For the Loce of Beer

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It’s 9:30 AM on a brisk Sunday morning in April. Chris Tripler pulls up to a rustic train depot in an old sedan, parking just outside the Collins Diner in New Canaan, Connecticut. Tripler, 49, is wearing an orange winter coat that suggests he works with his hands rather than behind a desk. His thinning black hair wisps in the wind as he pulls up on some yellow caution tape.

“You’re not supposed to be in there!” shouts a woman from the doorway of the Collins Diner.

“I’m allowed to be here,” Tripler calls back. “I leased the building!” The woman lifts her arms over her head in jubilation and flashes a smile that can be seen from across the parking lot.

“That’s your brewery?” she yells back with a big wave. “We’re very excited for it!” Tripler grins and waves back before heading inside.

“Science was my first love,” he says thoughtfully while opening the door. Tripler is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at nearby Endicott College. His specialty is forest ecology, for which he’s earned a PhD, but he also teaches applied statistics and biology. Lately, however, the romance has been lacking. Academia isn’t about science anymore, he says; it’s about money. And while Tripler likes money, it doesn’t necessarily hold a tender place in his heart. So, he’s changing things up.

“My second love is beer.”

Over a year ago, Tripler decided to begin divorce proceedings with academia and embrace the growing market of craft beer by opening his own microbrewery in Northwest Connecticut. The success or failure of Tripler’s new marriage, however, hinges on a basic principle of business school—is there a market?

“It’s definitely getting more competitive,” said Rob Burns, the President of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild and co-owner of Night Shift Brewing in Everett. “There’s a range of challenges to getting your voice and brand out there.” There are five aspects to a successful brewery in New England. “It’s got to be a full package,” Burns said.

Step 1: “Get a great team”

Tripler is clearly a brilliant man. He’s earned a doctorate in ecology and studied around the world. His expertise, however, rests in science. If one were to explore this within taxonomy, business is not his phylum. Needing help with a business plan and marketing strategy, Tripler fell back on a principle that had guided him well in life—love. He turned to 31-year-old marketing manager Sean Hannan, fresh off a wedding in which Tripler was a groomsman.

A fellow University of Connecticut graduate, Tripler met Hannan after noticing his “UCONN” tattoo at a Boston swimming event years ago. Their friendship fast-tracked through a shared love of beer.

“We always talked about starting a brewery,” Hannon said. That’s why Tripler asked Hannan to be the Advising Chief Marketing Officer for the fledgling business, Great Falls Brewing Company.

“Chris has a lot of energy,” Hannan said with a chuckle that startled his border collie, Rocky. “As far as entrepreneurial spirit goes, he has it in spades. But Chris needs help.” Tripler needed finance people, construction gurus, marketing whizzes, and manufacturing manpower.

“So far,” said Hannan, “he’s been able to assemble the right group of people to fill the gaps he has.”

Step 1, check.

Step 2: “Make good beer”

While Hannan saw that Tripler might need help in some areas, one place he knew Tripler would be just fine is in brewing.

“Chris has always been a home brewer,” Hannan said.

Homebrewing is a growing hobby. The Home Brew Network’s Facebook page has over 42,000 members. Posts range from basic questions about the difference between a Pale Ale and an India Pale Ale (IPA), to complex instructional videos on recirculating water while mashing. During a typical back and forth between members, words like wort, mash, keezer, ferment, and hydrometer are casually used.

“It’s science for artistry,” Tripler said, and as a scientist he is right at home.

“You know, you’re dealing with living organisms and botany,” Tripler said, “You’re talking about yeast and barley and hops. There’s hundreds of chemicals that, as part of the life cycle of yeast, get added.”

And then there is water. Don’t get him started on water.

“Water is sort of the remaining deep mystery,” Tripler said, his eyes wide like a kid who just saw the perfect toy. “Water has so many different minerals and other chemicals and compounds in there.” He leans in, inviting a closer listen, as he begins to talk about water profiles, yeast strains, and hop variants. Then he pauses, sips his beer, and brings it back full circle.

“At the heart of it, is to make great beer that people want to come back to drink.”

Step 2, check.

Step 3: “Be different”

Here’s where things get difficult—there are a lot of microbreweries out there.

According to the Brewers Association, craft beer sales in the U.S. grew by 5% in 2017, a sustained trend from the last 10 years. Concurrently, breweries have grown at a rate of almost threefold in the same period. This growth, however, has produced more competition as compared to 10 years ago, resulting in a closure rate that has grown almost tenfold in the past decade.

Regionally, prime beer hotspots are on the West Coast, upper-Midwest and New England. But in New England, the current market share is dwindling. When it comes to breweries per capita, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire all rank in the top 10. Massachusetts, with its larger population, ranks 24th but has the most breweries in total. And if one looks on a city level, Portland, Maine, has the most microbreweries in the nation, per capita, and Boston is home to perhaps the most famous craft brewery, Sam Adams.

So, how will Tripler’s new brewery be different?

The soon-to-be location of the Great Falls Brewing Company.“I think his spirit is what’s going to drive this company to success,” Hannan said.

What Hannan’s talking about is Tripler’s solution to any challenge he faces—love.

Born at the Naval Hospital in New London, Conn., Tripler spent a lot of time in his youth in the northwest area of the state. It’s where he first experienced nature, finished his bachelor’s degree in ecology, and moved after feeling homesick while completing post-doctoral work in Kentucky.

“I just fell in love with that part of the state,” Tripler said. “It was like a boomerang, I just kept coming back to it.” Tripler waxes poetic as he talks about the region. It’s love.

Far from the hipster crowds of Boston or Portland, the spot Tripler chose is blue collar—the town of North Canaan. In the wreckage of the Canaan Union Depot, and a town with a stagnant economy, Tripler and his team are fixing up the property to open the town’s first microbrewery—Great Falls Brewing Company.

Step 4: “Connect with people”

The old train depot sits just off Route 7, nestled between a John Deere tractor store and a beautiful stone church. Across the parking lot sits a 1940s-style trailer that houses the popular Collins Diner. An old-fashioned restaurant that never left its roots.

“The Collins diner and the train depot are the only registered landmarks that sit under 100 feet from each other,” Doonia Hamzy said. Hamzy’s family has owned the diner for almost 60 years, and she’s seen the old Canaan Union Depot across the lot denigrate with time.

“We’ve been waiting 18 years for someone to fix that up,” she says to Tripler who had just walked in to introduce himself. It was Doonia’s sister, Bader, who had yelled at Tripler earlier in the morning. “We just don’t want to see someone screw it up for another 20.”

After Tripler leaves, Doonia and Bader go back to running their restaurant. Inside, customers chat about the brewery, and how they look forward to a July opening.  Conversation drifts between a boost in tourism and the already noticeably rejuvenated Canaan Union Depot.

Back inside the depot, Tripler gives a tour to several local business owners.

“The bar will go here,” motions Tripler to the far wall. The topic of conversation is table sponsorship, a method to raise capital for the increasing renovation costs of the depot. Those in attendance offer more than sponsorship, they offer to buy the table too. Tripler grins and happily obliges.

His connection to the people of New Canaan isn’t unusual—he’s one of them. He’s simply returning after a long absence living north of Boston. And, aside from making a living that will support his wife and sons, Tripler’s goals spread far beyond himself.

“They see the face of the person who makes the beer and will hire a whole bunch of people who are local to make the beer,” said Tripler.

“It makes a difference to the people who live here.”

Step’s 3 and 4, check.

Step 5: “Buy a microscope”

“There’s a saying in brewing,” says Rob Burns, co-owner of Night Shift Brewing and president of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild.

“If you can’t buy a microscope, don’t buy a brewery.”

Tripler owns a microscope. And he knows how to use it, courtesy of his old job. When asked about the phrase, Tripler begins to list the various uses of a microscope in a brewery. For example: “A microscope is used to count the number of active live cells.”

Microscope? Check.

Brewery? Coming soon, with love.

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