling pastures of Carter & Stevens Farm, Stone Cow Brewery never worried about the ever-changing capacity limits.

“Most of our patrons seem to prefer to sit outside, even throughout the winter season where things are extra spread out,” brewer and co-founder Sean DuBois said. “We always offer indoor seating, but our focus has been on getting people to enjoy our outdoor spaces.”

DuBois expects that trend to continue into the spring and summer. The brewery added a new pavilion to its array of outdoor seating, including its barn patio and hop yard.

“We will also definitely be bringing back more staff as we gear up for our outdoor summer BBQ and ice cream season. Also, we have begun to book live outside music for the spring and summer,” he said.

Taprooms still must have space for six-feet of distance between tables, and for Redemption Rock Brewing Co., that means it cannot safely exceed 25% capacity. So Redemption Rock, too, will bank on outdoor seating; the brewery may not call a picturesque farm home, but it did just build a new patio.

“We’re hopeful now with cases going down and the weather getting nicer, our outdoor patio will provide another option for people,” said co-founder Dan Carlson.

Still, the removal of capacity limits could not have come at a better time for Wormtown Brewery, which in the next few weeks will open a bigger taproom at its location on Shrewsbury Street, moving into the former home of fusion restaurant simjang. The taproom more than doubles the brewery’s capacity.

“Six feet still limits capacity, but we will take it,” said Wormtown managing partner David Fields.

Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. believes it can get close to its 160-person capacity, even with tables spread six feet apart.

Greater Good’s beer and brand evangelist, J.T. Ethier, said doing so would allow the brewery to bring back more of its furloughed staff and expand its food offerings.

“Every table counts,” Ethier said. “The big thing for us is the culture coming back. We’re starting to book music again, solo one-person acoustic acts. We are getting that community vibe back. We’re seeing the tide change a little bit.”

The patio view of Tree House Brewing in Charlton.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/T&G FILE PHOTO

Tap notes

Mass Beer Week returns March 6: The Massachusetts Brewers Guild’s weeklong celebration of local craft beer, which begins Friday, will look different this year, with more events taking place inside Zoom meetings than in taprooms. The mission — to support and shine a light on the state’s more than 200 brewers — is unchanged, though.

The full list of events for Mass Beer Week can be found at massbrewersguild.org. You should check out the Meet the Brewers Freshman Class Q&As, which provide a window into the lives of new brewers.

And if you collect beer glassware, make sure to buy this year’s Mass Beer Week pint glass, available at most breweries around the state. In Worcester, you can pick up the glass at Greater Good and Redemption Rock.

LISTEN UP

Tyra Penn ambitious, brilliant on ‘Last Day ’

Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

With “The Last Day of August,” local jazz legends Tyra Penn and Her Army of Snakes take the reader on a fantastic voyage, one which flits across time effortlessly, one moment evoking George Gershwin, then later David Bowie, each song placed in such a ways as to recontextualize them, to create a new narrative.

Penn and her cohorts use John Crowley’s novel “Little, Big” here as a structure, the song choices meant to evoke the journey of the family at the book’s center. Not having read the book, I can’t speak to that, but what I can say is this story that Penn weaves is a sort of fairy tale, almost the inverse of Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. It’s almost as though the song details a journey out of the fantastic into something more grounded and real.

It is, by any stretch, an extraordinary journey, one abetted by Penn’s even more extraordinary vocals. She is a singer capable of making a building shake and rattle with her voice, but it’s her ability to do that and maintain her

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