MANCHESTER -- There’s a new option brewing right off Main Street in Manchester.
“We have everything from golden ales, low alcohol percentage, all the way up to double IPA’s,” said Ryan Fagan, co-owner and head brewer of Urban Lodge Brewing Company.
Urban Lodge Brewing Company opened its doors in August. It’s the creation of two brothers-in-law with a passion for craft beer. Michael Gerrity and Ryan Fagan started brewing five years ago, and a year and a half ago, they decided to open the business.
“Once the beer got really good, and people, like friends, neighbors, people who knew beer said this is good, this is commercial-style beer, not just home brew, it became the right time,” said Gerrity, one of the co-owners.
The family has ties to Manchester, so it was only natural to select a vacant property near Main Street to turn into the Urban Lodge Brewing Company. The two had a distinct vision for what they wanted in the space.
“We thought, we should make a really cool experience for people. Some place that they want to come out,” said Gerrity.
“We were really into having a brewery that makes it feel like home, and I believe we hit the nail on the head with that,” said Fagan.
The name of the business is a nod to their home life.
“Ryan and I married sisters, so they are Lodge’s, so that’s the name, we were trying to figure out, can we incorporate this – a lodge is a warm place we’d like to go to besides being a family name, so that’s how we came up with Urban Lodge,” said Gerrity.
So far Urban Lodge has been getting a lot of support from the community, so it was a no brainer for the brewery to sponsor one of the community’s biggest events: the Manchester Road Race.
“We found out that King and Queen of the Hill was the available sponsorship, so we figured that would be a really fun one to be a sponsor for,” said Gerrity.
Gerrity and Fagan have been running the race for years, so they know the excitement surrounding race day and what ends up being a busy day for Main Street area businesses.
“It really turns out to be a real big day for them because we bring in 15,000 runners, 30 to 35,000 spectators and we’re all in and around that general area on Main Street,” said Jim Balcome, Manchester Road Race Director.
“We expect mass crowds here, just a lot of fun, friendly environment, and we’re really looking forward to seeing how we can help gather people downtown for the road race,” said Fagan.
Because that’s what Urban Lodge Brewing Company is all about.
“We’re big into tradition, we’re big into family and nothing could more resemble that than the Manchester Road Race,” said Gerrity.
Urban Lodge Brewery will be open on Thanksgiving for the Manchester Road Race from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.