Grist: Manhattan Brewing Company

Founded by Richard Wrigley, a 38-year-old Englishman, and Brooklyn businessman Robert D’Addona, the Manhattan Brewing Company pioneered the brewpub concept in New York City. Wrigley had several years of beer-making experience in England and a bachelor of science degree in brewing from the Herlott–Watt University in Edinburgh, one of two United Kingdom institutions granting degrees in the trade.

The brewery is housed in an old (circa 1929) Consolidated Edison power substation. The five-story structure had 25,000 square feet of space for three “brew houses” that turned out over 12,000 barrels of brew a week. Actually, only one of the three brew houses was functional. The other two were featured in the “taproom,” the large space where customers could order three regular featured brews (Manhattan Golden Light Ale, Manhattan Royal Amber, and Manhattan Porter) and a changing list of specialty beers. When the Manhattan Brewing Company opened in 1984, it was the first operating brewpub—a brewery that also serves food and drink—east of the Mississippi since prohibition. The Thompson Street Brewery (the pilot brewery of the Manhattan Brewing Company) began operation at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 8 November 1984 in the former Consolidated Edison substation on the corner of Thompson Street and Broome/Watts in SoHo.