On the evening of Feb. 2, Untold Brewing announced on Instagram that its Plymouth taproom in North Plymouth on the edge of Cordage Park would open at 2 p.m. the next day in a “get to know us” mode. By 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 3, about 75 people were already lined up outside and the place filled soon after the doors opened. The next day’s official open attracted an equally impressive turnout.
So much for any notion that Plymouth was oversaturated with beer breweries.
Undoubtably, Untold’s arrival here was highly anticipated. Its path to success had a familiar starting point: someone’s obsession with home brewing. In this case, it was founder Matt Elder.
After a stint as a health care consultant, he began his commercial brewing career at the Georgetown Brewing Company in Seattle in 2014. He brought his experience and favored recipe styles back to his hometown in Scituate when he opened Untold in 2017. (The name comes from a line Maya Angelou’s book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”)
Co-owner Mike Dyer had a long career with National Geographic before getting into the brewing business in 2017. He was previously affiliated with Tampa Bay Brewing in Florida and then became director of marketing at Trillium in Canton in 2019. In 2021 he joined Untold, focusing on marketing and development.
Untold Brewing’s original location in Scituate is a restored 1852 one-room schoolhouse. It houses the company’s 15-barrel (465-gallon) production brewery, along with a taproom. In 2022 was it followed by the opening of a taproom and restaurant at Derby Street Shops in Hingham. But in an Instagram post on Wednesday morning, Untold dropped a beer bombshell of an announcement: The Derby Street taproom will close on Feb. 29, after just 18 months in the building.
“While we hoped to extend our lease, fortune was simply not on our side,” the company wrote in the post.” Dyer declined to provide more information.
The impending closure, while bad news for Untold fans in the Hingham area, likely means more business for the new Plymouth location.
Untold’s beers include East by Northwest, a West Coast IPA that pays homage to the style of beer Elder was brewing in Washington. Its other flagship offerings include Sunny Sea, a Hazy IPA, Pale 143, an American Pale Ale and Seatown, a lager. To date, it has released 190 different beers, including my personal favorite, Kashmir, a West Coast IPA. Its latest addition is New England Ski Trip, a Hazy IPA.
The large, comfortable Plymouth facility features 12 taps, seating for 65, and a single barrel brewing system for experiments with new beer recipes. Untold Plymouth also features an overhead glass garage door which will be opened during more temperate weather. And there is plenty of room for swag and refrigerated cans of beer to go.
Each month, Untold plans to host up to four events, including live music and educational exhibits.
While there isn’t a kitchen on site, it encourages patrons to bring their own food, or order some from one of our local restaurants. Links for ordering from Jefe’s, Bark BBQ, or Rose & Vicki’s are provided onsite and they will deliver to Untold.
The taproom is open every day, from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and from noon to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Brewer Mark Cuddy runs the single-barrel system in Plymouth, and the first experimental batch here will be a Belgian blonde. It should be available shortly after March 6.
Here’s what on tap now in Plymouth:
- Pale 143 (American Pale Ale, 5.3% ABV)
- Seatown (Lager 4.2%)
- Solid Wall of Sound (Hazy IPA, 6.7%)
- New England Ski Trip (Hazy IPA, 6.7%)
- Layers on Layers (Hazy IPA, 7.0%)
- East By Northwest (Hazy IPA, 6.8%)
- Time Shall Unfold (Hazy IPA, 6.6%)
- Rebecca (Brown Ale, 5.6%)
- High Fashion (English Mild, 4.2%)
- Devil’s Debt (Imperial Stout, 11.8%)
I’ve noted previously that brewers in Plymouth and across the South Shore maintain a strong sense of community. For example, they have jointly created an Instagram page called South Shore Brew. But Dyer says their relationships go beyond participation in a social media site. He points to the soft opening of Untold in Plymouth as an example of the affinity regional brewers have for the local industry. The owners or representatives of Trillium Brewing (Canton), Widowmaker Brewing (Braintree), Forty Second Brew (Kingston), Vitamin Sea (soon to be in Plymouth), and, of course, our own Mayflower, Llama Nama, Second Wind, Indie Ferm, and Sour Not Sorry have all visited their new friend/competitor.
In Plymouth, the beer scene has reached critical mass. For beer drinkers, that means more options than ever. So where to start? To quote Tom Robbins, “You can’t really pick a great beer in a brewery without going in, so dive on in, and good luck.”
Paul Boyd, a Plymouth resident, is a professor and faculty director of the MBA program at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. His research has focused on growth and success in the craft beer industry. To better understand the world of beer, Paul samples an occasional IPA – or two – around town and will share what he finds in upcoming Beer Town columns.