NOVEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 59
MAIN DISH
MORICHES FIELD BREWING COMPANY
NEW BREWS TAKE FLIGHT
BY BERNIE KILKELLY
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-squarefoot
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
The newbeermaker’s headquarters
looks like an airplane hanger.
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.
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