Thomas Hooker Brewing Company

Off the Hooker
Thomas Hooker Brewing Company, Bloomfield
Many, many visits

As an OG brewery, Hooker gets the fancy “review over time” treatment. And no, I can’t do this for every brewery with longevity. But Hooker has gone through so many changes that I felt it was time to revisit this page – a page that was originally written in early 2009.

Pre-2006

Hooker got its beginnings in the Parkville section of Hartford at the hulking building still known, for inexplicable reasons, as the Spaghetti Warehouse Building. Today, Hog River Brewing operates across the street. Back in the 1990’s the Spaghetti Warehouse closed and was then occupied by Trout Brook Restaurant and Brewpub.

They were fairly successful but were constantly hampered by constant car break-ins and suburban fear of Parkville. They closed the brewing facility and operated as a restaurant for a while but that didn’t really work.

That’s when the company that would become Hooker came in and fired up the brewery again in 2003 as Thomas Hooker Ales and Lagers. (Trout Brook’s most successful beer was “Thomas Hooker Ale” if you’re curious.) It wasn’t long until Curt Cameron and his partners bought out the original brewery owners and soon moved the operation to Bloomfield.

2006-2011

That doesn’t sound so long ago – heck, I began writing CTMQ in 2006 – but during those five years there was never more than ten breweries and brewpubs in Connecticut. The only breweries you may be familiar with today that were around in some way then were BAR, City Steam, NEBCO, Cottrell, WilliBrew, Olde Burnside (RIP)… and Hooker.

And of the non brewpub breweries, only Hooker had any sort of “taproom experience” early on. And it was glorious. It sounds crazy today, but there was a time when you could go there, pay ten bucks for a red Solo cup, and “sample” all afternoon long. Granted, your choices were Hooker Blonde and… probably a porter, red ale, an Oktober, and maybe the great Liberator Doppelbock. (Which is still great if they still make it. Same goes for the Munich Lager.)

Since that was totally illegal, I know they switched to 6-ounce cups at some point which became comical. There were laws about having to give tours to sample, so they’d give these 2 minute “tours” for five bucks and then we’d sit on a moldy couch and refill our 6-ounce cups a billion times. Good times.

The brewery occupied a fraction of the space in Bloomfield that it does now, and the “taproom,” such as it was, was somewhat ironically where the “new” taproom space is now through the side door. Anyway, the “hooker” in the company name was as much of a marketing gimmick as anything. They really emphasized it for years – and it worked.

(The following is some of what I originally wrote in 2009.)

As I told the guy serving the samples, “You guys will be pretty successful as you distribute further afield, if only for the name cache. And you’ll always have the historic reference in your back pocket and that makes it perfectly legit.”

Although no one ever orders a “Thomas Hooker Ale” or references the “Thomas Hooker Brewery,” that is the proper name. Notice they make the “Thomas” part a much smaller font. Anyway, as all Nutmeggers worth their nutmeg know, Thomas Hooker founded Hartford and essentially Connecticut as a result.

Ironically, despite his surname, Hooker was a hardcore Puritan. Thomas Hooker arrived in Massachusetts in 1633. For a time Thomas and his family settled there while he served as the pastor of the 8th church in that colony. The civil situation was not completely harmonious between the leaders. John Cotton, another leader, wanted to set up a community in which only men who were members of the church and held property could vote. Thomas Hooker, like Cotton, wanted to build a godly community, but he believed all the men should have a voice and a vote.

This difference was settled when Thomas Hooker led about one hundred people away to begin a new settlement, which is now, of course, Hartford, Connecticut. Later three settlements merged to form the Connecticut Colony. This colony put Hooker’s principles into practice when it adopted the Fundamental Orders sometimes called the first written constitution.

My hometown of West Hartford has a Hooker Drive which is fun. And the brewery sells shirts and other merchandise with all sorts of Hookerisms like, “I’m getting a Hooker tonight,” and ,”Get caught with a Hooker.” That’s not as fun, but it’s fairly harmless.

Enough. What about the beer?

Oh it’s good beer. Very good beer. They’ve won all sorts of awards and accolades from the industry but I never trust that stuff. So for one particular visit, I brought along my brother-in-law Brian who happens to be one of those weird beer guys who uses terms like “mouthfeel” when tasting beers. He’s tasted thousands of beers from all over the world (it helps that his job sends him to Germany rather frequently), so he knows his stuff.

On any Saturday I can drive the twelve minutes to pay five bucks to drink what’s essentially an endless glass of various Hooker beers. It’s a wonder I ever go anywhere else! If you go during certain times of the year, get the Oktoberfest, as that’s arguably their best beer. In fact, the New York Times tabbed it their top Oktoberfest in the world last year! And I could have had it fresh from the source. Are you kidding me?!

On my more recent visit with Brian, we left his four kids and my one little Damian back home. Ahhh… This was good stuff. They had four beers on tap and our first sample was the Watermelon Ale – a decidedly summer brew. Its watermelon aroma was nearly overpowering, but it drank much better.

Next we had their Blonde Ale. It was smooth and infinitely better than macro American lagers, but it was a bit boring. Brian agreed and we moved on to the IPA. Ahhh, now we’re talking. Brian and I agreed, this is the stuff we came here for! Now we could enjoy our tour…

Led by a very well-spoken and professional guide, the tour took about 20 minutes. Again, like all my winery and brewery reports, I’m not about to explain how beer is made. There’s the grain which is boiled and the wort and the hops and the yeast and the fermentation process. That’s pretty much it.

Brian does actually care about this stuff and seemed pretty interested – that’s not to say I wasn’t interested, I was! But not enough to memorize the process or take notes. A fresh batch of Hooker’s Liberator Doppelbock was ready for bottling but was still in the giant metal kettle.

Fortunately for us, there was a little spout on it so we could have a cup of it. Brian was rather excited about all this… I don’t think I’d ever had a “doppelbock” beer before. I must say, it was excellent.

This is pretty interesting: The doppelbock style of lager came into being in Bavaria during the Middle Ages, in what is today southern Germany. It was originally brewed by monks to provide a nutritious drink during the Lenten Fast when no solid food was allowed. This has earned doppelbock the nickname “liquid bread” because of its rich and filling quality.

After the tour, we relaxed in the tasting room which is not a separate room at all. It’s just some old chairs and couches but so what, our five bucks could have taken us to DUI levels in no time. We both stuck with the IPA after sampling the Irish Red Ale.

We struck up a conversation with the guys working there and learned that Hooker has a new hop farm out in New Hartford. They’re trying to keep the operation as local as possible, which is definitely cool. Brian kept mentioning Hooker’s Old Marley Barleywine as he’s a huge fan of it, even though he can’t buy it in Delaware where he lives. However, he’s had it a few times and can’t rave enough about it.

I guess I’ll just have to visit again in a few months when it’s on tap here to find out.

2012-2019

Hooker was an established brand before almost all of the 100 other breweries came online during this period. Their Blonde Ale was on tap pretty much everywhere and their Hopmeadow IPA was often alongside it. Hooker must be given credit for a ton of things during the period. While they made a few business decisions that didn’t work out, they proved to be nimble enough to keep up with market forces and weren’t afraid to do so.

In 2011, there were two local brands on taps and in stores in Hartford County: Hooker and Olde Burnside. One is thriving today and one ceased operations in 2018. I won’t list all the changes and improvements Hooker made, but several are worth mentioning.

Hooker smartly expanded their operation – both in the back of the house and out front. The original customer space became a secondary space and a new, more inviting taproom area opened out front. At some point, probably around 2017 or 2018, the branding shifted and the stupid merchandise with plays on “Hooker” finally disappeared.

While Two Roads opened in 2013 with a business model placing massive emphasis on contract brewing, Hooker began offering the same. Hooker has handled tons of contract brewing for brands far and wide. Far, far more than you realize. By 2019, they were only doing a few as they needed the capacity for their own brand.

One brand they brew is Relic. There was a period of time when fanboys would say how much they love Relic (the “cool” upstart doing nothing but NEIPAs at the time) and hated Hooker (the stodgy old brewery). That always cracked me up. Of course, once Hooker started brewing their opaque NEIPAs, those same fanboys started to come around.

Another brand worth mentioning is California Craft Beer. Which is only sold in Norway. And is brewed in Bloomfield, Connecticut. From what I understand, some Norwegian guy was in Bloomfield and loved Hooker beer. A few months later, entire shipping containers full of “California Craft Beer” was off to Norway. Nothing fancy; probably just Hooker Blonde and Irish Red and heck, maybe that’s where all my Munich Lager is going… This contract is still going strong in 2020 and is more lucrative than you think.

Hooker was at the forefront of private label beers. This isn’t so much a thing anymore, but Hooker brewed/brews the house beers at a whole bunch of places, from Willington Pizza to BurgerFi to Sliders to Flanders Fish Market to the Max Restaurant Group. Again, it’s not like they were brewing special beers for these places; it was all the same thing (except for Max’s Brewtus Maximus.)

Hooker changed up their Watermelon ale after its first summer of production. They moved to “natural” flavors after bar owners complained that their lines carried the taint of the Jolly Rancher flavor after the log was done. Workers at Hooker hated it too. And yet… Watermelon Ale was their best seller for years – which should have portended the explosion of fruit seltzers and “beers” in 2020.

They expanded their portfolio of beers as they expanded production. More IPAs, partnerships with Munson’s Chocolates, Connecticut Historical Society, and others. They participated in tons of charities and gave back to the community as much as possible. Notably, Hooker employs disabled folks and has won accolades for doing so.

Again, as the industry exploded around them, Hooker was somewhat forgotten by fanboys. And while that’s somewhat understandable, it always annoyed me. Old Marley was a top 10 Connecticut beer for a decade. Liberator was always fantastic and they never made a bad beer, save the first summer of the Watermelon Ale. (It really was awful.)

The brewery is an incredible incubator of brewing talent. I used to try to keep track of everyone who worked at Hooker and went on to other local breweries… there are now too many to count. But the first brewers at places like Cold Creek, Outer Light, Back East, Fox Farm, Hog River, City Steam, New Park… on and on… were all Hooker brewers first. It’s incredible, really.

They opened an outpost at Mohegan Sun that failed. They made a splash with their plans to open at Dunkin’ Donuts Park; with artists’ renderings and everything. At the time, I was wholly against the AA Yard Goats and how they came to be, so I wasn’t on board. However, looking back on the idea now, it would have been a huge success. I mean, look at this place!

Then they were going to move in to the Hartford Times Building in Hartford. That would have been pretty awesome… but UConn swooped in and occupied it instead. Hooker really wanted to get a foothold back in the capital city for some reason, and weren’t going to strike out trying.

Finally, in 2018, Hooker at The Colt opened up and it’s a great little outpost in what will someday be a hive of activity. (The Colt complex was designated a National Historic Park and while the plans are exciting, there are no project milestones so it may not happen in any tangible way in my lifetime.)

During these years of growth, the main taproom was remodeled a few times. The “back” space was made over and re-opened as a sort of stand-around bar area. Then it was expanded again and tables were added. Glass partitions were installed to separate patrons from employees. Two fully operational bars and new furniture, and a decent patio space made Hooker a great brewery at which to hang out.

I found myself defending Hooker among the relatively minute crowd of haze/sludge/smoothing beer fans in Connecticut. I’m not sure why… because really, who cares. Hooker rarely markets to them as their target is a far wider range of beer drinkers. They have distributed far beyond Connecticut in the past and even now, continue to have a Norwegian market. They’ve brewed NEIPA’s plenty, and they are generally pretty good. They’ve dabbled in dessert stouts and CBD Seltzers and all sorts of trendy stuff.

Which is fine. For a larger brewery, being nimble enough to respond relatively quickly to market forces is impressive. Two Roads is much slower to these games and Stony Creek does their best, but their product is never as good as the other two larger breweries in the state.

Hooker has always been good. They will probably always be good. They’ve helped out a ton of other breweries and are probably single-handedly responsible for Relic’s survival when they were teetering on collapse with their terribly made string of “Belgian” and “farmhouse” beers back in the day. They’ve raised up some of the best and most successful brewers at some of the best and most successful breweries in Connecticut.

Oh yeah. Blumpy the brewery cat died. Blumpy was awesome and Damian loved him and will still ask for him if we drive by Hooker. Seriously. RIP Blumpy.

2020

Shortly before the pandemic, Hooker’s new kitchen opened. I thought it was going to be another “here’s your crappy pizza and dried out pretzel” type of thing, but no! It’s a real kitchen with real food and options!

Granted, a lot of it is pizza – but it’s good and unique pizza. There’s other stuff too… I was impressed. The whole indoor area has been updated and is an attractive and comfortable place to hang out. They’ve moved a lot of their production and offices across the driveway to a second building; slowly taking over the whole road it seems. Through the shut down and lock down and pandemictown, Hooker has forged ahead… getting their Watermelon Ale out there and doubling down on beers like the Super Double Citra and other NEIPAs that the kids enjoy.

They will continue to employ disabled folks and will continue to be a force in the community; partnering with the Yard Goats and Athletic soccer team. Although I don’t habitate the ridiculous online local beer online communities anymore, I’d still defend the company when necessary. It’s been fairly amazing to watch them grow from what they were at the Spaghetti Warehouse to what they are now in Bloomfield and Hartford.

Thomas Hooker Brewery: doing the name of Hartford’s founder proud since 2003.

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