Nearly two years after announcing plans to expand their brewery to Canton, Trillium Brewing Co. founder JC and Esther Tetreault have unveiled details on another massive expansion much closer to home.
"As we celebrate the anniversary of our first year in Canton and look forward to a new year, I'm beyond thrilled to share that we have another expansion in process. We are working on plans to relocate our Boston brewery!" Esther said in a blog post Thursday.
But they're not going far – instead, they'll be moving their original brewery into a much larger space in Fort Point, keeping the original space there but closing down the front of house operation and moving the retail component over to the new location, JC told me.
“It’s not necessarily a done deal yet, but we feel like it’s in the 90 percent chance of happening," JC said during a phone call Saturday. There's local permitting and building inspections to get through, as well as the state licensee process. But, said JC, if all goes well, "that should have us ready to go by end of 2017, beginning of 2018."
According to Brewbound's Chris Furnari, the new space will cover about 15,000 square feet "and will include a full-scale restaurant as well as outdoor patio seating." It will feature a full-pour taproom, a key piece missing at the current Fort Point spot. And there is also, apparently, talks for a roof deck bar.
Trillium, of course, continues to surge in the crowded craft beer space, consistently producing coveted beers fans will wait any amount of time (and pay seemingly any price) to procure.
It's these people specifically, said Esther, who are at the heart of the expansion plan, shouting out "all of our fans who have waited in the rain in lines that sometimes curled down Congress, past Lucky's on to A Street!"
A specific location hasn't been disclosed yet, nor have details about the food side of the business. “We’re going to start on the slower side with the menu, stay relatively conservative and cautious," JC said. "We’re hellbent on getting it right.” He said they'll spend the next six months or so finding the right head chef, general manager and other key hires.
Regardless, this is huge news for a city that is big on craft beer and yet woefully lacking in actual breweries. Another full-pour taproom in the heart of Boston couldn't come soon enough.
"For now," Esther wrote, "let's just say that there will be more of everything: more beer, (way) more space, and more fun (but still no dedicated parking...sorry, just not possible in downtown Boston)."
