Castle Island Brewing Opens Its Norwood Taproom This Weekend

The Castle Island Brewing taproom during friends and family previews over the weekend. / Photos provided

The Modern Draft system is up and running, the staff is trained, and Castle Island is finally ready to serve its own beers at the source.

The Norwood upstart bounded onto the beer scene late in 2015 with 16-ounce cans of Candlepin session ale and Keeper IPA, plus seasonal offerings. Despite near ubiquity of their stuff at package stores and restaurant coolers around the region, Castle Island’s Norwood headquarters was just a retail and sample spot. Behind the scenes, though, the team was planning a comfortable space to throw back a few pints, and they announced their plans earlier this spring.

A new retail area debuted over the weekend, and this Friday, June 16, the 100-person taproom officially opens to the public.

“We’ve had a lot of support leading up to this exciting moment in Castle Island Brewing’s history, and would like to say thank you to all of our friends, family, and supporters,” the team wrote in this week’s email newsletter.

A full weekend of beer and food is planned, with a lineup including Big Ern, Righteous Goals, Lager, TBD, Palmside on nitro, Pomegranate Jetty, Mosaic dry-hopped Candlepin, Amarillo dry-hopped Keeper, and more, says marketing coordinator Joe Phan. The bar has 16 draft lines, including a nitro line for Karma Coffee cold brew.

The taproom has Massachusetts-made snacks, like Mi Niña tortilla chips and Chica de Gallo salsa and guacamole; prosciutto-style jerky from Kalahari Biltongl, Wicked Twisted pretzels, and Spindrift seltzer. Plus, it will host food trucks: the Chubby Chickpea will be on hand Friday, The Porch Southern Fare is in town Saturday, and Bora Barbecue will be there on Sunday.

With the new taproom, Castle Island does have to close to dogs (pups were previously allowed in the no-frills sampling area), but the company shared on Instagram that they’d plan special pup-friendly events in the future.

Beyond the new home base for Norwood-brewed beers, this year Castle Island has grown its production capacity to more than 13,000 barrels annually, and they’re in the process of installing a five-barrel system for brewery-only experiments, Phan says. They also laid down concrete on the production floor in anticipation of adding more brewing equipment in the future.

This latest expansion is the brewery’s second major update in just more than a year. We’re not the only ones who have a feeling this is only the beginning.

The taproom will be open Monday and Tuesday 4-8 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Castle Island Brewing Co., 31 Astor Ave., Norwood, 781-951-2029, castleislandbeer.com.

The Castle Island Brewing retail room opened over the weekend. / Photos provided

A Modern Draught system pours Castle Island beers in Norwood. / Photos provided

The Castle Island taproom during friends and family previews over the weekend. / Photos provided