Brewpub Amendment Step Forward For Medford Brewing Company

MEDFORD, MA — After much deliberation at Tuesday's meeting, the City Council approved an amendment to Medford's proposed brewery ordinance, making it easier for the city's first brewpub to open.

The amendment, submitted by Councilor Nicole Morell, defines "brewpub" as "an establishment that provides full on-site meal service and is also licensed to brew beer on the premises. A brewpub shall sell 25 percent or more of its beer onsite and, lastly, a brewpub shall be categorized as a restaurant and not a brewery for the purpose of zoning."

The amendment passed 6-1, with Councilor Adam Knight as the sole holdout. Knight, who helped sponsor the initial brewery ordinance more than a year ago, said he was hesitant about adding new language without first considering the legality of it.

"When creating certain definitions, I think that it's important that we, number one, have legal counsel be advising us and helping us draft these items," Knight sound. "Number two, that we have the building commissioner present to discuss with us the impact and application."

Medford Brewing Company co-founders Max Heinegg and Nick Bolitho, whose plan for a brick-and-mortar location would be the city's first brewpub, both spoke at Tuesday's meeting. Bolitho expressed frustration over missed deadlines in the development of the ordinance.

"The Medford Brewing Company might have to stop being the Medford Brewing Company and move to another city where we're actually allowed to operate and try and do something for that city," Bolitho said. "That's not what I want to do."

The company is eyeing space that is currently zoned as a restaurant – one that the public enjoyed for decades, and Bolitho and Heinegg would like to restart, said Bolitho. He cited the potential economic impact of allowing Medford Brewing Co. and similar companies to operate in the city.

"I hate to say it – how many businesses are opening in Medford right now?" Bolitho said

Sean Beagan, a Medford resident and attorney, said the existing ordinance "never took into account the type of place that Nick and Max actually want to open, which is, in my mind, a restaurant."

"It's not a brewery in the purest sense of the word," he added.

The amendment affords Medford Brewing Company and operations like it the rights of a restaurant as opposed to a brewery. But it does differ from a restaurant in that a limited amount of beer is brewed onsite, a distinction made when Bolitho balked at Council Vice President Richard Caraviello's suggestion that they run the space as a restaurant and brew their beer elsewhere.

"I cannot open a Medford Brewing Company location where I cannot brew my beer onsite," Bolitho said.

Caraviello was ultimately on board with the amendment, and others on the council echoed that it was time to move forward with the ordinance. The Council voted 7-0 to send the paper as amended to the Community Development Board.