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May 6, 2021

Craft breweries welcome eased restrictions after struggling during pandemic

Photos | City Steam Brewery City Steam Brewery in Hartford.
By Joe Chaisson, Journal Inquirer

After months of having to discover new ways to stay afloat, local breweries are seeing busy weekends and increased foot traffic thanks to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions as more people are vaccinated.

Effective last Saturday, patrons at restaurants and breweries can enjoy alcoholic beverages without having to order food if they are seated outside. The state also lifted the limit on the number of people at outdoor establishments and moved closing time to midnight from the pandemic-imposed 11 p.m.

David Wollner, owner of the Willimantic Brewing Company on Main Street in the Willimantic section of Windham, said the establishment has seen back-to-back successful weeks, which he thinks is due to the vaccine and warmer weather.

“With the vaccines rolling out, one thing that’s been beautiful is we’re seeing grandparents and great grandparents getting together with family,” Wollner said. “The lunch business has also come back, we have a lot more seniors coming out and they feel OK to eat indoors or outdoors.”

Managers at Elicit Brewing Co. on Adams Streets in Manchester said they are happy with the loosened restrictions as staff has had to do less policing.

“We have someone at the front door who explains all the current rules. Fortunately, I think a lot of people are still the habit of the former rules so this past Saturday wasn’t too demanding,” General Manager Amanda Fromerth said. “It was weird, on Saturday there were numerous times I would go over to say something and then remember, ‘no it’s fine now.’”

Fromerth said the brewery has seen a steady increase in traffic since the middle of February.

Jennifer Wright, owner of Luppoleto Brewing Co. in Windsor Locks, said the hardest part of operating the brewery during the pandemic was trying to comply with the continuous policy updates from the state.

“When the state first shut down, it became, ‘OK, how do we switch from selling our beer in glasses to selling it to go out the front door?’ Then once everything opened up it became a question of spacing and ‘how do we make outdoor seating at our space that really is not designed for outdoor seating?’” Wright said.

Adam Delaura, co-owner of Labyrinth Brewing Co. in Manchester, said the establishment had a line out the door on Friday for the first in a long time, adding that traffic notably increased in April when the vaccine became available for everyone in the state.

“We were actually almost caught off guard from a staffing perspective. Things had been so slow then all the sudden we had a busy Thursday, a busy Friday, then a busy Saturday, and we knew something was going on,” Delaura said. “Since then it hasn’t been crazy, but it has been a nice steady increase. This weekend was better than the last one by a little bit, and the previous weekends were better than the ones before them.”

Delaura said management was forced to change the way they distributed beer during the course of the pandemic in order to stay open.

“Most of the pandemic was just us getting kicked in the gut,” he said

Originally, Labyrinth sold beer only in-house. However, when businesses closed in March 2020, the brewery was forced sell curbside, as well as contact liquor stores and restaurants.

“Packaging beer costs so much more money. The market is just so little, so I have to have the machines, the staff, and I have to buy labels and cans and lids,” Delaura said. “So, our entire business plan was entirely based on hundreds of people being shoulder-to-shoulder in our tap room, and I am just handing beers across the bar. That’s just not a viable business right now.”

Woller said Willibrew plans to unveil a new business model once restrictions are completely lifted later this month, with a goal of preventing people from gathering in the bar without wearing masks.

Hosts will continue to seat patrons at every table in the brewery — like they did during the pandemic — rather than offering a free-for-all to find a table, especially in the bar, Woller said.

“It used to be for years you just walk into the pub and hover around a table and see who is getting ready to leave,” Woller said. “I think it’s in everybody’s best interest if we can control that seating because in the past guests would literally be fighting over a table, especially on the patio.”

Woller noted some positives that came out of running the business during the pandemic, such as a scaled-back menu, additional seating outside, and the rise in takeout orders.

Delaura said a positive in the long run was that Labyrinth began selling beer to other vendors in lieu of missing out on in-person sales.

The Connecticut Brewers Guild urged patrons to be patient as breweries work through the changing rules, noting in a news release that some breweries may choose to continue to enforce table limits or space between groups. But it hailed the changes as good news.

“The days of touring CT’s 120-plus breweries and visiting multiple establishments with your loved ones on beautiful, crisp spring days are back, and we couldn’t be happier,” the association said.

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