Local homebrewers look to make a splash in Stamford

Michael Bushnell and Patrick Casciolo will open Lock City Brewing on Research Drive in Stamford. Michael Bushnell and Patrick Casciolo will open Lock City Brewing on Research Drive in Stamford. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Local homebrewers look to make a splash in Stamford 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — When Stamford resident Michael Bushnell began brewing beer in his garage four years ago, he had little inclination that it would eventually become a career option.

At first, Bushnell picked up home brewing to see if he could mimic the tastes of his favorite beers. After four years of trial and error, however, Bushnell now believes that his recipes can hold their own against those of Connecticut’s leading microbreweries, and he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.

“In the early stages of the learning curve I dumped quite a few batches of beer but remained persistent and tweaked processes to come up with a product that I can enjoy and think that many other would enjoy as well,” said Bushnell. “Eventually, I got to the point where it was like, ‘Wow, this is really good. I’ve got to let other people try this.’ And, when I brought it out, people were comparing it to New England Brewing Company’s Gandhi Bot Double IPA. That’s when I knew that we were on to something.”

It was around this time that Bushnell, who currently works at a commodity-trading firm in Stamford, decided that, when the time came, he would abandon his day job to open up his own brewery — Lock City Brewing.

“We’ve been driving to Vermont, Maine and all over the place for beer, and once Mike stepped up his brewing game to the point where his beers were on par with the ones we were drinking, we just thought, ‘Hey, we can do this. We’ve got to do this,” said his business partner, Patrick Casciolo, who is the owner of a local audio and visual company.

But the dream to open up a local brewery didn’t just happen overnight for Bushnell and Casciolo.

Even with vats of high-quality homemade brew and Bushnell’s confidence in his product on the rise, it wasn’t until Lock City’s go-to beers were met with long lines and raving reviews at a few local beer festivals last year that the partners truly knew that their craft beers had a chance to be something special.

“We didn’t know what the reaction was going to be to our beers,” said Casciolo. “Now when we go to beer events, we’ve got people who were first in line at the door that come running to us and saying that they want our beer.”

“From there it just kind of snowballed. We gained a lot of momentum and built up a following. We’ve already got people messaging us, asking if they could carry our beers,” added Bushnell.

Bushnell said that it was during one of their scouting trips to Vermont that the idea for Lock City Brewing truly started to coalesce into some semblance of a coherent business plan. The pair was drinking at the Alchemist Pub and Brewery enjoying the Vermont-exclusive, double IPA Heady Topper when they began to think to themselves: “Why can’t we start a brewery like this ourselves?”

Casciolo and Bushnell envisioned that Lock City Brewing would operate similarly to Alchemist, which, at the time, sold beers exclusively out of its brewery. The result, Bushnell said, was that when Alchemist opened its doors to the public, long lines of 50 to 60 people would queue up as beer enthusiasts sought to fill their growlers with the quickly burgeoning beer brand.

Bushnell says that, in the beginning stages, they hope to emulate the operations of breweries like Alchemist and Beer’d Brewing Co. in Stonington, which began their businesses by focusing primarily on their own tap rooms, as opposed to distributing beer around the state or country.

With this barrel-to-cup delivery method, the Lock City entrepreneurs believe that they will be providing their customers with some of the freshest, best-tasting beer that Stamford has to offer.

“I think some breweries, when they make a batch, they don’t want to waste it, whether it’s a test batch or whatever, so they’ll put it out in their taprooms. At Lock City, if we can’t drink it, it’s not going out there,” said Bushnell. “That’s what separates us from other breweries. They can’t afford to dump product, but we’re willing to do that if our product isn’t meeting a certain standard.”

Bushnell says that while his arsenal of beers is about 30 recipes deep, Lock City will predominantly feature a core group of seven year-round beers, with seasonal and special beers making appearances here and there. Amongst their main roster of beers, Lock City will offer the Double Noggin Knocker, a double IPA with an ABV of 8.2 percent; the City Chocolate Stout, a stout with an ABV of 9.6 percent; and the Blonde Locks with Highlights, a pale ale with an ABV of 4.9 percent.

Lock City Brewing will be offering these beers almost exclusively out of its 1,500-square foot location at 54 Research Drive, which is in the early stages of construction now. When finished, the brewery will house about 7.5 barrels for brewing, six fermenters, and, the main attraction, a taproom that will seat about 25 to 30 people.

While the brewery won’t serve any food on the premises, the owners hope that they can set up an arrangement similar to Stratford’s Two Roads Brewery, where food trucks could post up outside in case customers get hungry.

While their dreams have been set in motion, Bushnell and Casciolo are still a ways from opening the doors to their brewery. If all goes according to plan, Bushnell and Casciolo hope to have Lock City Brewing open and running before the end of the year.