Plan for New Haven brewery gains approval for East Rock site Plan slightly tweaked; owner hopes to open in September

Tim Wilson spoke about his proposed craft beer brewery in New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood at a management team meeting in 2016. Tim Wilson spoke about his proposed craft beer brewery in New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood at a management team meeting in 2016. Photo: Mary O’Leary — New Haven Register Photo: Mary O’Leary — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Plan for New Haven brewery gains approval for East Rock site 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> For those following the progress of a brewery planned for the East Rock neighborhood, it has now gotten final approvals for an updated site plan.

Owner Timothy Wilson says he is still hoping to open the much-anticipated facility in September.

Wilson received both Board of Zoning Appeals and City Plan approvals this week that tweaked the design of the facility at 285 Nicoll St.

The East Rock Brewing Co. also got the OK to prepare and serve food on-site as the business grows. In the beginning it plans to have food delivery or an arrangement with food trucks for patrons visiting its tasting room, which will accommodate 100 people.

The latest regulatory approvals will allow Wilson to get construction documents out to bid and hopefully start building shortly after that.

The bulk of the property will house the brewery for beer manufacturing, which will be shipped off site for retail sale.

Wilson said the landlord has committed to building a 93-car garage in another portion of the large former manufacturing site in time for the brewery to open, which is a condition of approval.

The equipment for the brewery has been ordered and Wilson expects it will be here by mid-July or early August.

The tweaked plan increased the size of the beer hall to 3,281 square feet and decreased the size of the beer manufacturing portion to 22,641 square feet.

He also got approval to place two raw material silos, one spent grain silo and one CO2 tank that will be installed on structural concrete pads outside the brewery.

They have permission to be open seven days a week, but will save Monday for special events.

The hours of operation are from noon to 10 p.m. on weekdays; Friday and Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday.