SOUTH DEERFIELD — Element Brewing & Distilling’s proposed expansion to the former home of the Giving Circle Thrift Shop recently received a special permit from the Deerfield Zoning Board of Appeals that will help its plans advance.
Co-owners Dan Kramer and Ben Anhalt said they signed the lease on the 1,800-square-foot property on July 15 after considering expanding their business a few years ago. They had eyed locations in Amherst, Florence, Hadley and Hatfield, as well as the former Cumberland Farms at 2 Sugarloaf St. in South Deerfield that was recently purchased by J2K Realty LLC.
“Nothing was a good fit,” said Kramer, 60, of Amherst.
But when they learned in June that the Giving Circle Thrift Shop at 3 Sugarloaf St. would be closing its doors, they called the current owners, J2K Realty, and toured the spot.
Anhalt said the collaboration with J2K Realty co-owners Justin Killeen and Jason Kicza came easily, with Anhalt and Kicza’s paths already crossing in town.
“[Deerfield]’s kind of like ‘Cheers’ where everybody knows your name,” Anhalt, who lives in Deerfield, said. He added that J2K Realty was seeking a business that would continue to bolster what’s available in the village. “We saw that we were like-minded in business and both looking for community.”
Kramer and Anhalt said South Deerfield’s seat between the “city centers” of Northampton, Amherst and Greenfield, and the towns of Conway, Whately and Sunderland, convinced them to take the leap to this second location.
Referring to their Millers Falls location at 16 Bridge St., Kramer said, “A drawback we have with this location is it’s a little bit off the beaten path.”
Kramer said expanding the business’ reach to the southern portion of Franklin County will help sustain the brewery in the face of downturn for the industry. According to the Brewers Association, craft brewer volume sales declined by 4% in 2024. This decline cut small and independent brewers’ share of the U.S. beer market by 13.3%.
“The industry is definitely under a lot of pressure right now,” Kramer said.
From his view, Kramer believes the legalization of recreational marijuana and overconsumption of alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the drop.
As a distillery that also brews beer, Kramer said he believes Element Brewing & Distilling earns more profit than competitors that sell products from distributors, providing a financial cushion to support them through the expansion.
While converting the former thrift store into a taproom, the two plan to renovate the bathroom to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, build a vinyl sign, take down interior walls to make room for the kitchen, build a bar and walk-in cooler, and pull up the carpet to install new flooring and tile.
But Kramer and Anhalt said they plan to preserve a few pieces of the building’s past lives. They hope to reclaim the wood from the walls in two small rooms in the back of the building, previously used for safety deposit boxes when the building housed a bank, to use for the bar. Plus, customers will open the vault door to choose from liquor for sale.
The pair will continue brewing and distilling their products at the Millers Falls location while serving a selection of beer and cocktails at the new location. The pair also hopes to begin distilling cider to sell in Deerfield, a potential new option on their drinks menu.
They also hope to launch a menu of burgers, snacks and flatbreads in South Deerfield. With five employees in Millers Falls, Kramer and Anhalt said they plan to hire three to five more depending on the traffic at 3 Sugarloaf St.
Although the ZBA approved the special permit, Kramer and Anhalt have a list of approvals still ahead. They are waiting for approval on a farmer winery license from the state to produce cider and a food service establishment application from Deerfield’s Board of Health to serve food. Kramer and Anhalt must also wait for the Selectboard to approve their application for a pouring permit. If approved on the local level, the town will then send the pouring permit to the state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission — the green light for finally pouring beer.
When the renovations and buildout are complete, a representative of the Fire Department and town’s building inspector will also need to inspect the new location for a certificate of occupancy. According to Kramer, the ABCC’s pouring permit marks the finish line for pouring beer, and the certificate of occupancy marks the finish line for the buildout. Once both are approved, the business can open its doors.
If the approvals fall into place, they hope to open around Thanksgiving.
Career brewers, friends
Kramer and Anhalt first became friends in 2000 while working at Maplewood Farms Restaurant & Brewery in Amherst. Both business partners are “career brewers,” as Kramer described. Kramer graduated from the Siebel Institute of Technology’s brewing school in Chicago and Anhalt from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which offers a Fermentation Sciences Program.
After working at other breweries, the two started talking about selling beers of their own.
“It’s not an uncommon thing for two brewers to start talking about opening a brewery,” Kramer said. “If you get two brewers in a room, that’s kind of what happens.”
Kramer said they discussed the question, “Why did we become brewers?” They settled on, “the fusion of art and science, so two rabbit holes you could go down that are endlessly interesting.” Kramer said creativity, chemistry and biology collide when they craft new recipes.
Seven years later, Kramer said they stopped daydreaming and turned their idea into a business plan, opening Element Brewing & Distilling in 2009.
In 2022, the pair started a “Thankful Thursdays” program. At the end of Thursday night, Element donates 20% of the bar’s profits to the cause. The program has previously provided financial support for a neighbor following a house fire and to libraries in nearby towns.
Kramer said he and Anhalt plan to bring this program to South Deerfield.
“I hope that program will really grow and flourish,” Kramer said. “We want to be a part of the community.”
Kramer and Anhalt also plan to emulate the live music that is offered in Millers Falls in the new location, bringing their folk, singer-songwriter and Irish music performers to South Deerfield’s stage.
This bullet point on their plan, however, stirred discussion at the Aug. 21 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.
Abutter Ken Schoen of Schoen Books expressed concern over the potential noise next door.
“Since I live in that store and I sleep in that store, this is really important to me,” Schoen told the ZBA.
Kramer responded by adding that, as the owner of a property on Graves Street, he has a “vested interest in not disturbing the neighborhood.” He stated that Element Brewing & Distilling’s music will be acoustic inside the taproom as the property “is not an appropriate space for loud music.”
Anhalt’s wife, Shawn Durrett, added that as longtime residents of Deerfield, she and her husband are “very rooted in this community and have been for many years,” noting their plans for the “Thankful Thursdays” program.
Anhalt and Kramer said they intend to mirror their current Millers Falls hours of 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays, with the exception of special occasions like their anniversary event, for which they extended business hours until 1 a.m.
Kramer noted, “None of us are really interested in doing that on a regular basis, I’m too old for that. [Anhalt and I] both believe nothing good happens late at night.”
In addition to noise, Schoen and ZBA member Mark Brennan also expressed concern over adding another establishment that sells beer in town.
“I’ve heard the word tossed around sometimes that Deerfield is turning into ‘Beerfield,'” Brennan told the board.
In response to ZBA Chair David Potter’s suggestion to include a special permit condition limiting business hours, Anhalt said, “I’d like to be flexible, but I’d also like the flexibility to run my business the way I want to.”
During deliberations, board member David Sharp resisted limiting the business’ hours.
“This is not a music venue [and] there is no plan to turn it into an amplified music venue,” Sharp said. “I’m just worried about treating similar businesses differently and I think that gets us into shaky ground.”
Brennan proposed conditions capping the outdoor seating hours to 9 p.m., prohibiting outdoor amplified music and requiring the doors be closed when musicians perform inside.
Brennan said Tree House Brewing Co.’s noise complaints partly led to his concerns.
“We only get one bite of the apple. What the applicant intends to do right now versus what they intend to do in two years can be very different,” Brennan told the board.
In response, board member Tia Christiansen said, “I don’t see what’s happening here as anywhere near the ballpark of what Tree House is doing. Tree House is a completely different situation; they have an outdoor stage that’s highly amplified.” She added, “It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.”
Brennan dropped the three proposed conditions after remembering the existence of a bylaw that requires a business to seek a special permit for noise if it plans to incorporate outdoor music. The ZBA approved the special permit without the three proposed additions.