USA, MA: Incandescent Brewing to move into former Hitchcock Brewing location in Bernardston

As Incandescent Brewing moves into the former Hitchcock Brewing Co. location on South Street in Bernardston, the reins will be passed from one husband-and-wife team to the next, Greenfield Recorder reported on December 26.

The new space will be bright and colorful while still offering craft beers and a community hangout spot, said Nate Perry, who owns Incandescent Brewing with his wife Mesi Charles-Perry. They have a goal to be open by the end of February 2025, pending necessary permit approval.

Perry began his journey into the world of beer in 2008, when he began homebrewing in Philadelphia. He said he loves to cook and found brewing beer to be a similar process that involves following the specific steps of a recipe while still getting to experiment and be creative.

“It’s a fun combination of art and science,” Perry said.

His homebrewing experience sparked an interest in turning beer into a career, and Perry has been working as a professional brewer for 12 years now. Perry said he has worked in breweries all over the country, but he dreamed of having his own business. He grew up in Conway and always wanted to return to the area to raise a family, so when he and his wife moved back to the region six years ago, he knew it was time to look for a spot to set up his own brewery.

“I’m surrounded by family and friends that I’ve known for a long time and it sort of felt like the most authentic place to start this up,” Perry said.

The couple has faced delays and challenges, such as the pandemic and raising their children. In May, they had a stroke of luck in the form of a phone call from Rich Pedersen, who owned Hitchcock Brewing Co. with his wife Geneva, asking if they were interested in buying the building in Bernardston. Perry said Pedersen had heard through the grapevine that he and his wife were looking for a spot to open a brewery, and it was perfect timing as the Pedersens were looking to retire.

They finalized the sale in November, and Perry and Charles-Perry have been working diligently since then to set up their business. They have been learning how to make a website, craft a business plan and develop branding, while also navigating the permitting and licensing processes.

“I wish it was just brewing beer,” Perry said. “Brewing beer is the easy part.”

While working on their business plan, Perry said he and Charles-Perry settled on the name of “Incandescent Brewing” because they liked the definition. Incandescent is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “white, glowing or luminous with intense heat,” being “strikingly bright, radiant or clear,” or as being “characterized by glowing zeal.”

“We love the way the [different definitions] work together to focus on science and art, respectively, and lend themselves to color and radiance,” Perry said.

Though final design decisions have been left to his wife, Perry said they plan to make the space lighter and brighter, replace some of the tall bar-height tables and chairs with lower ones, and create a lounge space in the front area. They plan to keep the stage area intact and continue inviting local bands and musicians to perform at the brewery.

“That’s a big part of what did really well with Hitchcock — the sound system is great, the lights are great, the stage is great. We have a great opportunity to keep doing that,” Perry said. “We’ll have a lot more color in here and lighten it up and make it bright and lively.”

In terms of beer, Perry said he plans to have seven or eight beer options available by the time they open and will work to fill the 12 taps over time. This will include both West Coast and New England styles of IPAs, a German-style pilsner, a fruity kettle sour, a porter and a hard seltzer.

Down the line, he added, he hopes to add barrel-aged options and seasonal offerings.

While Perry hopes to open Incandescent Brewing to the public in the late winter or early spring, it depends on how quickly they can get their state and local permits.

“We’ve just gotta get the door open and start serving some pints,” Perry said.

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