Here’s a Look at Night Shift’s Second Taproom

A rendering of the taproom addition at Night Shift Brewing. / Image provided

Friday night spent in a line outside Night Shift, waiting to get into the taproom, could soon be a thing of the past: The Everett brewing company just announced they’ll break ground on a second, on-site taproom this week. It’s slated to debut in July.

First reported last fall, the addition will allow Night Shift to accommodate more guests. The capacity of the Annex, as the team is calling it, is 180, increasing the overall capacity of the brewery to 411, cofounder Michael Oxton says. It will be optimized to host events, but if there’s no private party planned, “if there’s a line forming or we could use a little cushion, we’ll open it,” Oxton says.

Located through large barn doors off the side of the main taproom, the Annex will host Night Shift’s live music when it debuts this summer.

“We’d really like to open up those blue doors on a busy Friday night, so the live music doesn’t take over the entire taproom, but you can also go in there to be part of that environment,” Oxton says.

The space is designed with better acoustics than the main taproom, he adds. There won’t be a raised stage, but there will be a designated performance area. There will also be a “green room,” an extra space—with a sink and a mirror—for bands, wedding parties, and the like to hang out and get ready for events at the brewery.

The Annex will have bar seating, communal tables, and a cozy lounge area around a gas fireplace. It will also have additional restrooms, and it will have a its own bar with 24 draft lines.

The past several months have seen tremendous growth in the production side of things for Night Shift. Oxton and cofounders Michael O’Mara and Roberts Burns has installed a handful of new fermentors, as well as a $250,000 canning line—hence all those shiny, new, 16-ounce styles you’ve seen on shelves lately, like Trifecta, Furth, and Morph.

Night Shift Brewing, 87 Santilli Highway, 617-294-4233, nightshiftbrewing.com.