Riverhead’s downtown brewery scene is about to grow again.
Long Beard Brewing Company will be opening in the former firehouse on Second Street currently being renovated by builder Bob Castaldi, who restored and reopened the historic Suffolk Theater on East Main Street.
“We signed the lease today and we couldn’t be more excited,” Long Beard co-founder Paul Carlin said. He and his partner Craig Waltz will be brewing craft beer and operating a tasting room on the first floor of the firehouse.
Long Beard Brewing Company will be Riverhead’s fourth craft brewery, joining Long Ireland Beer Co., Crooked Ladder Brewing Co. and Moustache Brewery.
“We think Riverhead is going to be the craft beer mecca of Long Island,” Carlin said in an interview Thursday evening. “The more you have the better it is. People who are really into drinking craft beer will come here because of all the craft breweries and we’re so happy to be a part of that.”
Long Beard will occupy the east side of the building — a 3,800-square-foot one-story addition to the original 1933 structure, Castaldi said.
Carlin and Waltz — who both sport long beards, of course — started their brewing company in May 2012 in Rocky Point, but Carlin, 42, had been a devoted home brewer long before that. He had a following that urged him to start a brewery. He knew Waltz from working together as boat mechanics at Ralph’s Fishing Station in Mount Sinai Harbor and Carlin said he decided he wouldn’t open the brewery unless Waltz would do it with him.
“He’s an amazing, multi-talented guy. He’s phenomenal with everything mechanical — and he’s a carpenter, too,” said Carlin.
Waltz interned at Long Ireland in Riverhead and helped them build their brewery, Carlin said.
The pair plan to start with either a five-barrel or seven-barrel system, Carlin said.
Their current brews: Old Scruff, a pale ale, Evolution IPA, Spruce Moose, an Abbey Weizen and To Beard…or Not to Beard, a milk stout.
“For us, after three years of chugging along and pushing forward, sometimes feeling like it was never going to come together…Getting that lease from Bob and signing it today, it’s such a lift,” Carlin said.
“Our tasting room isn’t going to be done right away. We’re going to concentrate on getting the brewery built. But our vision is something out of this world,” Carlin said. “It will be the kind of place where you go inside and you just … deflate. You relax. I don’t want to discuss specifics because I want to keep it a secret. But it will be like something you haven’s seen on the island yet.”
“The old firehouse has an allure,” he said. “It’s going to draw people in. And Bob has big plans for it.”
Castaldi said today he’s got a number of other ideas for the rest of the space. “I learned a long time ago that until you’ve got signed leases, you don’t have anything you can count on.” So for now, mum’s the word.
“What we’re doing with the firehouse will really light up that area and make it a destination,” Castaldi said.
“I’m very excited,” Supervisor Sean Walter said today. “I think the craft brewery scene is going to come together in downtown Riverhead very nicely. I’ve always envisioned downtown being an arts and entertainment district. The breweries are such a nice complement to that.”
The town board is poised to adopt new legislation covering the siting of microbreweries — along with cideries and wineries in the downtown DC-1 zoning district. The board changed the zoning of the former firehouse property to DC-1 just before selling it to Castaldi.
At today’s work session, Councilman James Wooten told the board he would like to see the microbrewery use added to the Village Center zoning district also. That would take in Polish Town. “We’ve been trying to marry Polish Town and Main Street forever,” Wooten said.
Carlin said now that the partners have a lease, they can begin the permitting process, applying first for a federal brewer’s license and then for a state brewery license as well as for the necessary health department and town approvals. They will try to construct their brewery simultaneously with the state licensing process, which takes a long time.
“We’re shooting for being open by St. Paddy’s day next year,” Carlin said. “If it can be sooner, that’s great. But that’s our goal.”
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