New England Brewing Nears 10 Years in Woodbridge

The New England Brewing Company will pop champagne on 10 years in business this June.

Owner Rob Leonard says his 3,000-square-feet facility off of Amity Road in Woodbridge yields about 5,000 barrels a year, making it one of the state's "biggest small craft breweries."

Brewersassociation.org defines an American craft brewery as "small (producing 6 million barrels or less a year), independent and traditional." As of March 2013, there were a total of 2,360 craft breweries in the country, according to the organization.

New England Brewing offers four year-round options: Sea Hag IPA, "one of the first craft-brewed American India Pale ales to ever be packaged in cans," according to the brewery's website; a New Haven-themed Elm City lager; 668 The Neighbor of the Beast, a Satan-inspired Belgian-style ale; and Gandhi-Bot, a very hoppy double IPA.

Then there are the seasonal varieties like Supernaut IPA, which is one of three beers currently on draft at the brewery that customers can bring a glass or growler and fill up with. The other two are Sea Hag and 668. In total, the brewery produces about 12 types of beer a year, says Leonard.

BeerAdvocate.com twice listed New England Brewing Company as one of the top 20 breweries in the country, according to the brewery's website.

More than 200 restaurants and bars now carry a New England Brewing Company beer on draft, says Leonard. One of the newest, later this month, will be Prime 16 in Orange, which opens on May 30, according to Marc Signore, the bar manager there.

Signore was at the brewery Monday for a tour with 20 people who will work as servers and bartenders at the Orange location. Signore says it's important as someone who will be selling the product to see "the basic process (and) how it's made and stored."

The bar manager says he's been on brewery tours before -- Sam Adams in Boston and, closer to here, Two Roads in Stratford -- but those trips were outside of work.

Signore says Prime 16's newest location will have 30 draft lines with New England Brewing Company contributing a Gandhi-Bot, a Supernaut IPA and a saison.

"We invite all our customers," Leonard says of restaurants his brewery supplies. And of Prime 16, he adds, "They're a great craft beer bar."