Look Inside Night Shift’s New Everett Taproom, the Annex

Night Shift Annex bar. / Photo by Tim Oxton

If you need any more confirmation of just how much Night Shift Brewing has grown since it moved to Everett two years ago, step inside the Annex. The second taproom, which officially opens on Friday, September 9, is a swanky new hangout space that ups the popular brewery’s capacity to more than 400.

Boston-based firm Stack + Co. designed the Annex with events in mind. The space is acoustically engineered for live music, it has its own restrooms, and a “green room” space, where bands or brides can get ready, Night Shift cofounder Michael Oxton said. But on busy nights without any shows or parties scheduled, it will just be another 180 seats for guests to sip a single-hopped IPA, a sour weiss, a barrel-aged stout, or whatever else Night Shift brewed up that week.

The additional bar has another 24 draft lines, like the main bar does, and the same, rotating selection of beers will be available in both rooms. The Annex is furnished with similar, rustic-industrial chairs and barstools, mainly acquired at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market, with some new pieces in the mix. One of the tables was restored from a bowling alley lane, says Janine Pohorely, Night Shift’s marketing manager. There is also a lounge area with weathered leather couches and armchairs, positioned around a gas-powered fireplace. The Annex has its own patio access, too.

Night Shift Annex lounge area. / Photo by Tim Oxton

To celebrate the Annex’s grand opening, Night Shift has a weekend of special releases planned September 9-11. Friday begins with bottles of Simple Sour, and draft pours of 2015 Bean Porter from the cellar. Saturday is your chance to try cellared drafts of the funky saison, Barrel’d Sun, a collaboration with 7venth Sun Brewery that Night Shift released in April. On Sunday, the crew is tapping Marilyn, a blond barleywine. There is music Friday night, and food trucks all weekend long, including for brunch on Sunday.

Since last fall, Night Shift installed a canning line, has netted a $3 million loan for production upgrades, and has signed a lease for a more temperature-controlled storage space in Chelsea. The company is on track to produce about 10,000 barrels of beer this year (compared with last year’s 4,000 barrels), and the ongoing investments mean they won’t be slowing down any time soon. Oxton expects to produce 20,000 barrels by 2017.

The Annex opens at a time when area breweries are demonstrating a huge investment in taprooms: Household name Notch Brewing just debuted its own beer hall this year; a Framingham taproom opens today as the only place to try Exhibit ‘A’ beers; Lord Hobo Brewing just announced plans to open a formal beer hall at the Woburn facility; contract brewers Backlash just stated real estate intentions… The list goes on.

“Is there a craft beer bubble,” uninspired people might ask? Let’s see how the lines go at Night Shift next weekend.

87 Santilli Highway, Everett, 617-294-4233, nightshiftbrewing.com.

Night Shift Annex. / Photo by Tim Oxton