Ready to branch out: Paper City Brewing Co. has built a local following for its beers, and now seeks to broaden its market

Jay Hebert, the owner of Paper City Brewery in Holyoke, Massachusetts, turned a hobby into an award-winning brewery in 1996 and has enjoyed a profitable business ever since, turning out beer in a historic building on Cabot Street. The five-story building that now houses the brewery was once the site of a roller skating rink, called The Winter Palace, a moniker that lives as the brand name for Paper City's Scotch Ale.

Hebert owned the building and found the fifth floor to be the most difficult to rent out. So he decided to convert the area into the 20barrel brew house that sits at the top of about 100 stairs, give or take. The result is worth the climb. A door opens to a makeshift pub area that serves as the tasting room for a promotional event held on most Fridays where interested beer fans can taste all of the Paper City they chose for two hours. A huge pennant in the tasting room lists all of the local bars that have Paper City taps.

Paper City has remained profitable in an age that has seen the rise of microbreweries, but has also seen many go under quickly Now going into its eighth year, they are ready to make the next step toward state-wide and, some day, distribution through many states.

"We are largely focused on Western Massachusetts, but we have branched out east:' said Head Brewer Jason Dunson Todd. "Now we're gaining ground in Connecticut and looking toward Rhode Island." Paper City is available in the Worcester area and some points as far as Boston. To the south, they recently gained distribution in Connecticut.

Paper City has been relying on word-of-mouth local-area marketing since the start. Their 3,000-barrel-a-year establishment also relies on the history and heritage of Western Massachusetts and Hebert's hometown of Holyoke to generate interest and pride in his beer. "We basically have to do all of the marketing and public relations ourselves, which is very difficult when our main concern 15 the beer," Dunson Todd said.

The names of the beers and their labels reflect the history of the town from the very beginning. Ireland Parish was the original name of the city, and now is featured as their Golden Ale. Paper City's "Indian Pale Ale" is a nod to the Indian Motorcycle Company that once existed in Springfield. In the tasting room, there are a number of antique motorcycles, most of them Indians, with some Harley Davidsons.

Dunson Todd took over the helm in 1997 from Rick Quackenbush. Before that he had been a homebrewer and worked at a Northampton supplier. Now his job is to make fine-crafted brews while still appealing to a large segment of the beer-drinking population.

The new development of Banchee Extra Pale Ale is part of an initiative by Paper City to warm up more mainstream beer drinkers to craft beers. Referred to by Dunson Todd as a "craft-beer with training wheels," this beer goes down smooth with only 10 IBU's.

The owner likes to distinguish his brewery as a craft-brewery. "We really aren't a microbrew; our product is classified as a craft-brew. Craft-brews are known in the industry as premium brews made by small breweries using only premium ingredients...Most domestic beers are made with a little bit of malt and mostly rice...Our varieties are brewed with all malt."

The ales are brewed using single-step infusion in DME kettles and mash tuns. Old dairy tanks were acquired for the open fermentation process under controlled temperatures. Typically Paper City ales are aged three weeks. The lagers are aged three to four months and are produced via closed fermentation in a unitank. Most of the Paper City beers are clarified in a two-stage filter (plate and frame), down to the one micron level. The beers are lab-tested by college interns from nearby UMass Amherst or Smith College.

The base of Paper City's portfolio is certainly not run-of-the-mill. The Holyoke Dam Ale, the first beer Paper City brewed, is a "tribute to the fine ales of England." It is tasty, but not overpowering with 27 IBUs and 4.5% alcohol by volume. Ireland Parish Golden Ale is a touch lighter and more drinkable. The Cabot Street Wheat is Paper City's Hefe-Weizen, and is unfiltered, keeping in the yeast which is a German Weinstephen strain. The Riley's Irish Stout is a highlight of Paper City's portfolio, which is both sweet and creamy countered by the bite of 40 IBUs. The Paper City Seasonals are the Winter Palace Wee Heavy (at 7.5% alcohol and a strong malt taste and aroma), the Goats Peak Bock in the Spring, the Paper City Pilsner for the summer, and the Summit House Oktoberfest in the fall.

Jason Dunson Todd also indulges in his own special project, the Hopmonster. Only found on draft in a limited quantity, Dunson Todd explains that one of the perks of brewing in a small house is being able to experiment. "It is a monster, it does bite. With the Hopmonster, we wanted to be big and mean," Dunson Todd said.

The result is a muddy-brown brew with a surprising amount of balance and many strong tastes. Dunson Todd estimates the beer to be between 8 to 9% apv and an eye-opening 100 IBUs..

Paper City has kept packaging simple by labeling and bottling on their own. They can bottle up to 3,000 12-ounce beers an hour. In addition they bottle 22-ouncers and 64-ounce "growlers." And they have their own keg machine to ship off to the area bars.

The result is a small brewery with a substantial presence in a local market without much competition. Paper City hopes to continue to generate enthusiasm in the community about their craft, thus opening a market they can fit into easily while branching out slowly to the rest of New England.

"We will be careful not to grow too fast," Hebert said back in 2000, "because we don't want our quality to suffer."

Chris Wood is the assistant editor at Modern Brewery Age magazine.

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