CHMA checks in with Anthony Maddalena of Uptown Bagtown Boozy Market, otherwise known as the Bagtown Brewing Company.
By Meg Cunningham
Bagtown Brewery has undergone big changes since the COVID-19 outbreak.
The business has a new name, Uptown Bagtown Boozy Market.
Owner Anthony Maddalena picked up shop and scooted across the street to expand and revamp his business.
M: How has your business started to adapt to COVID-19?
A: We’ve opened kind of a new aspect of the business called the Uptown Bagtown Boozy Market, which is essentially a liquor store. But it basically utilizes one of our licenses that we have from alcohol, New Brunswick, and it allows us to basically buy and sell product from other local producers. So that’s producers of beer, cider, wine and spirits all in New Brunswick. Yeah, so we’re basically trying to take advantage of that new program and to help pivot the business so that we can have, you know, so we could try and maintain sales where we can’t really have people sitting inside right now? Yeah, so basically we have a bunch of beer and cider from all over New Brunswick that were retailing at our new store.
M: Neat. When did you open up the new store out of curiosity?
A: Well we moved the whole operation like we moved Bagtown from where it used to be, which was at the Sackville Commons, across the street, where the splendid grapes, you brew like wine store used to be right next door to pi by crow. Yeah, so we moved over in February, and we’re hoping to open in March, but obviously things got delayed. So we just opened I’d say three weeks ago now at this point.
Maddalena is excited to offer more local booze, and a new partnership with his building buddy Pi By Crow.
M: Do you have any sort of relationship business wise with PI crow? Is there any correlation since you share a building or?
A: Yeah, so we’re, we’re same building. And we’ve renovated both spaces a little bit during the process of our move over from across the street. So now basically we call it kind of like the Pi Portal where we can open up between the two spaces. And hopefully one day, hopefully soon, people will be able to come in, sit down in the tap room, you know, have a pint of beer, and they can also order a pie from next door without even having to go outside. So there’ll be a kind of relationship there where you can have a pie and a pint. And then we can even do that outside when we get our patio license.
M: You mentioned that you buy liquor and cider and beer from New Brunswick. Are you planning on expanding your reach with the Atlantic bubble or is your focus just to remain within New Brunswick and is that choice of New Brunswick alcohol related to COVID-19 or is that your preference?
A: Well, it’s actually neither ANBL* is the one who kind of governs, you know what we can do in terms of buying and selling other people’s products. So they released this pilot program and right now the pilot program is focused on New Brunswick produced and packaged products only. So we’ll keep you know, buying and, and moving, you know, some product around from, you know, St. John, Fredericton, and Bathurst all over the place. Which is Yeah, we’ll also move some of our products to those places as well as buy from breweries and cideries in those areas. Hopefully, I mean, yeah, I’d love to bring in some product from Nova Scotia and PEI as well. But maybe that’s something that gets added to the pilot program a few months down the road.
* Alcool New Brunswick Liquor
M: Now you’re saying that you’re moving or getting product from all over the province. When you say that do you literally mean that you yourself are getting in a vehicle and having to go get it as shipping and receiving is a little slower nowadays?
A: To a certain extent, yes. For the first week when we opened prior to like the week prior to that, we we were driving to St. John into Fredericton. Because we had some of our own things that we needed to pick up from those areas, but we also just looped it all in to be able to pick up product from a few different breweries. So we made a lot of different stops and talked to a lot of different breweries and cideries and we ended up with a good selection of product. But now that we’ve kind of developed those relationships it has become much easier to get the product shipped here to Sackville, you know, because they’ll just incorporate it into a delivery that might be going to a few other places in the area.
M: Is there anything that you’re working on to expand? While there are still social distance restrictions?
A: Yeah, I mean, I’m, we’re working every day here to finish up the tap room and get it set up in a way where we’ll be able to have a handful of people come inside. And they can sit down and have a pint and even order a pie from across from across the wall, I guess. But, yeah, we’re, it’s we have such a, I mean, our space is much larger than where we were before. But it’s still a small space for our COVID world where, you know, having to try and maintain six feet apart can be kind of tricky for us. But you know, I think we’re kind of narrowing down a plan and we’re working on getting in our stools and tabletops and things like that all all finished up. So hopefully in a few more weeks, when we get the taps installed as well, we’ll be able to start offering pints and flights, and maybe even some Growler fills for people.
M: Could you describe for our listeners and also, to be honest, my own personal curiosity, what it looks like for somebody to go and purchase a beer from you with current COVID-19 restrictions?
A: Yeah, so basically we’re open on Fridays from noon until 6pm. And on Saturday from 9am when the market starts until 3pm in the afternoon, and during those hours, all you have to do is walk up to the Bagtown tside of the building, and you’ll see all of our signage there on the windows and on the door. And basically, you go to a little window first and you order there and pay for your pay for your beer. And then we go pick the order, put it in a box or a bag or and then bring it to the front door and we put it on a little table there. And then you can step up and grab the box, or grab your beer, stick them in your own bag if you want. And then you could take them home. And we’ve got all of our, you know, little footprints and things marked out on the sidewalk to let you know where you can stand if there’s a lineup. I mean, a lot of that might may change in a couple of weeks when we start to let people outside but that’s basically the current setup.
Maddalena has not abandoned the creative side of the business.
A: We’ve got some new brews on the way we’re kind of utilizing our larger production facility and our new walk in cooler, which we just got set up a few days ago to start to play around with a few of our regular recipes, but take a little bits of small quantities of it and add some fun flavorings to it. which involves some, you know, local produce local, like fruits and things like that, and some different spices and things so, you know, keep an eye out for you know what, what Bagtown has to offer in terms of tasty summer beverages.
Interested locals can visit the market at 45b Main Street, Sackville.
