It's hard finding a niche in the craft beer world these days. With so many people getting into the game, the question of how they distinguish themselves, and ultimately attract customers, has never been more difficult to answer. For Boston's Mighty Squirrel, the solution from the start was simple: Make the world's first craft beer infused with 4 grams of protein and sell a message of more health-conscious imbibing.
And it seems to be working. The company raised $2.4 million back in 2014, and just disclosed another $1.8 million raised of a $2.5 million round, thanks to 24 unidentified investors.
"Our craft beers have received very positive feedback from the active, social, and health-conscious consumers in the Massachusetts market, and we can't wait to take our Squirrel to other northeastern states in 2017," co-founder Naveen Pawar told me, adding that distribution to New Hampshire and Rhode Island is expected next.
Mighty Squirrel currently resides in the WeWork office on Atlantic Avenue, across from South Station. They contract brew at von Trapp Brewery in Stowe, VT, offering an India Pale Ale, India Pale Lager and a Bohemian Pilsner, among others.
But it sounds like part of this new round of funding could be used toward establishing a brewery space all their own.
"We are raising more money for our operational expenses and to fund our growth to neighboring states in New England market over the next few months," said Pawar. "We also met with the MassDevelopment team couple of weeks back to explore the possibility of starting a brewery in the Boston Metro area in the near future."
It's tough to pinpoint just how much dough it takes to open a Boston Area brewery, of course (though I've been told by a few local brewery founders it's pretty tough to do for anything less than $1 million). After all, finding amenable real estate is getting tougher by the day, and that's just one of the many hurdles.
Perhaps this will be one of Mighty Squirrel's "Mighty Moments."
