Local beer enthusiasts can help make Quincy's first craft brewery a reality

Break Rock Brewing partners with MainVest to bring world-class craft beer to the City of Presidents

QUINCY, MASS. – Quincy is the largest city in New England without a local craft brewery – but that’s about to change and Boston beer lovers can help make it a reality. 

Break Rock Brewing LLC has announced a partnership with MainVest, the crowd-source funding site devoted to reshaping America’s Main Streets with innovative, locally owned businesses, many of them celebrated new brands in the food & drinks space. 

The fundraising campaign began on June 13 and ends on August 14. 

“We are committed to bringing a world-class craft brewery to Quincy and we’re excited to offer this opportunity to our neighbors to help make it a reality,” said Break Rock Brewing founder, brewer and president Jay Southwood. “Working with MainVest affords the hard-working, beer-loving people of Quincy and neighboring communities a chance to invest the city’s only craft brewery while helping enhance this diverse, dynamic community.”

MainVest offers residents, neighbors, craft beer fans and investors an easy opportunity to help open Break Rock Brewing Co. 

Details of the opportunity are found here on the MainVest website. 

Southwood is a South Shore native, Dorchester resident and Boston beer industry veteran who currently works at Mayflower Brewing Co. in Plymouth. Break Rock’s brewhouse will be headed by Vilija Bizinkauskas, also a South Shore native who currently brews beer for Drop In Brewing Co. in Middlebury, Vermont.

 Southwood and his team are working to a secure a location in Quincy. The Break Rock brand and its motto – “Work Hard. Drink Well” – pays homage to the city’s working-class heritage and industrial history, specifically the city’s internationally celebrated former granite quarrying industry. Bunker Hill Monument, among other iconic buildings and monuments around America, are built of Quincy granite. 

Break Rock will brew and distribute beer in an around Quincy, and also serve beer in its own neighborhood taproom.

 “Drinking beer should be casual and fun, something to enjoy after a hard day of work,” said Southwood. “We expect our brewery to be a little bit different than most contemporary craft beer taprooms.”

“Guests will find a warm, welcoming neighborhood tavern that happens to brew world-class American craft beer. Break Rock Brewing will be a place for everyone from local sports fans to experienced craft beer aficionados, offering great beer in a casual, laid-back environment.”

Southwood and the Break Rock team is working to finalize a location in Quincy and anticipates opening and serving the community by 2020.

For more information about investing in Break Rock, visit the MainVest website. You can also follow Break Rock here on its website or on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 

“Break Rock will combine the best of the modern taproom with everything you love about your favorite neighborhood pub – a fun and inviting atmosphere, a sense of community, and great beer,” said Southwood. 

Quincy was briefly the home of Quincy Ships Brewing Co., featuring beer from legendary New England brewer Tod Mott. But that operation closed its doors in 2002. 

City of Presidents American Pale Ale available exclusively at Quincy Center bars, restaurants

A complex, easy-drinking all-American craft beer
from Widowmaker Brewing

City of Presidents American Pale Ale is scheduled to arrive at Quincy Center bars and restaurants on Friday, August 17, the first and only craft beer brewed exclusively for distribution in Historic Quincy. 

             The deliciously flavorful, complex but easy-drinking pale ale was crafted by Widowmaker Brewingof Wood Road in Braintree, steps from the Quincy line. 

            “This beer celebrates the history of a great American city and pays homage to downtown Quincy’s rapid rise as one of the region’s most dynamic new dining destinations,” said head brewer Ryan Lavery of Widowmaker Brewing, a former longtime Quincy resident. “Quincy businesses and residents have supported our brand in great numbers and we’re excited to provide this exclusive offering.” 

            The beer is being released at a time when Quincy Center is enjoying a construction boom and is about to welcome a second wave of new eateries on the heels of last year’s arrival of 10 new dining destinations.  

Pending newcomers include Idle Hour, a cocktail-centric neighborhood bar featuring dishes from celebrated former Drink chef de cuisine Ashley Gaboriault; Rewild Plant Food + Drink, touted as America’s first plant-based beer hall and café; and Belfry, a new urban beer hall from the team behind critically acclaimed Quincy Center cocktail boite The Townshend. 

            The City of Quincy is also about to celebrate the opening of its world-class new downtown green space, the Hancock-Adams Common, in a Sept. 8 ceremony featuring local dignitaries, Mayor Tom Koch, Governor Charlie Baker and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and John Adams biographer David McCullough. This public park, boasting green space, fountains and monumental statuary of Quincy natives and Founding Fathers John Hancock and John Adams, promises to be the centerpiece of the new and improved Quincy Center. 

            In the spirit of Quincy’s historic past and bright future, City of Presidents American Pale Ale is a brewed with 100 percent all-American ingredients, including domestic malts and a blend of classic and nouveau American hops: Amarillo, Cascade and Citra. 

            It’s a cloudy hop-forward pale ale in the popular “New England style” of craft beer, but one that features a brilliant lemonade-yellow hue from the use of lightly toasted American malts. The sunny color symbolizes the dawn of a new day for Quincy Center. The beer’s soft texture and mouthfeel come from its use of American flaked oats. 

            City of Presidents American Pale Ale tastes great on its own or paired with favorite summertime dishes. 

The beer is available in 16-ounce cans with a label that features the facade of Quincy landmark Church of the Presidents, plus modernized images of Quincy’s favorite sons chilling out with sunglasses drinking this cool new brew: President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams and President of the Second Continental Congress John Hancock. 

The label was designed by Quincy artist Jacob Callaway of Verified Beer Traders. 

The first run of City of Presidents American Pale Ale will be available exclusively at Quincy Center bars and restaurants, including 16C, Alba, Angelo’s Coal Fired Pizza, Cagney’s, Fat Cat, The Fours, Fowler House, Fuji at WOC, Idle Hour, Malachy’s, Paddy Barry’s, The Pour Yard, Rozafa, S6, Shaking Crab, The Townshend and Zef Cicchetti & Raw Bar.