CraftRoots Brewing – Milford, MA – New England Beer Buddy

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By New England Beer Buddy Beer Beer To Go Blog Breweries Craft Beer Craft Brewery Massachusetts Brewery New England Brewery Taproom January 24, 2024

Having moved to the Milford, Massachusetts area in Summer of 2019 I was immediately impressed with all the local establishments that were within a few miles of my new home. Not just the plethora of restaurants nearby, that had some great tap lists, but the fact that CraftRoots Brewing Company was, quite literally, down the road from my new home!

Upon discovery of a local watering hole, I immediately became a semi-regular. Making an appearance around every other week to grab a squealer or pull a seat up to the bar for a pint or two (most often the Soulshine New England IPA). A very relaxed environment with plenty of beers on tap, snack options, food trucks on certain dates and usually a live band playing. I loved speaking to co-owner Robin Fabry as she worked behind the bar as well as her partner and head brewer Maureen Fabry. Very outgoing and passionate about what they were doing. Even when COVID hit and limitations of brewery visits were in place, they did a great job of selling beer to-go in a safe environment with a very cheerful attitude.

What has always been great about CraftRoots Brewing Company is that they are truly a local brewery. Using local craft malt and a majority of hops are grown on a family farm out in western MA. The grain that they use are from craft maltsters in Maine and Vermont.

In May of 2023 Robin and Maureen sold their brewery to local area businessmen Michael Laird, Matthew Kelly and Hugh Leahy. Maureen stayed on as head brewer and continues to create their offerings.

With any change in ownership comes…well…change. A new twist from the transaction was that the new proprietors decided to make CraftRoots Brewing Company a Non-Profit operation. Thus, through their charity “Craft Roots for Good“, any leftover profits at end of year will go to different local charitable organizations.

Recently, there were some subtle renovations to the taproom interior. A merchandise area was created with adjoining beer hall style table. Also a private function area was built just as you walk in. (This was still under construction as of this posting.)

One change I was disappointed in (and this is a personal preference) was the lack of attention from the staff. Robin, busy or not, would chat with every single person seated at the bar and made sure their glass was never empty. The past couple recent times I have come in I found the personal experience to be lacking in comparison. From not asking if I wanted another pint when my glass was empty, to one of the co-owners completely dismissing me as he handed out samples to friends of his and I asked “which beer is that?”, I felt the customer appreciation aspect has been taken down a bit.

Another aspect I was a bit dismayed with was the “same old, same old” beer list. I had hopes that with change in ownership there would be more variety. From comparing menus from the past few months it appears that is not the case and that the menu continues to be rather stationary. Hopefully there are plans to expand variety and that will change soon.

For take home options, beer is available to-go in 32 oz. glass bottle squealers. However, what is new is that there are now cans-to-go options!

A great thing I noticed, both advertised inside the taproom and on CraftRoots Brewing Company social media, is that the schedule of food trucks as well as band performances has increased! Definitely great to have more variety of tasty food and live music!

CraftRoots Brewing Company may not feel as friendly as it once was to me but I do encourage those either local or in the area on brewery tours to give the 2.0 version a try.