While working for a bio-pharma company in Boston, John noticed that many employees of the company had previously worked for the Sam Adams Brewing Company. After inquiring further and touring the brewery, it seemed so obvious, as brewing and bio-pharma manufacturing are essentially the same process.

Both industries use fermentation to achieve their final products. In bio-pharma the protein and enzymes are harvested and purified and the rest is discarded, whereas in brewing we discard the proteins as waste and keep everything else. Once aged, it’s called beer.

Learning this peaked Johns interest, and finally, at the urging of Bill, he began brewing in 2013. Over the years John dreamed of opening a brewery. After many trips to European breweries, breweries across the US, and five years of nano-brewing, a real chance for the brewery to become a reality presented itself.

The owners of 623 Massachusetts, the Marsh family, wanted to lease the premises to the right type of family business with a good concept, so when John, Kathryn, and Bill came calling, the match couldn’t have been better. The Marsh family expressed that they had always thought the location to be a good one for a brewery, and so the Black Stag Brewery finally had a home.