Nashua Brewery Tour Celebrates Booming NH Craft Beer Industry

NASHUA, NH — When Martha's Exchange opened on Main Street in Nashua in 1993 it was the only brew pub in town, one of only two brew pubs in the state, and stood alone ahead of a trend in the industry that would develop over the next quarter century. Now Martha's Exchange is one of four brew pubs in downtown Nashua, one of seven in the city, and one more than 80 amid the recent craft beer boom in the Granite State.

"It's really only exploded in the last five or six years," said Milford resident Greg Ouellette, who grew up in Nashua, and is the head brewer for Martha’s Exchange for the past 18 years. "For the longest time, we would go to beer festivals and brewers' conferences and you knew most of the people. Now everybody's popping up and we can't keep up it. The growth is great. The younger generation is looking for new, and exciting and local. That's what we're seeing now."

More and more, the younger generation is looking for that new excitement in New Hampshire, a demographic pull that Granite State officials and brewers got together to promote during Friday's New Hampshire Brewers Association Tour of Nashua breweries. Martha's Exchange, White Birch Brewing and Spyglass Brewing Co. were included to represent the range of history of the industry in the city. While Martha's Exchange has been in the city for 26 years, White Birch has been in its Nashua location for a little over a year since moving from its original Hooksett spot and Spyglass is celebrating its one-year anniversary this weekend.

"It's been a remarkable success," said Jeff Cozzens, co-founder and CEO of Schilling Brewing in Littleton and vice president of the New Hampshire Brewers Association. "And it's been at really a nail-biting pace. We think that's pretty good for New Hampshire. When you talk about how New Hampshire craft beer, independent beer in this state, impacts the quality of life, that's a discussion we could have for two hours. It's been pretty remarkable.”

New Hampshire Business and Economic Affairs Commissioner Taylor Caswell said the craft beer industry has been one of the aspects of Granite State life that has drawn millennials to the state at a much higher rate than its counterparts in New England, and throughout the Northeast.

"It's important what this industry, specifically, can bring in with money jobs and investment," he said. "But what is just as important is what it brings to a community. Anyone who has been to a craft brewery, or a brew pub like this, you see people acting like they are a community. It's one of those less objective impacts. So much of our attractiveness as a state is our lifestyle. When you can make the pieces marry up, and that happens to just align with what the demographic that we're chasing wants to do, it really is a perfect marriage. Yes, it's the jobs. But it's also the experience.”

Ouellette said he's seen that experience change greatly over the 18 years that he's been with Martha's Exchange. What was once a unique experience has turned into a destination with tourists and area residents coming to Nashua for the wide variety of craft brew offerings in such a small footprint.

"I like the whole idea of the beer tourism thing," he said. "I like the idea that there are four breweries you can walk to in town right now. If we can promote that, and get people to come downtown more, it's more for everybody."

According to the NH Brewers Association, the state is seventh in the nation in breweries per capita with 7.6 for every 1,000 21-plus adults. NH breweries produce more than 110,000 barrels of craft beer per year and produce a $452 million economic impact for the state.

"Things are going forward," Cozzens said. "Now we are seeing amazing growth in our industry and tremendous success. We are here today to celebrate those successes. We are here to celebrate the stories. We are to celebrate all the other things going on in this industry."