The Daisy Cutter will flow one last time at Half Acre’s Lincoln Avenue brewery.
In a surprise move, Half Acre announced Monday it will reopen the taproom at its original Lincoln Avenue facility for 12 days in September before handing the keys to the location’s new owner.
Such a move had seemed unlikely for several reasons, including the space being shuttered since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Half Acre closing the adjoining shop last month.
But Half Acre co-founder Gabriel Magliaro said he wanted to find a way to open the taproom for “one final embrace with the whole thing” before Hop Butcher for the World takes over the space in a sale announced earlier this summer that is expected to close in fall.
Half Acre even brewed its flagship Daisy Cutter pale ale at the Lincoln Avenue brewery for the send-off, the first time it has made the beer there in “a long time — years,” Magliaro said. (The beer is typically made at Half Acre’s larger brewery less than two miles north, on Balmoral Avenue.)
“We want these things to mean something,” Magliaro said in an interview Tuesday morning.
The Lincoln Avenue taproom, which has 55 seats — no standing will be allowed — will be open Thursdays through Saturdays from 4-11 p.m., with a final day of service Sept. 25. The first day of service will be Thursday.
Only people presenting proof of vaccination will be allowed in, and all staff will be vaccinated, Magliaro said. Customers will be required to wear masks except when at their tables or the bar.
It will be first come, first served, Magliaro said. There are no plans to serve food, but guests can bring in food from elsewhere.
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Magliaro said he had wanted to reopen the taproom on a limited basis before selling the building, but wasn’t sure Half Acre would be able to pull it off due to public health concerns and staffing issues.
“We didn’t think it would be challenging as it’s been, but that was always the hope: get it back open and get everybody, including ourselves, to have a pint and commemorate it before going ahead with things,” he said. “I didn’t want to promise anything, because we didn’t know if we would be able to do it in the way we wanted.”
But they were able to figure out staffing, he said, by importing workers from the Balmoral brewery, and the decision to allow in only vaccinated people eased health concerns. The decision is consistent with the brewery’s cautious approach during the pandemic, Magliaro said. Half Acre has not been open for indoor service at either of its breweries since March 2020, but runs an outdoor beer garden at the Balmoral location.
“We felt it was the right way for everyone involved — our staff, customers, their families — and it just feels like, at this point, all the resources are there for people to do what they need to do to protect themselves,” he said.
During its final month on Lincoln Avenue, Half Acre will also serve its longtime house beer for that taproom, Space IPA, which was also made in a last hurrah this month at the brewery.
Half Acre will serve two collaboration brews made with Hop Butcher for the World: an IPA made at Hop Butcher’s current home in Darien, and a double IPA made at Half Acre’s Balmoral Avenue brewery. More collaborations between the breweries are likely as Hop Butcher, a younger brewery with intense fandom for its approach to making hazy IPAs, takes over the space.
Magliaro said he’ll be on hand regularly at the Lincoln Avenue brewery in September, “popping in and out.”
“It was very much a personal hope to do this and a personal hope to connect with Lincoln in all the ways we can,” Magliaro said. “We don’t need to open it, but we want to.”