After more than 20 years of running a homebrew supplies store in Monroe and sharing their expertise by writing books, Mark and Tess Szamatulski said they were ready to take the next hop in their business and build a brewery.
“We decided we”™ve been doing this for so long, we might as well just do it on a larger scale,” Tess Szamatulski said.
In June, the couple opened Veracious Brewing Co., a taproom and brewery, on Main Street in Monroe.
- Mark and Tess Szamatulski, owners of Veracious Brewing Co. in Monroe. Photos by Danielle Brody
The Szamatulskis, of Trumbull, have written two homebrew recipe books and have served their beer at festivals and at their store, Maltose Express. They said they always wanted to open a brewery but that it did not make sense prior to three years ago.
That was when the Ace Hardware next to their store closed, giving them the space to expand, Mark retired from his post as an engineer at defense company Northrop Grumman in Norwalk, and the state became friendlier toward breweries.
Mark Szamatulski said up until two years ago, Connecticut sold the least amount of craft beer in the U.S. He credited the founders of Two Roads Brewing Co., which opened in 2012 in Stratford, with introducing more people to craft beer and pushing legislators to update the state”™s alcohol laws that previously limited what breweries could sell. Now, breweries can self-distribute and sell pints, cases of 24 beers and growlers to go.
“For us it made it affordable,” he said. “We actually were able to start a brewery and we could make money at it. That was a big thing.”
Brad Hittle, president and CEO of Two Roads Brewing Co., said brewers benefitted from the efforts of Two Roads”™ founders in Hartford. He said there have always been a handful of good craft breweries but they were probably inhibited by the old rules.
“That was a big change because being able to sell beer by the pint, breweries are able to generate revenue on-site and also create more of a connection with consumers,” Hittle said. “So from a marketing perspective, it”™s a home run.”
- The Veracious Brewing Co. taproom resembles an English pub and offers a view of the brewery through the windows.
There are 26 breweries and brewpubs in the state and four in Fairfield County listed on CTbeertrail.net. About 14 more are trying to open, Mark Szamatulski said. In Bridgeport, Aspetuck Brew Lab will open soon in Black Rock, and Mayor Bill Finch in June announced a businessman”™s brewpub proposal received Zoning Board of Appeals approval to open in the South End.
“New York really pushes their breweries,” Mark Szamatulski said. “Connecticut”™s slowly starting to come around to do that as well.”
Even though more breweries are popping up, both Hittle and Mark Szamatulski said for now, the demand can support them. The Colorado-based Brewers Association said craft brewers had 11 percent volume share of the marketplace last year, up from 7.8 percent in 2013.
Hittle said people from across the country, especially millennials, plan trips around breweries. As long as breweries make good beer, “everybody wins,” he said.
“Each brewery has its own point of difference, which is exciting to consumer,” Hittle said. “They love to go and check out all the different breweries.”
In the past three years, the Veracious owners said they have invested at least $350,000 in equipment, moving Maltose Express next door and turning the 6,250-square-foot former site of the store into an English-pub-style taproom in one half and a brewery with 10 fermenters capable of making about 3,000 gallons of beer in the other.
- Veracious Brewing Co. serves eight beers and cold-brewed coffee.
They also spent that time developing and testing 23 recipes, like Udderly Delicous, a stout made with lactose that gives it a creamy taste, Saison D”™Tessa, a lighter beer with orange and honey flavors, and beers made with blueberry and watermelon. Mark Szamatulski said because they have been in the beer industry for nearly three decades, they can”™t make just any beer.
“They consider us beer experts, so our beer”™s expected to be good,” he said. “So it”™s a little bit of pressure that way, but I welcome that.”
With four beers on tap every day plus four rotating beers, Tess Szamatulski said customers should be able to find at least one beer they would like. If not, there”™s always wine; it just isn”™t brewed one wall away from the taproom.
The brewery is visible through windows in the taproom, which contrasts the industrial equipment with an intentionally welcoming setting, Tess Szamatulski said. It features local touches like wood paneling on the wall behind the bar made from donated New Canaan church pews, large tables with benches made from the same wood, repurposed lights formerly used in a parking lot and a large moose head ”“ a gift from the owners”™ landlord ”“ watching over the room.
Along with incorporating Monroe history into the decoration and the names of some of the beers, the owners incorporate local businesses into their production. A portion of Veracious”™ hop supply comes from nearby Rocledge Farm, which also harvests honey from three beehives for Veracious. The brewery, in return, gives the farm used grains from the beer-making process.
Mark Szamatulski said Veracious does not serve food, which he said takes away from the focus on beer, so staff members encourage customers to order from or eat at local restaurants. The couple said they hope brewery visitors patronize Monroe.
- Maltose Express, open for more than 20 years, sells supplies for homebrewing beer and wine.
Hittle said a brewery can be a huge boost for a town. Two Roads draws 80,000 to 100,000 people per year, breathing life into Stratford, he said.
The Szamatulskis said they plan to attract their customer base from their store, beer geeks and average people from Monroe and neighboring Shelton, Newtown, Easton and Trumbull. Mark Szamatulski said about 100 customers came in daily from Thursday through Saturday the week of the brewery”™s soft opening.
He said they plan to sell kegs beginning in September and distribute cans of beer by next year. He predicts Veracious will be profitable now and that the owners will make back their investment in a year to a year and a half.
The brewery will eventually be a bigger “money maker” than Maltose Express, he said. In the few weeks Veracious has been open, Szamatulski said he has seen former homebrew customers for the first time in years returning to simply enjoy a pint.
“People will make beer for a while when they have time, and then things happen,” he said. “But they”™ll always drink beer.”
Love craft beer and glad to see it gainin in popularity! I am a newbe to making my own beer at home and follow the industry.