EXPANSION PROJECT
Artisanal Brew Works undergoing major growth
WILTON, N.Y. >> A major expansion is underway for local brewery Artisanal Brew Works, which is now located in the town of Wilton.
Founded by Colin Quinn and Kurt Borchardt in 2015, the business has grown exponentially over the past six years — and an upcoming project is set to enhance the brewery’s local presence.
Artisanal Brew Works outgrew its original space on Geyser Road in Saratoga Springs and moved in December 2020 to its new home in Wilton, on a stretch of Maple Avenue that’s seen significant development in recent years.
Here, the brewery is currently operating a temporary taproom in a small plaza — but the eventual plan is to open a large brewpub in the nearby 10,000-square-foot building at 617 Maple Ave. that previously housed Cole’s Collision.
The new facility will include two bars, a retail shop, a growler fill station, an outdoor beer garden, increased brewery production, which will be visible to patrons through a glass wall, and a restaurant featuring high quality brewpub favorites. Space will also be available to reserve for special events.
The brewery will make use of the former auto center’s overhead doors during warmer months.
Though they may not have envisioned such a large endeavor when they first started Artisanal Brew Works, opening a brewpub is something the owners had always considered.
“People want food with beer,” Quinn said. “That’s something that we’ve found as we’ve evolved … so we decided that that was the next logical step for us.”
The idea is to provide a destination for guests, he continued, “making their visit to us as interesting
and fun as possible.”
Along with more to offer guests, the brewpub expands opportunities for onsite beer production too. “We’ll probably about triple our capacity for what we make in-house,” Borchardt explained, noting that the company uses a contract brewing model with a company in Boston too.
Some of the most popular products to come out of Artisanal Brew Works to date are its Warheads sour ales and the new Warheads hard seltzers, made in collaboration with Impact Confections, the makers of Warheads candies.
These unique flavors are sold not only locally, but distributed around the country — and they have garnered a lot of nationwide media attention for Artisanal Brew Works. The local brewery has hit the radar of People, Buzzfeed and Delish, to name a few.
This was all unexpected for the two school teachers that turned their homebrewing hobby into a business. “We set out to make beers that were fun and make people happy,” Quinn said.
In doing so, they’ve created quite a splash among the craft beer revolution.
The brewery continues to come out with new recipes, including some new fall beers that are set to debut soon.
Artisanal Brew Works aims to open a portion of its new space, the front bar, this fall.
The rest of the brewpub, the project’s second phase, is expected to open in 2022.
The temporary Artisanal Brew Works taproom, located at 615 Maple Ave. in Wilton, is currently open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, with happy hour specials on weekdays.
More information about Artisanal Brew Works can be found online at artisanalbrewworks.com or by calling (518) 306-4344.