At first, the planned opening of Wild East Brewing in Brooklyn, New York, went about like most of them do—which is to say, there were delays. The initial plan was to open in the fall of 2019. After months of planning and building, they were finally able to start brewing on December 17, 2019, expecting that their taproom would be able to open soon afterward. Then? More delays, in construction and red tape.
“That was missed by… whatever is larger than a country mile,” says Brett Taylor, cofounder and head brewer. “I brewed a lot of beer in January and February with the expectation that we were going to have an open taproom. But things didn’t work out for various reasons.”
With his partners Lindsay Steen and Tyler March, they distributed what little they could and used tap takeovers to help build local cachet. Finally, as they rolled into March, all signs pointed toward the taproom opening in April—for real. Things were looking up. On March 10, they hosted a Pink Boots brew day, making Hypatia’s Wit—a white beer with zest from pink oranges, pink grapefruit, and fermented with Brettanomyces. They were looking forward to pouring that and other beers in their new taproom.