Four Phantoms Brewing Co. Emphasizes Community Connections

Good Times in Season

Four Phantoms Brewing Co. owner Drew Phillips.

When it comes to brewing, Drew Phillips enjoys something a little off the beaten path.

“I love offbeat styles, things that don’t get a lot of love, especially with IPAs being so popular in taprooms,” he said before talking about the ciders and meads he produces at Four Phantoms Brewing Co. in Greenfield. “Cider is one of the only sectors in bev-alc that is actually growing right now, whereas craft beer is shrinking in a period of closures and consolidations. And the sector hasn’t even started to figure out what it means to be an American meadery, really.”

But there’s some cider history in the region; in fact, West County Cidery in Shelburne is the founding post-Prohibition American cidery, he noted.

“We are what’s called a single-source cidery. All of our cider is made with fruit from Pine Hill Orchard in Colrain. So we get to highlight the great character of their fruit and really just celebrate Western Mass. apples.”

“Being in Franklin County and farm country, we’ve got access to a ton of local apple orchards, peach orchards, and all kinds of stuff around here. So we wanted to take the mindset that, when we can use local, we will.”

Meanwhile, Phillips plans his beer offerings seasonally. “We don’t really have what you would call a flagship beer, so our taps are constantly rotating. There are certain styles that people like, and that I like brewing, that we’ll bring back every now and then, but it’s not like we’re always going to have something on tap. We’ll always have something new depending on what season you visit in.”

Some have developed enough of a following to be mainstays, like an Irish stout called Cork by Candlelight and an English nut brown ale. “We try to keep those on just because we can consistently sell them over the entire year; they don’t really need to rotate out,” he explained.

“But in terms of spring and summer coming up, we’re going to dip into lagers and Belgian styles and get into those easy-drinking styles for when it’s hot outside, those really approachable classic pub styles.”

All artwork on the brewery’s cans is created by local artists.

But he’s also got a doppelbock on tap now, which is made from black birch in Cummington — specifically, a property owner with a lot of black birch stands on his land.

“Every winter, there’s usually a storm that comes in that knocks down a bunch of the trees. So we can go in there with a chainsaw, and the wood gets used in the mash. And then, depending on how I’m feeling about it, sometimes I’ll hang a sack of it in the fermenter as well.

“That’s our overall approach to beer,” he added. “We try not to lean completely into what everybody else is doing.”

Fruits of His Labor

Phillips has been brewing for a long time, starting out with volunteer work for breweries before brewing professionally starting in 2012. Four Phantoms began its life as a contract brewery in 2019.

“At the time, I was making cider for Artifact Cider Project in Florence as their lead cider maker and running Four Phantoms as a contract brand on the side. But we always knew we wanted to do bricks and mortar,” he recalled.

“It was that personal engagement, I think, that was very attractive about craft beer and made it grow so quickly, which we are losing quite a bit of.”

The pandemic interfered with the timeline but was also good for cider sales at a time when bars were locked down and the beer business was shaky. “We took that windfall and bootstrapped up the brand to be able to open this place. We got a loan from Greenfield Savings Bank and then opened on Halloween in 2021.”

The name Four Phantoms is a way to metaphotically evoke the passing of the four seasons, he explained.

Four Phantoms opened its physical location in Greenfield in 2021.

“Brewing has always been, at least in American craft beer, very seasonal. So we wanted to highlight that. Being in Franklin County and farm country, we’ve got access to a ton of local apple orchards, peach orchards, and all kinds of stuff around here. So we wanted to take the mindset that, when we can use local, we will — and then, just celebrate what we love about the passing seasons.”

In addition, “we wanted it to be an old-school pub style — we really wanted people to feel like this was an extension of their living room,” Phillips told BusinessWest. “Coming out of the pandemic, I felt there was going to be a slow transition to going back to bars after lockdown, especially in Massachusetts, which had one of the more aggressive policies in terms of COVID and bars shutting down.

“So we wanted it to feel like a family environment — we really wanted to drill down and make sure our neighbors felt comfortable here. And so far, that strategy has been great,” he went on, adding that about 100 patrons have a taproom membership, getting discounted access to events and other perks, and most live within a few blocks of Four Phantoms’ Wells Street address.

As for those events, game nights have become hugely popular, with 50 to 60 people reliably showing up for Dungeons & Dragons on Monday nights, and Magic: the Gathering and other games bringing in crowds as well.

“Even if you’re not interested in craft beer or you’re not a drinker, we’re trying to make this space comfortable for everyone.”

“We also have fundraisers for community organizations, and a lot of people who attend those have never been here before, but end up becoming regulars, which is awesome,” Phillips said, noting that Four Phantoms has used trivia and bingo nights to fundraise for nonprofits ranging from local survival centers to the Immigrant Justice Coalition.

Meawhile, Four Phantoms hosts some music shows, and meetup groups are welcome to use the space as well. The brewery also supports local artists by soliciting them to illustrate its cans and featuring their work on its website.

“I’m just trying to support fundamental organizations in our community and functioning the way that I observed while traveling through Ireland — the pub is like a cornerstone of the community,” Phillips went on. “So that’s what we set out to do, and so far, I feel like it’s been successful.”

That’s despite the industry encountering some rough sailing in recent years, with people drinking less in general — and the pandemic itself may be one reason, as many people may have turned to alcohol during the dark days of isolation and are re-evaluating their relationship with it now, Phillips noted. But that doesn’t mean they can’t come out for a good time.

“We have a pretty extensive menu of non-alcoholic beverages. Our mocktails are really nice beverages. And we have locally made root beers and ginger sodas and stuff like that. We try to make it feel special instead of ‘well, you’re getting whatever we had lying around.’ I’ve noticed, in some bars I’ve gone into, that non-alcoholic beverages can be an afterthought. We try to be a little more thoughtful about it.”

Another downward trend is simply that the youngest generation of drinking age just isn’t patronizing bars and taprooms as previous generations did.

“Craft beer exploded when I started in 2012; we had just come off the financial recession that started in 2008, but we still enjoyed periods of exponential growth during that time. People took it very seriously and were very enthusiastic, but that has definitely cooled off quite a bit.”

One effect of all that is consolidation in the brewing industry, with large companies buying up craft brewers that once thrived in a smaller space, but have since struggled.

“When I was coming up, I saw people putting things they cared so deeply about into their brand identity. And when you get acquired by Anheuser-Busch, it’s sort of hard to believe in that ethos anymore,” Phillips said. “It was that personal engagement, I think, that was very attractive about craft beer and made it grow so quickly, which we are losing quite a bit of.”

In addition, “it makes the sector as a whole a lot less interesting when there’s less variety in terms of styles.”

Supporting an Ecosystem

Four Phantoms is doing its part to bring variety through its products — and community-minded values and personal connection through its events. Phillips distributes his beers, ciders, and meads in some local package stores and restaurants, but he’s most proud of the culture he’s built at the brewery and taproom.

“I feel really grateful, especially at this turbulent time in the craft, to have a reliable community of people who support us and are enthusiastic about the product, but also enthusiastic about coming to the space to see people they know. A lot of our regulars became friends by hanging out here.”

That includes furry friends in this decidedly dog-friendly destination. “It’s cool to me to see a dog that was brought in as a 14-week-old puppy now grown up and still sitting in the same barstool that its owner put it in when it was a little pup.

“Even if you’re not interested in craft beer or you’re not a drinker, we’re trying to make this space comfortable for everyone,” Phillips went on. “And sometimes, I think folks on the outside don’t understand that this doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We’re supporting other local businesses. That’s where we get our local root beer from. We’re supporting local orchards by making cider with their apples exclusively. We’re not just existing in a sort of island. Other shops depend on us patronizing them as much as we depend on our customers patronizing us.”

That’s why he’s committed to being mindful of those community connections and encouraging others to do the same.

“You never know, when one of those businesses closes, how many others are going to follow it. So if you really appreciate your local businesses, and there’s stuff in your community that you’re into and you appreciate the work that they do, try to get in there and show them love,” he went on. “Try to get in there regularly — because we need it right now.”