"World of Beer" proposed for Social Security Building - public meeting Wednesday 4/17

[ron_newman]

I got this e-mail from Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz:

I wanted to update you that I have now had two meetings with the proponents of a place called "World of Beer" that wants to go into the Social Security Bldg space [240 Elm Street]. The lawyer for the new owner of the space, Mike Amato, is Rich DiGirolomo. I have told them that I am VERY concerned about this as a possible use since I don't want to see a drinking hole in Davis that allows you to bring in your own food and barely serves any food of their own. They have told me I have the wrong idea and it will be craft brews geared towards an "upscale" crowd. I am highly skeptical.

In response to my concerns, the proponents have now said they are going to partner with a restaurant to come into the space to share adjoining spaces. I'm not sure how that would work. They would like to have a community meeting ON SITE on Wed April 17th at 6:30pm. Can you please help me spread the word far and wide so we can get a large turnout of people who will ask key questions about what they are trying to do?

Comments

[ron_newman]

Other than the food (which I do think matters some), the big difference is that those are all local places, not national chains.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Did she protest Flatbread?

[ron_newman]

Not that I know of. Saving the bowling alley probably mattered more to her (and to the rest of us local residents).

As chains go, they're also pretty small. They're localized to New England, except for one in Hawaii.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

So a locally owned bar is OK, but a regional chain is a "drinking hole"? If the problem is the ownership, people should just say that, not complain about chains using coded language about the demon whiskey.

[ron_newman]

It's a national chain, not a regional. They aren't in New England at all yet.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

OK, I stand corrected. They're a chain with around 50 locations, mostly in the Midatlantic, Southeast and Midwest. On the other hand, each location seems to act like a local beer connoisseur's bar. If you look at their bar in, say, Easton, OH, you can see that they serve beers from Brew Kettle, a local Ohio microwbrewery. Switch to Raliegh, NC, and they don't serve Brew Kettle beers, but they do serve beers from Big Boss, Foothills, and other small local North Carolina microbrewers. Each World of Beer bar location that I've looked at has had some unusual local beers. They seem to go to a lot of effort to source their beer locally, and to be part of their community.

Personally, I'd rather support a national chain that sells locally made products (like, for example, Somerville Brewing Company's Slumbrew) than a locally owned bar that sources all of its products from multinational chains like Budweiser, Miller, and Coors.

[ron_newman]

That's encouraging, and inclines me to support it. One thing that would help its cause is for the local brewers (Slumbrew, Pretty Things, etc.) to speak in its support.

[emannths.livejournal.com]

Most people probably know this, but there are no breweries in Somerville--just offices. The Slumbrew guys brew at Mercury in Ipswich I think, and PT uses the Buzzard's Bay facility in Westport. Besides the CBC brewpub, the closest breweries are Harpoon and Trillium in Boston and the "Beermuda Triangle" of Night Shift, Idle Hands, and Mystic in Everett/Chelsea.

[ron_newman]

When I've talked to the Slumbrew folks recently, they seemed interested in creating an actual brewery here in Somerville. Maybe it would be only a small test-batch facility like Sam Adams' in Jamaica Plain.