Jack’s Abby Named Manufacturer of the Year for Massachusetts

Recently we were honored to find out that we were named by the Small Business Administration as Massachusetts’ Manufacturer of the Year. When we opened our new Brewery and Beer Hall in 2015 we worked with the SBA and Mutual One, our local bank, to secure the loans we needed to expand and remain independent.  

When my brothers and I were planning our expansion in 2015 there were a lot of things we needed to make our plan work.  We needed space for our expanded operations and the Beer Hall. We needed a new brewhouse, canning line, fermentors and a bevy of other ancillary equipment.  Most importantly, we needed the manpower to run and manage this operation. The SBA is important to us because they helped make this possible.

Since opening our new Beer Hall and Brewery in October 2015, we have grown from 25 employees to over 130 currently.  These employees are our cooks and servers in the Beer Hall, that continue to provide an excellent experience to our guests. They are our brewers and production team that have increased our output from 18,000 barrels in 2015 to being on track to reach the mid 50,000’s this year.  They are our sales and marketing team, who are representing our brand across eight states.

However, this project had to be about more than just increasing production.  Last year alone, 997 new breweries opened across the country, and there are 2,500 in planning. More is not always better unless you are putting out the best product possible. We made a large effort to expand our quality control department to ensure we are living up to our standards as world class brewers. The canning line was selected to allow us to provide the packaging formats consumers are looking for while allowing us to continue to sell product at price points that you have come to expect from us.

We want to thank the SBA and Mutual One, who believed in our vision and helped make this expansion possible.  Being named Massachusetts’ Manufacturer of the Year signifies to us that we are on the right track. There are a lot of options out there; we have to keep improving.

-Eric