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Date: 1/26/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – Three shiny tanks, nearly six feet tall and as thick as tree trunks, stand in a side room at Brew Practitioners, visible over a counter from where customers sit. This is where the magic happens, co-owner Joseph Eckerle said. Grain makes its way through the equipment with water, hops and yeast added at different stages. After fermenting, it becomes beer.
Part science, part art, Eckerle and his co-owner and wife, Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle have been brewing and serving their small batch beer in East Longmeadow for four months.
“It’s been great,” Cannon-Eckerle said. “We’re baby-stepping our way in.”
The couple moved Brew Practitioners to East Longmeadow after their Florence location was shut down for more than a year due to the pandemic. The owners decided to take the opportunity to locate a new home for the business and found the site at 45 Baldwin Street.
East Longmeadow has “been a great match.” Cannon-Eckerle said. She added, “We needed to show our neighbors,” that the business wouldn’t pose a sound nuisance. There have been no complaints since they opened.
Beer Selection
When it comes to the beer, Eckerle said, “We’ve gotten lots of compliments on the beer selection.” From west coast IPAs to amber ales and black beer stouts, there is an array of classic beers that Brew Practitioners carries on tap and canned all year round. “Consistency is pretty important,” said Cannon-Eckerle.
That said, Eckerle is consistently experimenting with flavors, adjusting the hops and yeast to give each beer a different profile. “They love the selection, he said, “different colors, different tastes.”
Some of the more recent beers the business has produced are an ebony bourbon stout, a New England-style IPA called “El Dorado,” smoke beer “Bella” and "Louise," a hazy beer. “Hazy beers are very popular at the moment,” Eckerle said.
Brew Practitioners is a three-barrel operation, which Eckerle said allows them to change their line of products regularly. “We can do more flavors, because we’re small,” he said.
It takes six to seven hours to brew a batch of beer and two to three weeks to ferment it. Eckerle said fermenting longer lets the parts of beer that give people hangovers settle out of it. He commented, “You can’t rush perfection.”
Vision
When Cannon-Eckerle and Eckerle first pitched the brewery to the East Longmeadow Town Council, it was described as a place for people to grab a couple of beers before moving on to dinner or going to a movie. Cannon-Eckerle said she and Eckerle were surprised that, “It seems like we have become a more go-to spot.”
Eckerle attributed that to the brewery’s “family-friendly” atmosphere. “We’ve always wanted to be more of a pub,” he said. Cannon-Eckerle added, “A public house in the English fashion. We don’t have any drunken sailors at the bar.” Instead, Cannon-Eckerle said the large roll-up door to the patio area is open all the time in the summer and kids can play there. The atmosphere lends itself to conversation, rather than heavy drinking. The couple has been considering adding more TVs to the brewery, but Cannon-Eckerle said, “We have an internal struggle. We’re not a sports bar.”
Location
Eckerle said East Longmeadow has been easier to work with than Florence, where they were located for six years.
“There’s not as much fear,” of the virus, “in East Longmeadow,” Eckerle said. “No one wants to be a spreader of COVID-19,” he said, but added, “In Florence, it was like they were looking for ways to shut you down. Here, it’s like they’re looking for ways to keep you open.”
When it comes to people finding the brewery at the end of Baldwin Street – a dead-end – Cannon-Eckerle said, “We’re still working that out.” She said part of the problem is that both owners have full-time jobs, Cannon-Eckerle as a lawyer and Eckerle as an engineer. This means people aren’t answering the phone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “We don’t even have a phone,” she said.
There are other benefits of the location, however. “There’s just more people here,” Eckerle said. “We’re getting a lot of word of mouth.” They are also advertising on social media. Cannon-Eckerle said there is much more parking available than at their former Florence location. The building itself is also much larger, allowing for more patrons and a food vendor.
Step Sister Café
“We always wanted to have food,” Cannon-Eckerle said. It wasn’t an option at their Florence location due to space constraints.
With the addition of Step Sisters Café, Cannon-Eckerle explained, “We are two separate entities,” but there is a synergy between the food sold at the café and the brewery. “Clientele have found they loved the food. The food is great,” she said. Step Sister Café features casual food, such as pretzels with beer dip, but also a line of paninis.
The two businesses are still finding their footing with how to operate under one roof, particularly, regarding the hours, Cannon-Eckerle said. The café may not be open every day the brewery is and their hours are shorter.
“It’s been a learning curve,” Cannon-Eckerle said, but when Step Sister Café isn’t open, the brewery utilizes other food vendors nearby. Recently, they have been working with DeNardo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, around the corner at 39 Maple St.
Brew Practitioners is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. More information is available at https://brewpractitioners.com.