The New Cambridge Project

The New New
The New Cambridge Project, Bristol
July 2024

When the lights went out on Firefly Brewing in early 2023, many of us took a moment to remember what was not only one of the state’s oldest (of the new wave) breweries, but one of the most consistently good ones. Mystery surrounded its abrupt closure but like with all things, we moved on.

And, it turns out, so did the building and brewing equipment.

Just over a year later, The New Cambridge Project opened in the same Firefly space, using the same equipment, same bar, and keeping the same general layout. Importantly, they also bought the Firefly recipes and the brand will live on as one of the brands brewed here.

Yes, NCP is an “incubator.” A brewery that brews it own beers, sure, but is open for other brewers to brew and sell their beers here as well. (Others in Connecticut with this model include The Beeracks in East Haven, Twelve Percent Beer Project in North Haven, and the long gone Connecticut Brewery Collective that was in Wolcott.)

This model can be hugely successful (Twelve Percent) or hugely not (the Brewery Collective). How will NCP fare? I have no idea, but I do know one thing: The longest tenured and final head brewer at Shebeen Brewing continued as the head brewer at The Brewery Collective in the same building. When that closed, he brewed in some capacity at Twelve Percent and now?

When NCP opened, he was the head brewer here. The dude loves brewing at brewery collectives I guess.

Note: Collectives are not like contract brewers like, say, East Rock or Two Roads. If I understand correctly, a brewer with a brand but not a physical space will enter in agreement to brew at a collective. In the first few months at NCP, there was one of these breweries there: Boondoggle. (Maybe Boondoggle brews here, maybe they don’t. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.)

Boondoggle has been trying to open its own physical brewery for years. Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Hartford… I have no idea if that dream is dead and they’re happy here or if they’re still trying to find their own place. Time will tell.

“New Cambridge?” Bristol was first settled as an agricultural village and was known as “New Cambridge” in the early part of the 1700s, named for its British counterpart. The city didn’t get its more well-known name until being incorporated in 1785.

And the building that houses the brewery appears to have been around when Bristol was known as New Cambridge.

It was a dump when Firefly was here, but Firefly opened when every brewery was a dump, cobbled together in some old decrepit building that housed some long forgotten industrial concern.

This reborn brewery is inside the former New Departure factory building that made everything from ball bearings to bicycle brakes in the early part of the 20th century. New Departure was once Bristol’s largest employer and was founded by Albert Rockwell in 1889 who would go on to donate the land and pay for the design at Bristol’s gem, Rockwell Park.

(Thank goodness for the “New” in the name though, because someone might get confused. You see, in 2024 we still have the Cambridge House Brewpub in Granby which has nothing to do with Cambridge Brewing in Cambridge, MA, nor anything to do with Cambridge Brewing in England. None of these had anything to do with Cambridge House Beer Company which was a short-lived contract label in 2013-14 in Connecticut which was owned by a former owner of Cambridge House in Granby who tried to open his own, separate Cambridge House Brewery in Naugatuck, but his criminal past was too much of… CamBridge too far I suppose.)

New Cambridge is co-owned by four people who all, more or less, came together through connections at Twelve Percent. They collectively decided to open their own brewery and one of the owners was pretty dead-set on locating it in Bristol. It was pure coincidence that Firefly shut down operations just as the quartet began to get serious about their intentions.

Firefly closed and New Cambridge was birthed. Note: Firefly and its former owners have nothing to do with New Cambridge, but gave it their blessing – and their recipes. (Firefly’s former brewer and heart, Dana Bourque, is now off roasting and brewing coffee and competing at national competitions for such things.)

Okay, so New Cambridge opened and I think the plan is to always have a Firefly beer in rotation. And then there’s this:

Unlike other incubators that are more picky on deciding which local brewers get to use their space, Shankle said that he wants to have as many local brewers as possible get spotlighted. Each month, The New Cambridge Project will rotate a new home brewer on tap. The brewing incubator has six different brewers lined up for the rest of the year.

That was the plan. I’m not sure I’m in agreement with the “we’ll take whoever” idea, but it’s a tough industry and I guess “not being picky” is a strategy. Three months into the venture and I think Boondoggle is the only outside brand that has been on tap so far. And Firefly… I guess.

Whatever, let’s see what’s doin’.

As I said, the layout is more or less the same as it was when Firefly closed. The decor is… a little different, as NCP has attempted to make the space a bit more… homey? I think? There’s a fake fireplace and some comfortable nursing home type chairs. I should note that once inside the taproom, Firefly/New Cambridge has done a remarkable job making it comfortable, clean, and inviting.

There’s a little nook that is purposely designed to look like “grandma’s living room.” Which is a decision… I guess.

And then there’s this:

The brewery has seating for around 50 inside and for 40 outside on its patio. The brewery also has a dedicated overflow area off the patio with an additional 30 seats that is used for trivia and events.

Have you been here at any point in the last decade? That “patio” is the loading zone for the former factory. It is the loosest definition of “patio” in Connecticut. Points for creativity… I guess.

There are the usual plans to expand, which at least here isn’t a big lift, as the building is cavernous and Bristol would likely jump at any opportunity for more business tax.

I got a flight of the four NCP beers on tap: Tractor (“classic American lager cellared in a special way to let the Cascade hops shine”), First Strike oatmeal stout, What’s West of Westeros (“classic west coast IPA”), and Wildcat NEIPA.

Missing was Taxi!, their pale ale. It’s worth mentioning because New Dimensions had a business offshoot that was responsible for manufacturing the first Yellow Cabs for New York City:

Gasoline-powered taxicabs began operating in Paris in 1899, in London in 1903, and in New York in 1907. The New York taxicabs were initially imported from France by Harry N. Allen, owner of the Allen-Kingston Motor Car Company. Their manufacturing took place at Bristol Engineering in Bristol, Connecticut where the first domestically produced Taxicabs were built in 1908, designed by Fred E. Moskovics who had worked at Daimler in the late 1890s. Albert F. Rockwell was the owner of Bristol and his wife suggested he paint his taxicabs yellow to maximise his vehicles’ visibility.

LOL.. kids, here’s example 39,467 why Wikipedia is what it is: “Rockwell was the owner of Bristol.” Regardless, that’s the most interesting thing on this page.

Ok, look, the beers were… underwhelming. While it’s true that NCP is new, we know this very rig is capable of producing some fantastic beer. “Connecticut iconic” beers. And we know the head brewer has been plying his trade for a long time.

The lager had very little lager characteristics. The oatmeal stout was fine. Pretty good even. The “west coast” IPA, brewed with Simcoe and Centennial, was just alright.

“Our West Coast India pale ale is not going to be hazy at all, it’s actually going to be clear,” Shankle [one of the owners] said. “And you’re going to be getting a lot more bitter and pine notes, while also getting a lot more citrus. It’s going to be much more bitter than your typical hazy New England IPA. So far it’s been a big hit as people have come and tried it.”

Is this what we’ve come to? Translucency = “west coast?” Sigh. This wasn’t bitter and I got no pine on the aroma or the palate. It was just… a beer. I can’t describe it any other way.

Shankle, who is from California, said he wanted to include the unique offering, which is not found on most East Coast beer menus, as part of the brewery’s standard lineup.

Shankle needs to get out more. I think a “west coast” IPA is fairly standard at Connecticut breweries, but I could very well be wrong. Anyway, the NEIPA was average at best and I only got through half of my sampler. Thinner than is typical as well as hop-greasy and unbalanced. (The latter which is also pretty standard for NEIPAs at too many breweries, unfortunately.)

Here’s another thing: Breweries, we guests love clean glasses! We do! and we appreciate you cleaning your glasses – and appreciate flights in glass rather than plastic. But there’s a massive issue when you clean your glasses seconds before filling them and either skip the rinsing step, or are not rinsing enough, or are using too much sanitizer. Whatever it is, this is the third new brewery over the last several months wherein my beer was negatively affected by the smell of whatever cleaning agent you’re using. As you know, brewers, aroma is almost as important as taste, and when the aroma I’m getting is cleaning chemicals, that’s going to greatly lessen my enjoyment of your efforts.

NCP has a hard seltzer on tap and also offers local wines. And while I saw no evidence of this, The New Cambridge Project currently offers simple food options like hot dogs and pierogies. I know they plan to expand their kitchen and have food trucks as well.

I love the idea of these “collectives” and incubators. I think it’s a really cool business model and always thought it would be successful. Then The Connecticut Brewery Collective happened and I learned these things can fail. I don’t want NCP to fail and I don’t want Bristol to continue to struggle.

I just want well made beer is all. There’s a lot of potential here, and we know great beer can be brewed at this very location. Here’s to hoping that happens again.

The New Cambridge Project
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