Tin Bridge Brewing, Westfield, MA

Tin Bridge Brewing Background

Joe and Nick Cocchi opened Westfield’s first visitable craft brewery, Tin Bridge Brewing, in October 2017.  Joe Cocchi, guitarist for a popular local band and his brother Nick who has spent several years on the road working for a national flooring company spent many of their off-hours homebrewing. For three and a half years they worked on perfecting their original recipes. At some point after growing too big for Joe’s kitchen, the two rented an 800 square foot garage in Agawam. That is where they brewed and had friends and family come over to try their wares.

The Cocchis acquired the eventual tasting room in spring 2016. Joe says that the financial investment was significant, but that the renovation project came in under budget, thanks to all the local help they got. Their father is a painting contractor, their uncle is a plumber, one of their good friends is a carpenter, and many more wanted to pitch in. Because everyone was working regular jobs, construction took awhile.  Everything from the tables and bar to the bar back and shuffleboard table was built by family and friends.

The duo named the brewery after a nearby railroad bridge that faded out of use and had become a local hangout spot.

Experience

We arrived late one Friday afternoon. The tasting room was busy but we nabbed a few spots at the bar. We started with a flight and enjoyed Operation Citra 4.0, Peanut Butter Porter, Mean Bean (Vanilla IPA) “Creamsicle IPA”, the great citrus notes in Re-Session Proof, a session IPA and Enigma, an excellent Hazy NEIPA. The large taproom looks into the brew house, and includes a long bar, communal tables, shuffleboard and a few classic video games. A small outside seating area was available, just a little too chilly the night we visited.  Complimentary fresh popcorn for noshing is a plus in our book.  A food truck was also present serving tasty looking meatball sandwiches.  The crew let us check out their 5 barrel brewing system. Friendly folks, great beer, check them out.

No nearby lodging noted. No food is available but they often have food trucks.

https://www.tinbridgebrewing.com

Craft Beer vacation to Tin Bridge Brewing