Great North Aleworks may have opened in August 2015 in Manchester, N.H., but the idea for the name goes back to 2009, well before owners Rob and Lisa North thought about opening a full-scale brewery. Lisa bought the domain name as a gift for her husband to use as an identity for his homebrewing projects, and it was a play on both their last name and the fact that they both hail from Nova Scotia.
Homebrewer to Pro
Rob’s background is in business with a concentration in IT. Like many professional brewers these days, he started out as an avid homebrewer. After marrying Lisa in 2006 and moving into a larger home, Rob found he had more space for all-grain brewing and began taking the hobby to the extreme. He joined Brew Free or Die (B.F.D.), the local homebrew club, and started earning medals from homebrew competitions. He even won the 2010 Samuel Adams Patriot Competition. The grand prize was to have his beer brewed by Boston Beer Co. in its Boston brewery and served at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro for the New England Patriots’ 2010-2011 season. That beer would later become Great North Aleworks’ Smokin’ Rauchbier.
Lisa’s background includes being a schoolteacher before getting into IT work. She says she still handles all the tech support in the brewery, but it’s not nearly as stressful as working for a larger company. She’s also dabbled a bit in homebrewing.
Unfortunately, Rob found himself unemployed in early 2012. Still being interested in brewing, he gave his friend and B.F.D. member Mike Robinson a call at Newburyport Brewing, which had just opened. Rob was taken on as the brewery’s second employee, and he was able to get his brewer’s boots wet on a full-scale professional brewing system while working on his own brewery business plan and begin a location search.
Finally Open
Great North Aleworks now operates a 20-barrel DME brewhouse with a combination of eighteen 20-, 40- and 80-barrel fermenters after a recent expansion. When the brewery opened in 2015, there were only six fermenters, but demand for beer — especially the IPA — grew quickly. Rob said it became nearly impossible to brew anything else except IPA just to keep up with its demand, so he contracted out the IPA to the Pawtucket, R.I., craft beer cooperative Isle Brewers Guild. The recent expansion allowed the Norths to brew that beer back home, where it represents well over 50% of sales. The expansion project also included a canning line, so Great North Aleworks is able to can beer whenever it’s ready instead of having to coordinate with Iron Heart’s portable system one day a week.
The Norths have a brewing staff of five, including Rob and now his old friend and mentor, Mike Robinson. Most of Rob’s days are taken up with brewery ownership and operation, but he still manages to brew a batch or two himself every other week.
The Beers
The brewery’s four flagship beers are Smokin’ Rauchbier, Tie Dyed, IPA and Robust Vanilla Porter. Tie Dyed started out as a homebrew recipe with Todd Russell, another B.F.D. member, and was originally just a seasonal beer, but its popularity led to producing it year-round. It’s also a gold medal winner in the American Pale Ale category at the Great International Beer, Cider, Mead & Sake Competition. The rauchbier isn’t available year-round at retail anymore, but it’s always on tap in the brewery’s tasting room. Other beers available on a rotating basis include Cerveza de Leche (a milk stout with coffee and spices), Northbound Pilsner, Tragically Hopped Double IPA, Märzen Rover Amber Lager and Chocolate Milk Stout.
The tasting room has a Restaurant Beer and Wine License that allows Great North Aleworks to serve food and full pints. The menu consists mostly of sandwiches, soups and starters, but there is a new mac and cheese bowl that can be ordered plain, with bacon or with pulled pork. Former New Hampshire Governor (now Senator) Maggie Hassan has even been seen in the tasting room with her family. Thursday night rotating events in the taproom include an open mic night with all-original music, “Raise a Glass and Cash” charity night, trivia night and a cribbage tournament.
Great North Aleworks, 1050 Holt Ave., #14, Manchester, N.H., 603-858-5789 www.greatnorthaleworks.com; Thursday-Friday 3-7 p.m., Saturday noon-6 p.m., Sunday noon-4 p.m.
