Lucy Gellman Photo
“Gypsy” Paolillo at city’s newest beer company.
In a studio that once housed child-sized beams and pulleys, assembly and daily operation are looking a little different now: A new New Haven craft-beer operation is on tap.
The beer company is taking shape at Erector Square in Fair Haven, the former home of the Erector Set factory, now a sprawling community of artists and tinkerers like Ron Paolillo.
On a recent Saturday, Paolillo poured out hops pellets from a large bag, double-checking his measurements against a brewing database and reexamining the amount. At the center of the room, Liam Doherty-Nicholson raised his glass — the last of the season’s chocolate porter — and examined the brewing operation. Left Hand Screen Print Shoppe’s Justin Maturo stood beside him, sniffing the air with a kind of groggy, sloping grin. It was low and warm, thick with the deep, nutty scent of spent grains.
A timer went off, signaling two minutes. For parts of an IPA bubbling away in the tubs, it was almost go time.
Welcome to Erector Brewing Collective, a new, hyperlocal addition to a craft brewing movement sweeping Connecticut and the nation.
Led by self-proclaimed “gypsy brewers” Paolillo and Maturo (pictured below) with assistance from Doherty-Nicholson (pictured at bottom), the Erector Square-based operation is preparing to officially open its doors later this year or early next, as Paolillo finalizes large-batch brewing arrangements with Thimble Island Brewing Co. in Branford and business regulations with the state’s Liquor Control Division. He and Maturo expect to be selling commercially by next spring. Thimble Island would brew the beer; Paolillo and Maturo would holdi onto the Fair Haven space as their beer laboratory.
“Everything here for us is to lead us kind of dial our recipes, move everything around, see how it is and if we need to change flavors or profiles,” said Paolillo on a recent interview with the Independent, motioning to the canisters in front of him as they filled with soggy hops and heavy, floating malt. “It’s a little bit of a scientific process, but it’s easy enough.”
Born and raised in East Haven, Paolillo always envisioned opening a business that would let him give back to the community in a palpable way. For him, a brewery seemed like the most logical.
“We’re [Maturo and I] both big beer drinkers, especially with craft beer,” he said, stirring the soaked malt mixture with a large paddle. “But what we have is driven by New Haven. There’s a really rich history of brewing in New Haven, if you go back to Hull’s [which closed operations in 1977] and Elm City [which lasted on Grand Avenue from 1989 – 1998] … there’s a really strong tradition and it’s been gone for years. That’s why we like being in Fair Haven. A lot of the breweries weren’t far from here. We’d like to bring back some of those traditions. Hopefully once we get large enough we can do that.”
So far, he added, all signs point to the company being able to reach that point. They already have LLC status from the state, and Thimble Island is dealing with the brewing regulations side of operations. He also doesn’t see Hamden-based, small-batch breweries like No Worries Brewing Co. and experimental Front Porch Brewing Co. as competitors, working around what they offer to find new, still-marketable flavor pairings. So far, those include the American Flyer Electric and American Flyer Electric Thunderbolt IPAs — so-named for sets that were once built in Paolillo’s workspace — as well two “Pity The Fool” porters flavored with coffee and cocoa nibs, and a lighter, springier pilsner.
What keeps Paolillo coming back, he said, is that he’s enthralled by almost every second of the operation — even if it is, as Maturo described it, “90 percent cleaning.” With a full-time job for Lockheed Martin and new baby at home, his Saturday brew sessions aren’t just a therapeutic hobby: they’ve turned into a kind of celebration of Fair Haven communities, and the booming new life of Erector Square.
“Back in the day, workers pretty much walked to work [at the breweries] … afterwards you punched out, you grabbed a six-pack, and you walked home,” he said. “We’d love to get to a point where we can employ people and they can grab beer at the end of the day. We’re building something new.”
To listen to a recent episode of “Kitchen Sync” also dedicated to craft beer in Connecticut, including Erector Brewing, click on or download the audio above.