Bordentown is oddly familiar with the concept of a here-today-gone-tomorrow microbrewery.
The city’s first microbrewery in the modern era, Common Sense Brewing, opened in late 2017, only to close in 2019.
Luckily for local beer lovers, Steinert graduate Dan Pogorzelski and wife Marci Warboys were ready and willing to take over, opening Tindall Road Brewing Company later that summer.
Then there was Fox House Brewing. Owners Chris and Abby Campbell opened down the road on Farnsworth Avenue in March, but closed three months later.
Yet once again, beer geeks will have the chance to sample locally made ales once again at the former Fox House location, as another new brewery is set to open in that space either this month or next: Abyssal Brewing.
Abyssal Brewing is a new business owned and operated by Hamilton High West graduates Daniel and Meagan Knowles. They will be assuming the lease on the building at 222 Farnsworth Ave.
Daniel Knowles, 35, may be known to locals from his time as a bartender at Old Town Pub. He is also a long-time homebrewer who will be bringing that experience to the new venture.
The Hamilton High West graduate has been working in the restaurant business since he was 15. His first job was working birthday parties at Hamilton Lanes. Later, he worked at Red Robin and then Longhorn Steakhouse for 10 years total.
He says that as soon as he started homebrewing, he fell in love with the hobby. He has had a desire to open a craft brewery for a number of years. In fact, at the same time that Chris Campbell was working to open Fox House, Knowles was in the process of opening up his own brewery in Burlington City.
Knowles knew Campbell from his time at Old Town Pub, and he says the two entrepreneurs would often swap stories about their experiences of opening new breweries.
Ultimately, Knowles’ deal in Burlington City fell through, and he says now that he’s “beyond grateful” that it did.
“I love Bordentown, and I’m happy to stay a part of the community,” he says.
He is aiming to open in mid-December with between seven and ten beers on tap. But that all depends on how smoothly the state licensing process goes. That process is notoriously challenging to navigate.
One way or the other, Knowles is hopeful of being open for a soft launch at least by Christmas, acknowledging that a grand opening could end up getting pushed into the new year.
Once Abyssal is open, beers will be available for consumption on premises, as well as for takeaway in crowlers and growlers. Growler bottles may not be available from the start, but customers can bring their own as long as they are clean and sanitized.
Hazy India Pale Ale is the most popular craft beer style in the U.S. right now, and Knowles does brew them. But, he says, he loves to brew European-style beers, such as pub ales, dunkelweizen, and Czech lagers. He says he doesn’t have a signature style of beer he likes to brew.
“I love experimenting and doing tweaks on recipes,” he says.
When Abyssal Brewing opens, it will have the same operating hours as Fox House, which is actually necessitated by a zoning variance. Those hours are Fridays from 4 to 10 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.
To change the hours, Knowles would have to petition for a new variance.
The contacts in the brewing industry that he made during his four years tending bar at Old Town Pub have helped him to scale his homebrewing operation into a production microbrewery fairly quickly.
As is typical in the brewing industry, he has also received support and advice from brewers and business owners of other local operations. He cites Dave Ascione at Bent Iron Brewing in Hamilton, David Williams at Subculture Artisan Ales in Florence, Drew Noel at The Druery, and Jeff Greco, Ken Vaughan and Greg Florance at Heavy Reel as friendly competitors who have helped him get up and running.
“The kind folks at Tindall Road have offered their help as well,” he says.
The layout of the new taproom at 222 Farnsworth will remain close to the same, but Knowles is putting his own touches on the décor in advance of opening. He says that it will have a “haunted castle” vibe.
In terms of the kind of experience he wants customers to have, Knowles has said that he believes a brewery should be a space for talking about beer and community. For that reason, he says, there will not be any televisions at Abyssal Brewing when it opens.
“My focus will be on creating a taproom that gets people talking and engaging with each other,” he says.
At the start, Abyssal Brewing beer will be available only in the taproom. Knowles does not have plans to distribute to local bars or stores, but says that could change down the road. Web: abyssalbrewing.com.