USA, CT: Elicit Brewing Co. sets its sights on a third site in Hat City

A former Danbury bookstore is eyeing a brewpub makeover, The Patch reported on October 24.

Elicit Brewing Co., with one location in Manchester and another planned in Fairfield, has its sights set on a third site, in Hat City. According to Bob Hill, chief development officer for Elicit parent company Eli's Restaurant Group, the business has finalized a lease to take over the former Barnes & Noble space at Danbury Square.

"It's technically not finalized" until a few more Ts are crossed, Hill said, but he was optimistic, and enthusiastic about bringing the "Elicit experience" to Danbury.

That experience is typically a whimsical one, with brews named "Marriage Counseling," "Botched Facelift," and "I'll Be A Monkey's Dunkel" sharing spigot-space with your Guinesses and your Pabst Blue Ribbons. The pub's online menu for its Manchester location shows 19 Elicit beers on tap, and another 22 not made by the home team also available on draft. The eats include all the pub food mainstays, as well as six kinds of French fries, eight types of taco and a tower constructed from Bavarian pretzels, served up with honey mustard and Elicit beer cheese.

"We're kind of unique in that we have infused hospitality and entertainment into the brewery business." Hill said that Elicit cuts against the grain of typical Connecticut brew-bro demographics, with 50 percent of the customers female, and 45 percent over 35 years old.

The growing chain of brew pubs is conscious of not looking like a growing chain of brew pubs, according to Hill.

"There'll be certain elements that you'll see in every location, but we wanted to keep it local, so oftentimes you'll see stuff in the brewery that's local to the area." Don't be surprised to find a "Hatters" brand of beer on tap at the proposed Danbury location, Hill told Patch.

"We care about the people in our community being part of the experience," Hill said.

Elicit Brewing's Manchester site opened in 2019. Its Fairfield pub is looking at a November-December launch, but there is no target date yet for the proposed Danbury site. Eli's Restaurant Group was founded over two decades ago in Hamden, according to the company website.

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