Brewing New Communities in New Hampshire

Anthony Caruso remembers the days when having the opportunity to drink a beer next to the tank it was brewed in was enough to draw people in to a brewery. “In 2026, it’s very different,” the general manager and COO of Henniker Brewing says. “We have to have events to get people out here. … It’s a much more diverse business than it was 15 years ago.” 

With good, craft beer approaching dime-a-dozen levels of ubiquity — not to mention a general decline in alcohol consumption — New Hampshire’s breweries have had to get creative to stand out and stay successful. Often, that means expanding their offers to include community-centric events, like book clubs, trivia nights, and, in at least one instance, evenings dedicated to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Here are four who are doing just that particularly well.

Henniker Brewing | 129 Centervale Road, Henniker

Bartender Allison Capozzo pulls a draft at the Henniker Brewing Company. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

Whatever your event is, Henniker Brewing has the space. Located in a former medical supply facility, “the building is huge,” general manager and COO Anthony Caruso says. It’s also sort of in the middle of the woods. “We’re not on the main drag of things. It’s hard to get people to come back here.” So, the team has created reasons for customers to make the trek: On top of pouring beers, an eclectic calendar of community events has become a pillar of the business. “I’ll try (hosting) anything once,” Caruso says. 

The list of things he’s tried hosting include a winter indoor disc golf putting league, comedy shows, a running club, motorcycle poker nights, trivia, a barbecue competition, craft nights and an annual free-to-enter Oktoberfest, complete with food trucks and live music.

Some of the biggest events are the Sip & Shops, which happen three times a year. Caruso invites 30 local vendors (60 during the holidays, when the event spans two days) to sell their wares, free of charge. Most of them are people he’s met when they were visiting the taproom. 

“I say, ‘Hey, you make hats and you’ve never tried to sell them? Want to try to sell them? Let’s see how it goes,’ ” Caruso says. “It’s just supporting the people who are supporting us.”

eff Rasey form Branford, Ct. shows off his flight of beers he selected while on a visit to the Henniker Brewing Company. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

The brewery has also become a friendly space for local metal bands. “They just have no (other) venue. Nowhere wants them to play.” Since Henniker Brewing is fairly isolated, “you can play as loud as you want,” Caruso says. “You can’t even hear them in the tap room.” They hosted a “two-day backwoods metal festival” last year, with 17 different bands and the biggest crowd Caruso says they’ve ever had. The event, Dysfunction Junction, returned this year on Sept. 26.

Of course, they also brew and sell beer to enjoy. While they offer a wide range of varieties, Caruso calls the beer generally “traditional”: you won’t find a lactose- pumped sour on tap, for example. There are about six core brews and six that rotate depending on the season: When Caruso did this interview in late July, they were about to replace their summer options with more autumnal flavors, like a German Oktoberfest Märzen and Flapjack, a double maple brown ale. They also serve alcoholic seltzers and nonalcoholic beers. 

Henniker Brewing also brings in rotating food trucks that sell dishes Caruso says people can’t easily get otherwise in the area. This has the double benefit of supporting other local businesses and allowing the space to stay dog friendly, since they don’t have a kitchen that serves food. “Almost every single person here owns a dog, so we care about dogs a lot,” Caruso says. (Human children are also welcome.) 

Caruso admits that all of this is a lot of work, especially for someone without any previous formal event planning experience. But to him — a person born and raised in New Hampshire — the extra effort is worth it. 

“If we’re not making money, at least we’re bringing people together and giving them a reason to live in Henniker,” Caruso says. “We’re just trying to keep New Hampshire businesses alive, through community … and also beer.”

Auspicious Brew | 1 Washington St., Suite 1103, Dover

The brewery has become a community hub for events ranging from movie nights to live music and drag performances. Photo by Jenn Bakos

The tagline for Auspicious Brew is “A place where all are welcome who welcome all.” 

“We started as New Hampshire’s first kombucha brewery, which is a cool title,” says co-owner Helen Leavitt, who runs Auspicious
with her partner, Jay. “But it also means that we opened up a business in a state that is less familiar with our main product.” 

From the beginning, Leavitt insisted that they would not just be a big factory that no one could visit. “I wanted it to be a gathering space,” Leavitt says. She knew they’d need to create a welcoming spot that people wanted to visit even if they weren’t huge kombucha fans yet. 

That project is something that “has just sort of fed itself,” Leavitt says. “Every single event we’ve ever done has led to the next event that we do.” The community event calendar includes poetry nights, wellness workshops, writers’ groups, group fitness classes, book club meetings, movie nights, clothing swaps, craft nights, drag performances and “queeraoke.” Halloween weekend is always big for Auspicious, partially because it falls right before their anniversary on Nov. 1. This year, there will be a DJ costume party.

Helen and Jay Leavitt, proud owners of
Auspicious Brew, proudly stand in their current taproom with plans to expand. Photo by Jenn Bakos

Auspicious’ menu includes a lineup of kombucha, food, cocktails, beer and other mocktails. Photo by Jenn Bakos

There’s also lots of live music, most Saturdays and Sundays as well as throughout the week. “It started with a pretty small radius of local bands” that just kept growing as the musicians who played referred their friends. Leavitt says she rarely has to try to find someone to play anymore. “I’m just kind of fielding the inquiries and seeing who’s going to fit in best.”

“Fitting in” at Auspicious Brew just means embodying their “all are welcome” motto. “We are a queer- and trans-owned business, so this sentiment of ‘all are welcome who welcome all’ is just for community safety,” Leavitt says. “There are a lot of queer and gender-nonconforming people who come to our space. We’re just trying to cultivate an environment where everybody feels like they can be out in the world and have fun and connect with people.” 

The success of the business — which started in late 2019 — especially the event aspect, “still kind of blows my mind,” Leavitt says.  

As far as the brews go, there are tons of rotating flavor options, maybe “50, 60 or 70 a year,” Leavitt estimates. Farmer’s Lemonade is “hands down across the board” the best seller. “It’s lavender lemonade inspired, with lavender, lemon and butterfly pea flower. It’s deep purple, floral and citrusy.”

In the brewery, there are eight kombuchas on draft that rotate seasonally, plus a fridge stocked with the same products you can buy in stores. They sell two types of kombucha: a low ABV (1%) option and a classic hard kombucha (5%). 

There’s also food — noodle bowls and sandwiches plus lots of snacks and pickled things, all made from scratch and sourced locally — and craft, seasonal cocktails. And if you’re really dying for a beer, they have that too, sourced from other Seacoast-area breweries. 

Auspicious Brew is raising money — both via traditional lenders and GoFundMe — so they can expand into the space directly above them, which would more than triple their footprint. 

“It’s not uncommon for our place to get pretty packed,” Leavitt says. “For a lot of events, every seat is taken or has to be standing room only.” Adding that extra floor “would allow us to pursue essentially every goal we have for the next five to 10 years,” including adding events that require more space and expanding the kitchen and fridge space, which would lead to a larger food menu and wider kombucha distribution. 

“I’m not getting rich doing this,” Leavitt says. “I’m working my butt off so that people in our community can have a place to gather, and also to express their creativity.”

To Share Brewing Company | 720 Union St., Manchester

Bartender Jackie Berthiaume serves a beer to a customer at the To Share Brewing Company in Manchester. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

When Jennifer and Aaron Share decided to open a brewery in Manchester, they were committed to building a neighborhood specific community. 

“In a lot of the places that we have traveled, each neighborhood has a little bit of a different flair. You could walk to things outside of the downtown corridor,” Jennifer Share says. “You didn’t really see that that much then in Manchester.” 

So far, it seems, that goal has been a success. “So many of our regular customers walk or bike to the brewery,” Jennifer says. When she and Aaron bought a house, they purchased one within walking distance as well. 

“We have been able to cultivate a group of people who live in the neighborhood who did not know each other before the brewery was there, who now meet up every week. And we have seen engagements and marriages and babies and graduations. We have also lost humans and been a place where people can come when life isn’t so easy. That community (is what) continues to help us do what we do every day.” 

Beyond just meeting up to share a drink, community members can attend one of To Share’s regular events, like book club, run club, live music performances, summer camp (“for both young individuals and those of us who are young at heart”), emo night and regular Dungeons and Dragons sessions. The brewery is explicitly family-friendly, with board games, pinball and events for kids. 

Like many of the other breweries on this list, To Share serves a variety of beers that rotates seasonally, but there’s a core list of an American lager, German helles, pilsner, several IPAs and a hard seltzer.

Friends gather at the To Share Brewing Company in Manchester recently. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

“We learned early that the neighborhood has a diverse population with a diverse palette,” says Jennifer, who identifies as a “seasonal beer drinker.” “In order to serve them well, and so we don’t get bored, we like to try new things.” 

To Share also hosts a lot of community fundraising events, including a series called Pints and Flights for Charity, during which the brewery partners with a local nonprofit and donates a portion of sales for the day to that organization. One partner is Ink 4 Pink, a New England nonprofit that works with tattoo shops that offer post-treatment tattoos, like ones that camouflage scars or that look like realistic 3D nipples and eyebrows. This one is particularly close to Jennnifer, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024. 

They’ll also raise funds for individuals who’ve been through a traumatic life event, like a car accident, the loss of a family member or cancer diagnoses. “This year we received a grant from the American Express Main Street Foundation to help us expand that work,” Jennifer says. “We’re focused on increasing our capacity to host private events (and) offer the space at a significantly reduced cost for some of our nonprofit partners.” 

To Share’s core values are literally spelled out on their website, along with a code of conduct that insists customers contribute to an environment that is respectful and inclusive. 

“We are welcoming to everyone in our community,” Jennifer says. “You need to be a nice human, but otherwise we want you to be able to come in and have a beverage.”

Black Cloud Brewing Company  | 100 Main St., Keene

Black Cloud Brewing Company co-owner, Tom DuFault, serves up a beer on a Friday afternoon in Keene. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

The majority of the seven co-owners of Black Cloud Brewing Company worked together at the Keene location of Modestman Brewing, which previously occupied the space where Black Cloud is now. 

“We came together because we wanted to keep great beer on Main Street,” George Colarullo says. “We’re doing it our way.” Having already worked at a brewery in town for years, the group had gathered plenty of feedback from the community about what they wanted most in a new establishment. 

For starters, serving a bigger variety of beer; currently Black Cloud has 14 on tap. “We’re definitely flagshipping IPAs,” Colarullo says, noting that Surge, a New England IPA, is the one they’re most excited about at the moment. Black Cloud also makes pale ales, sours, pilsners, American lager and dark beer, like a red ale that supports the local fire department. “A dollar per pint and a dollar per four pack goes to them,” Colarullo says. 

License plates adorn a wall at the Black Cloud Brewing. Company in Keene. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

Then there’s the pizza, which this local can confirm is delicious. Colarullo says that having an “amazing food menu” was a nonnegotiable when they were making the business plan. “Really quality beer will bring people in,” Colarullo says. “But to be successful, you do have to have a quality food program too.” 

Being involved in community events was also one of the big priorities for Colarullo and his co-owners in reopening the space. They immediately figured out how to be involved with the Wyman Tavern Brew Fest, an annual fundraiser for the Historical Society of Cheshire County that brings together craft beer, cider, and spirit makers from all over New England.

Enjoying a beer on a late Friday afternoon at the Black Cloud Brewing Company in Keene are from left, David Munn, Jack Munn, Arnold Coombs, and Max Coombs. Photo by Jodie Andruskevich

When we spoke, Keene Music Festival in September was top of mind: Black Cloud would be hosting a fundraiser for the festival, and would be one of the stages for performers on the day of the actual event. When Pumpkin Festival rolls around in October, Black Cloud will surely have a presence. 

They’re also hosting events of their own. Thursday is Trivia Night, which Colarullo says usually draws a crowd of eight to 15 teams. Wednesdays are the biggest night of the week: There’s a weekly Stitch N Bitch circle (a meetup for chatty crafters), rotating events like paint night and puzzle-completing contests, plus the first Wednesday of the month is 15% off for first responders and teachers while the last of the month is for people who work in the restaurant and bar industry as well as healthcare workers. Colarullo won’t say much about what they have coming next, though he does tease that they’re brewing up some fun ideas for football season. 

Unsurprisingly, taking all that community feedback has paid off so far. Colarullo says that people have been extremely grateful that the space is being occupied again. 

“The fact that we’ve had customers come up two or three times just to say, ‘Thank you for doing what you’re doing,’ has been awesome.”