Springdale Beer Company, the ale-centric offshoot of Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers, has been put “on hiatus indefinitely,” the Framingham, Massachusetts-based brewery announced Monday.
“After a little more than six years of exploring the boundaries of flavor-forward fermentation, it’s time for Springdale to say farewell,” the company wrote in an announcement on the Springdale website, and on social channels.
Under the Springdale brand, the brewery produced barrel-aged sour ales, IPAs, witbiers, kölsches and other European ales. Having a separate brand allowed for fermentation-driven creativity beyond the lagers Jack’s Abby specializes in.
“We have no plans to produce the same beers with Jack’s Abby name because we do draw a firm line on the lagers vs. ale side,” VP of marketing Rob Day told Brewbound. “However, we are exploring ways to bring some popular flavors and things we learned over to the Jack’s Abby world.”
Jack’s Abby installed a seven-barrel pilot system last fall for research and development, which lets the brewery “play a lot more,” Day added.
“When we opened the Barrel Room in 2016, we were so gloriously naïve about the waters ahead,” Springdale wrote. “We wanted to make impactful, interesting beer that we could invite people to geek out over. We did that over and over, in our Barrel Room and beyond. Friendships, love stories, inside and outside jokes grew out of this weird ‘little’ corner of our brewery.”
Springdale occupied a barrel room and taproom at Jack’s Abby’s headquarters, but those spaces have been repurposed to accommodate the parent brand’s growing needs.
“Our beloved Barrel Room had to be given up to make space for a new packaging line,” the company wrote. “What was once our taproom is now an actual office, albeit one with a huge bar in the middle (no complaints on that front).
“Though we tried to find another home for this project, our efforts fell short and we’ve made the tough decision to put Springdale on hiatus indefinitely,” the company continued. “While we hope to someday find a place for all the ideas (and puns) that don’t fit at Jack’s Abby, for now we’re content to keep ourselves busy fussing over lager beer.”
The move to cease production of Springdale offerings comes as Jack’s Abby has expanded its contract brewing business. All contract volume for Everett, Massachusetts-based Night Shift Brewing is now produced at the Jack’s Abby production facility in Framingham.
The Springdale brand is “going out with a bang” by celebrating its finale with New Jersey-based punk band the Screaming Females during the band’s annual garden party at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City February 17 and 18. Springdale and the Screaming Females collaborated to produce Drop By Drop IPA, which will be available at the event.
Springdale offerings were distributed in Massachusetts (Craft Massachusetts, L. Knife and Son, Seaboard Products), Connecticut (G & G Beverage Distributors, Craft Connecticut), Maine (Valley Distributors, Maine Distributors, National Distributors), New Hampshire (Bellavance Beverage, New Hampshire Distributors), Vermont (Baker Distributing) and eastern Pennsylvania (Shangy’s Beer Wholesaler).
The brand’s portfolio included year-round offerings Springdale IPA, Spiritual Gangster hazy IPA, Brig mocha stout and limited releases Pearly white ale, Kölsch Money, and Lavenade tart ale.
Jack’s Abby’s output increased +10% in 2021, to 44,700 barrels, according to the most recent data available in the Brewers Association’s (BA) New Brewer magazine. Springdale beers accounted for 1,500 barrels that year, according to a Jack’s Abby spokesperson.
Editor’s note: this story was updated at 10:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, February 14 to include more information from the company.