West Haven man hopes mythical tale of Armada’s beers helps build business W. Haven man hopes mythical tale of Armada’s beers helps build business

Armada Brewing’s John Kraszewski Armada Brewing’s John Kraszewski Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close West Haven man hopes mythical tale of Armada’s beers helps build business 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

John Kraszewski knows the value of a good story.

Telling his story of going from a one-time package store employee with a penchant for home brewing to launching his own craft beer helped the 30-year-old West Haven resident win the $5,000 first prize last month in a competition among start-up brewers. Kraszewski’s story about how he founded Armada Brewing and his grass-roots approach to building his business allowed him to beat out four other brewers at this year’s Startup Brewery Challenge, which was held in New York City on June 15.

Now, Kraszewski’s next goal is find a permanent home for Armada Brewing, which is currently being made at a slightly more established beer maker, Overshores Brewing Co. in East Haven.

“We want to get our own place because where you drink beer, the environment you drink it in, affects how that beer tastes,” Kraszewski said. “We want to find someplace that makes drinking our beer a memorable moment.”

For now, Krasewski has to be satisfied building his business one account at a time, one beer at a time.

Since launching its first beer at the beginning of the year, Armada Brewing curently services about 100 accounts, he said. Two-thirds of those accouints are in New Haven County, Kraszewski said.

One of the places selling Armada Beer is the New England Beverage Co. in Orange,

“We like to support local brews to begin with,” said Mario, and the store’s manager, who declined to give his last name. “He (Kraszewski) gave us a sample and I think he’s got a good product.”

It’s not easy getting into the beer business, even at a local level, said Gregg Glaser, editor of “Yankee Brew News” and publisher of “Modern Distillery Age”, two Fairfield County-based trade publications for the adult beverage industry.

“It takes chutzpah,” Glaser said. “There are lots of new beers being brewed and shelf space is tight. Distribution is tight, too.”

Some of the new beers turning up on store shelves are from “brewers that are super small,” Glaser said. To break out of the clutter in the beer marketplace, a fledgling brewer needs do some creative marketing, he said.

“A lot of them rely on clever names or clever images (on their bottles and cans),” Glaser said. “A lot of it is aimed at new drinkers who are young and find that attractive. Older drinkers might not find it as attractive.”

Armada Brewing is trying a little creative marketing, creating a mythical story line with the names of the brews it has launched thus far.

The first India Pale Ale Armada produced is called the Cursed King. Subsequent brews Armada has launched add to the back story about the mythical king and his adventures. Since then, Kraszewski has added the Fortune Raider, the White Storm and Death to Corruption to Armada’s list of brews. He believes the back story sets Armada’s beers apart from rival brews. So do the 750 milliliter bottles that the beer comes in.

“We hope that with bottles that size, it will bring people together to share our beer and spark a conversation,” Kraszewski said.

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-680-9388.