Cambridge Brewing Company, which first opened in 1989, will close after last call on Friday, Dec. 20, the pub announced Saturday. It will end a remarkably impactful, 35-year run for the Kendall Square brewpub, which was the second modern restaurant in Massachusetts to brew its own beer. (Commonwealth Brewing Company was a Boston brewpub from 1986–2002, and Sam Adams and Harpoon—Boston's '80s-born breweries—have distribution models.)
Not only has CBC become a neighborhood staple with great beer, an eclectic and tasty food menu and a dog-friendly outdoor patio—it’s also been a training ground for the Boston beer and hospitality industries. (I chronicled this impact in an oral history story to commemorate CBC’s 30th anniversary.) So the outpouring of sadness on CBC’s social media posts about the news has been vast.
“I'm sad, too,” says brewmaster and partner Will Meyers, who joined CBC brewing operations in 1993. “It's just always important to recognize when is a good time to move on, you know? And now is a good time.”
In an exclusive interview, Meyers elaborated on the reasons why CBC will pour its final pints this winter.
Why is Cambridge Brewing Company closing?
Founder Phil Bannatyne, 68, will retire, while Meyers, 56, is "not actively looking for employment or new projects," but he's open to options, he says. The partners have been considering CBC’s exit for years, according to Meyers. “When you work side-by-side with somebody for 32-plus years, at some point the inevitable discussions come up [about] retirement and how long you want to keep doing this thing going,” he says.
Increased competition and costs of doing business are both reasons for the decision. CBC is seeing less foot traffic than in previous years, which Meyers attributes to lower occupancy rates of offices and labs in the Kendall Square area, as well as hundreds of other breweries having opened in towns across the region. “People have less reason to come into the cities these days,” Meyers says, “so we don't have the bodies in seats that we need to keep it profitable enough to keep up with the rising costs” to everything from ingredients to energy and labor, he says. “Through that all, we've always striven to keep our prices low and our value to the customer very high.”
The company has benefitted from dedicated staff members over the years, Meyers adds. General manager Laura Peters and executive chef David Drew have both been onboard for more than 16 years, and several bartenders and kitchen employees are also approaching 20 years of service. But since the pandemic, business has slowed, impacting the staffing levels it can support. CBC is down from about 50 employees in early 2020 to fewer than 30 today. They were informed about the impending closure in a meeting before the announcement, and by staying on through December will receive “a thank-you bonus” commensurate with their length of CBC employment, Meyers says.
The tiny, 10-barrel brewhouse and basement barrel room at CBC is the domain of only Meyers and lead brewer Brian Doran these days. It’s an intentionally manual system, which did CBC well over the years as a training ground for brewers interested in learning from Meyers. (In 2017, the brewmaster earned a prestigious National Brewers Association award from his peers, which acknowledged his excellence and innovation in craft brewing as well as a willingness to mentor in the field.) But as the brewpub budget has tightened in recent years, more of the physical labor has fallen on him, and it’s taking its toll. “I’m taking a good, long break,” Meyers says.
The brewpub’s plans to close were announced less than a month after the Smoke Shop BBQ shuttered its location next door, and a Bon Me across the plaza moved away from One Kendall Square.
Meyers says CBC’s departure is not in any way prompted by the brewpub’s relationship with its landlord, Alexandria. “They were very generous and helpful to us throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic, as the restaurant industry kind of failed to rebound,” he says.
Time Out Boston has reached out to Alexandria and other One Kendall tenants Big Dipper Hospitality, which operates State Park, Mamaleh’s Delicatessen and the pop-up Summer Camp Bar at the plaza. Stay tuned if we learn more about any future plans for the development.
When is Cambridge Brewing Company closing?
Before CBC closes after service on Friday, Dec. 20, it’s business as usual. Lunch starts at 11:30am daily, with 9pm closing Monday–Thursday, 10pm closing on Friday and Saturday and 8pm closing on Sunday. Chef Drew is putting finishing touches on the new fall menu, and the brewery is getting ready to release a Festbier lager and the Great Pumpkin Ale, among other fresh beers.
“CBC has been a really exciting, cool place that has made an impact in a lot of people's lives,” Meyers says. “So, we wanted to give people as much notice as possible so that they can get in here and share our last days with us.”
