Manchester’s Urban Lodge Brewing to open taproom in downtown Hartford
Urban Lodge Brewing, which opened in August 2019 in Manchester and powered successfully through the pandemic, is expanding to a taproom at 88 Pratt Street in downtown Hartford.
The buildout on the space will begin soon, co-owner Ryan Fagan said. Fagan said the expansion is partially financed by a matching grant from the city’s Hart Lift program, which funds new commercial enterprises in vacant city storefronts.
Fagan does not yet know how much Urban Lodge’s grant will be. Julio Concepción, executive director of Hartford Chamber of Commerce, said the third cohort of grant funding will be officially announced sometime in the next few weeks, and confirmed that Urban Lodge is one of 15 new fundees.
“We want to have a big presence in central Connecticut. Hartford offers a lot for our brand and the other way around, we can offer a lot to the city of Hartford,” Fagan said.
Concepción agrees. “This means two important things. We’re seeing an impact on the capital city. The vibrancy is coming back to Hartford. And we can see the impact the Hart Lift program has already had in the city. These dollars are invigorating downtown.”
The location is the former home of The Tap 88 Bar and Lounge.
Fagan, who owns Urban Lodge with Michael Gerrity, said he may have both indoor and outdoor seating, as has become the norm for eateries on Pratt. He expects to run 11 to 13 taps at a time, similar to the setup at the Manchester location.
The taproom also will sell nonalcoholic beers from Athletic Brewing of Stratford, hard cider from Stafford Cidery and soft drinks from Willimantic-based Hosmer Mountain, as well as wine.
“In everything we do, we try to get our products from inside the state,” Fagan said.
He said he does not yet know if the taproom will have a kitchen. If not, the brewery may operate as the flagship location does, allowing takeout food from nearby restaurants.
“In Manchester, we are surrounded by five to 10 restaurants on Main Street. That’s nice to able to do that, to support local fellow businesses,” he said. urbanlodgebrewing.com.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
