Powder Hollow Brewery opens Yankee Candle taproom

Date: 10/7/2020

SOUTH DEERFIELD – For Michael McManus, Powder Hollow Brewery and the Yankee Candle Village are a perfect match.

Having spent a fair amount of time searching for the ideal spot to expand, the brewery’s owner and CEO said when the opportunity to move into the space previously occupied by Chandler’s Restaurant and Au Bon Pain presented itself, it was too good to pass up.

“The past few years, I’ve been expanding [the brewery] and growing our footprint,” McManus said. “We had already started distributing to the liquor stores and a couple of select restaurants in Western Mass. and when we were able to expand capacity, we started looking at opening a new taproom and as soon as I saw this, I knew it was the right spot to be in.”

The Yankee Candle taproom, Powder Hollow Brewery’s third, officially opened on Sept. 18 as part of the company’s rapid expansion. The brewery opened its first location on Hazard Avenue in Enfield, CT, in 2014 and by its third anniversary was in the midst of building a new production and distribution center on Post Road. In 2019, a second taproom and small-batch brewing operation opened in Middletown, CT.

“The building was just screaming that it was a good fit for who we are and what we’re about,” McManus said. “If you’ve been to our original taproom, it looks very similar on the inside with the rough-cut barn board style. We really like that vibe of a wooden structure that’s a little more comfortable than a new architectural building.”

The taproom includes full pours and sample trays of beer as well as packaged beer for carry out. In addition to the retail portion of the business, Powder Hollow has a three-barrel system on-site that will be used for experimental batches and recipe development. Some of those experimental beers will be available for purchase.

“It’s designed for testing new ingredients; it’s not a system designed for massive distribution. We call it a pilot brewing system. It’s for testing out new recipes, trying new things and work with local farms,” McManus explained, adding the brewery is already developing a recipe for a sour beer using a local farm’s blueberries.

Food is also available through a partnership with Hillside Pizza.

“This addition to our store will give our valued guests a place to relax and enjoy a new offering while supporting our local community,” said Wade Bassett, director of retail operations at Yankee Candle Village. “Powder Hollow Brewery is constantly experimenting with different flavors and brewing styles but their commitment to exceptional guest service is what makes them stand out. This has been an exciting renovation process and we are delighted to share this incredible new space with Powder Hollow.”

McManus said he was “pleasantly surprised” with how smooth the relationship with Yankee Candle was from the start.

“They’ve been awesome,” he said. “For such a large company, they’re very easy to work with and very quick to make any kind of change or go through any approval processes as necessary and with a lot of large companies, that kind of stuff slows them down. It’s impressive how easy they are to work with.”

Opening and operating a new location in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has presented its challenges but McManus said he has been pleased with the response.

“When we were trying to come up with some projections, we found it’s hard to do that right now. In today’s world, there is no standard formula to figure out how many people are going to show up,” he said. “So far, we’ve been very fortunate. A lot of people who are local have been coming in and we get the travelers due to Yankee Candle’s additional attractions. So far, no complaints – everything has been going very, very well.”

McManus said a Massachusetts location is becoming a key element in expanding the brewery’s brand recognition in the Pioneer Valley and beyond.

“I think right now we are still such a small brewery in the grand scheme that there’s so much more opportunity,” he said.

With its Yankee Candle taproom now fully operational, McManus admitted he’s ready for a little break, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped looking to the future and even more expansion.

“Right now, we’re going to take a couple of months to give the crew a break. We’ve been extremely busy at our main production facility and getting this open through COVID was a challenge,” he said. “After that, the sky’s the limit. We’re never going to slow down.”