WESTBOROUGH – Cold Harbor Brewing and Julio’s Liquors are collaborating on a beer in honor of Julio’s 50th anniversary.
“They have been an unbelievable partner since day one since we first opened,” said owner William Oliveira.
Julio’s Beer Manager Matthew Sahagian noted that Cold Harbor is down the road from Julio’s. Plus, the staff are friends with the owners and staff, “and they make phenomenal beer.”
“When you think of liquor stores, you don’t think of liquor stores having their own beer. It’s really fun for me as the beer manager to get to be able to do these projects,” said Sahagian. “Getting to see a beer that I dry-hopped, that I went to meetings for, that I got to talk about the ingredients and how we’re going to brew it, and seeing it in a can and being able to sell it and knowing it’s just for our store – it’s awesome. It makes the job super fun.”
In addition to celebrating the anniversary, the collaboration is a celebration of local, family-owned businesses.
The beer was born out of a rotating series called “In a Pinch” at Cold Harbor, which came early on from “being in a pinch” and having to use the ingredients they had at their disposal, said Oliveira. Now, the series is tailored to introduce new beers to the public.
The collaboration is the most recent version of “In a Pinch.” Oliveira described the beer as a hazy New England double IPA with a 7% ABV.
“[It] was really well-received by our customers. We’re really excited now to showcase it on a bit of a larger scale,” said Oliveira.
Oliveira said that the Julio’s crew has been “outstanding,” and he loved that they sold so much of Cold Harbor’s beer.
The beer will be on Cold Harbor’s menu for a while. Cans are only being distributed out of Julio’s, and it can be found on draft at Cold Harbor and on tap at Firefly’s in Marlborough.
