Rich Flynn of Moriches Field Brewing Company launched the grand opening of its new aviation-themed taproom in Center Moriches on Oct. 15.
A homebrewer for more than 15 years, Flynn founded his brewery after a successful career in the finance industry that included overseeing operations in the United Kingdom for insurance giant AIG.
“I couldn’t find the beers I liked in Europe, especially a good English bitter, so I decided to brew them,” he says.
After joining the Long Island Beer & Malt Enthusiasts homebrew club, he began to think of starting a new career, worked as an assistant brewer for Brian Baker of Bellport Brewing, and began searching for a location to start his own brewery.
In 2017, he purchased a 5,000-square-foot building that was built decades ago from a military surplus Quonset hut. Flynn embraced the building’s resemblance to an airplane hangar and decorated the taproom with aviation artifacts. He spent three years developing plans, going through the permitting process, and installing a six-barrel brewing system and taproom with 20 taps.
Moriches Field is licensed as a New York State farm brewery and buys most of its malts from Hudson Valley Malts in Germantown.
“Hudson Valley malts its grains using the old-fashioned method of floor malting, which produces the freshest malts with incredible flavor,” says Flynn.
The split brewing system enables Flynn and his assistant brewer Jonathan Hillman to brew three-barrel batches and Moriches Field plans to have up to eight beers on tap regularly. For the grand opening, on tap was Summer Winds, a crisp light cream ale, Flynn’s Irish Red, a deliciously robust amber ale, and Long Island Pale Road, a hoppy American pale ale. Seasonal beers will include an American porter, Festive Trickster, a German-style Festbier and Pitch and Yaw, an oatmeal stout.
The taproom will be open Thursday through Sunday and Flynn plans to have food trucks on the weekends. Flights with small servings of three beers are available along with crowlers for takeout. Future plans call for canning beers for takeout and local distribution.
“I wanted to build a small brewery that serves the local people, like I saw in Europe,” says Flynn, “so I look forward to our brewery becoming a mainstay of this community.”
Moriches Field Brewing Company is located at 1 Wilcox Ave. in Center Moriches. For more info visit morichesfieldbrewing.com.
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
For more food and drink coverage, visit longislandpress.com/category/food-drink
