By Seth Daniel
‘Boo’ and ‘Brew’ are natural companions so it’s only natural that the Fermentation District, led by Night Shift Brewery, is using Halloween to kick off an entire week of brewery fun.
Night Shift’s Janine Pohorely, curator of content at the brewery, said the company – and the entire district, including Bone Up Brewery and Short Path Distillery – is ramping up its desire to do more destination events and Halloween will be that first effort.
“This is the first time we’ve done an complete slate of events throughout a whole week,” said Pohorely. “It’s pretty ambitious and our public events coordinator has done a fantastic job. Luckily, we have a lot of existing events that we were able to customize to make into a Halloween theme. We’re going to be ramping up our public events in general. We are planning to have a variety show in November and a Speakeasy event in December to commemorate the repeal of Prohibition. We’re trying to also add more fun events as well. It gives us an opportunity to get people down here and work with charities that we respect.”
The Halloween events will get fully ramped up on Friday night when they will have a carnival atmosphere with live music and an aerialist who will be performing on silts (hanging fabric) on the patio area. There will also be a showing in the Taproom of ‘Troll 2.’
The signature event will be on Saturday for the District, when a Trick or Treat Block Party with all three businesses combining for a fun evening.
There will be music from Sam Reid & the Riot Act and Amy Kucharik, food trucks, candy and beer pairings at Bone Up Brewery, costume prizes, and the first-ever Fermentation District Passports.
“During the block party, participants will get a Fermentation District passport and they’ll have to get it stamped at several locations,” said Pohorely. “Those who return the fully-stamped passport will qualify to win a chance for a prize package.”
Before that, however, those with a pet penchant will be excited to participate in the last Paws + Pints event of the season – which has been ongoing all summer to benefit animal charities. This last event, however, will be a pet costume party. It will benefit Beast Coast Design and Happy Tails Pet Rescue. There will be a photo booth and prizes for the top three best costumes.
The highlight for beer enthusiasts and the brewery is the special release of its Darkling bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout – which has been waiting for six months to be consumed.
“That one has a very cult following around it so it will be a pretty big event – one of those line down the street scenarios,” she said.
There will be a limit to the number of bottles one can get, which is to be determined and it is first-come, first serve.
“It’s a very special beer,” said Pohorely. “The brewers put a lot of time into it and it has spent a lot of time aging.”
The full week of events is as follows:HYPERLINK “http://goog_755990594/”
Mon, 10/24 at 7:30pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1252034281528226/”Howloween: Terrifying Trivia
Our weekly Geeks Who Drink trivia night will have categories tailored to the holiday.
Tue, 10/25 at 6pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1789941794596529/”Howloween: Paws+Pints: Costume Party
Throwing a special Halloween costume party for pups on our patio with Beast Coast Design and Happy Tails Pet Rescue. We’ll have a photo booth set up so they can grab a shot with their pet in costume, and the top three costumes will win a prize pack from Night Shift and our co-hosts.
Wed, 10/26 at 6pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/615188708643148/”Howloween: Costume Run
Our GM, Alex, will lead the group of runners on a relaxed 5k down the bike path and back again, to enjoy some brews in the Taproom. To celebrate Halloween we’re encouraging runners to come in their costumes.
Thu, 10/27 at 5pm at Brewer’s Fork: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1198522013553052/”Darkling Pre-Tapping at the Brewer’s Fork
We’re teaming up with our friends at Brewer’s Fork in Charlestown to preview Darkling 2016. We’ll be tapping this year’s edition of our bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout alongside bottles of last year’s Darkling, and a keg of our Baltic porter, Second Breakfast. Event-goers will be able to taste these beers side-by-side, along with pizzas and small plates from Brewer’s Fork a few days ahead of the Taproom Darkling Bottle and Draft Release.
Thu, 10/27 at 7pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1170052689707890/”Howloween: Troll 2 with Troll 2
We’ll be breaking out the cinematic spectacle that is Troll 2 for our Taproom visitor’s viewing pleasure. Once the film is over, we’ll have live music by the band that goes by the same name, Troll 2.
Fri, 10/28 at 6pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1784123781833230/”Howloween: Spooky Carnival
We’re throwing a spooky carnival at our Taproom that will have a variety of bizarre and fascinating performance artists. We’ll also have music from The Dirty Dottys, tarot card readings, magic, plus a few more performance artists we’re in the midst of nailing down.
Sat, 10/29 at 6pm: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/328900410796836/”Howloween: Trick-or-Treat Block Party
We’ll be teaming up with our neighbors at Short Path Distillery and Bone Up Brewing Company to throw a costume party in the Fermentation District. We’re encouraging visitors to come dressed in costume and to make a stop at each location.
More details:
Music by Sam Reid & the Riot Act and Amy Kucharik at Night Shift Brewing
Food from Munch Mobile Kitchen and Daddy’s Bonetown Burgers
Candy and beer pairings at Bone Up Brewing Company
Prizes for the best costumes
Fermentation District Passports: Get them stamped at all three members of the Fermentation District for a chance to win a prize package that will feature:
Fermentation District t-shirt
Glassware from SPD and BUB
$20 gift card from NSB and SPD
$10 gift card from BUB
- Sun, 10/30 at 11am: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/events/1792139071000656/”Darkling Bottle and Draft Release
We’ll be unleashing drafts and bottles of this year’s Darkling to cap off the week of events. This beer is a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout; decadently rich, luscious and smooth, with notes of milk chocolate, molasses, and bourbon. Still working out the details around pricing and limits.
Sidebar –
Fermentation District T-Shirts are coming
The three businesses in what has come to be known as the Fermentation District on Santilli Highway have now banded together and will be selling ‘Fermentation District’ T-Shirts over the Halloween weekend.
“All three businesses will be selling the T-Shirts over the weekend,” said Janine Pohorely of Night Shift Brewery. “It’s celebrating the success we’ve had and the little area we’ve created out in this part of Everett. We all met after Village Fest about what went well and what didn’t. We like to meet quarterly to talk about that. So when we met this idea of the T-Shirts came together. This is becoming more of a destination spot.”