TRUBEER

By REBECCA EVERETT
Special to The Republican
EASTHAMPTON – At 36, city resident Sam Braudis thinks he has finally found his calling. After working in retail printing for 18 years, Braudis quit his job to open an American craft beer store on Northampton Street.
“It’s not a liquor store,” he said. “I’m hoping it will be a real specialty store, a destination.”
The store, called Trubeer, offers 426 different craft beers from 21 states. “It’s basically every American craft beer that can be shipped to Massachusetts,” Braudis said.
The craft beer aficionado chose a rented space at 28 Northampton St., which was previously housed Wing Travel Agency, as the location for the store of his dreams.
“I knew I wanted to do something different, and this seemed like a natural decision,” he said of opening the store. “I’ve been in retail for a while and I love craft beers – the quality, the variety, the labels, everything.” His favorite at the moment is a Belgian style farmhouse ale called Sofie, brewed by Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery.
Braudis decided that his store would carry American craft breweries. “Mostly it’s because it’s just not necessary to carry imports. U.S. craft brewers are so diverse, they produce all varieties,” he said. “And every month there are more breweries opening. It’s an amazing array.”
While most local liquor stores may carry some craft beers, Braudis said the selection is often limited, and doesn’t change much.
The process of getting the necessary permits and licenses and renovating the space took about 10 months, Braudis said.
Since Braudis was unable to get a loan from any local bank, the store was financed by six investors.
“Banks didn’t really seem to get the idea of the store,” he said. “So we just pared down the budget, and my friends and I did a lot of the work ourselves, including painting, flooring and installing the shelving.”
He designed the store differently than most liquor stores, hoping to help customers find and explore their favorite styles of beer. The bottles are organized by style, not by the brewery. “I always wanted to go to a store like this,” he said, gesturing to the shelves marked IPAs, stouts, pale ales, red ales and many more.

To encourage shoppers to try new brews, Braudis has custom-made Trubeer six-pack boxes. The beers are priced per bottle, so customers can build their own six-pack, he said.
“People have really been enjoying that,” he said.
Braudis said he has plans to expand the store’s offering soon, including more glassware and a few racks of wines from around New England and New York.
The store hosts a beer tasting at least once a week with local brewers or distribution representatives. For a list of tasting events, visit www.tru
beer.com

Trubeer is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday

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