Labyrinth Brewing Co. serves creative craft beers in CT

Blaine Callahan

Labyrinth Brewing Company is located at 148 Forest St in Manchester.

Blaine Callahan

Turbo Love Juice is Labyrinth's flagship beer: a hazy New England IPA.

Adam Delaura's fascination for brewing brought him and Sean Gaura to open Labyrinth Brewing Company in August of 2018.

Blaine Callahan

As about Labyrinth's mug club membership!

Blaine Callahan

You can find Labyrinth Brewing Company's tap list at https://labyrinthbrewingcompany.com/beer/

Blaine Callahan

Labyrinth has flights available to try out a spread of different brews.

Blaine Callahan

La Llorona Mexican Lager is a classic, crisp, beer-flavored beer.

Blaine Callahan

Adam Delaura grew up in Manchester and founded Labyrinth Brewing Company with Sean Gaura.

Blaine Callahan

You can snag a four pack or two on your way out of Labyrinth to take home with you.

Blaine Callahan

Labyrinth Brewing Company merch.

Blaine Callahan

Soak up some sunshine on Labyrinth's outdoor deck.

Craft beer has changed dramatically in the last decade.

Just ask Adam Delaura of Labyrinth Brewing Co.

“There are plenty of breweries that you can go to today that have opened in the last five or eight years or so,” he said.

Labyrinth opened their doors in August 2018, well into the craft beer movement where new breweries were popping up across thousands of towns in the United States. Delaura was a home brewer along with co-owner Sean Gaura and the decision to strike out on their own came one night at their brew club.

“It was the right time in life to make that transition from a 9-to-5 job to being self-employed,” said Delaura. “We were fortunate enough to be in a position where we can take this risk and try to start this business.”

Many home brewers like Delaura and Gaura took a chance with opening up a brewery.

Adam Delaura’s fascination for brewing brought him and Sean Gaura to open Labyrinth Brewing Company in August of 2018.

While it might not be hard to imagine a dozen different craft breweries all within driving distance or package stores packed with a medley of eye-catching cans, that was not the case 30 years ago. According to Vine Pair, about only 250 breweries existed across the United States in 1990. By 2016, that number had jumped to 7,190. Today, there are over 9,700, according to ProBrewer.

“When I started drinking beer, there weren’t a ton of craft breweries like there are now,” said Delaura. “The first time you have something that’s a little bit different or outside of the box, for me, it was a ‘woah, beer can be more varied and can have different flavor profiles’ moment.”

He looked for new styles to try and analyzed different profiles of new brews. In time, he got into home brewing.

“When I started homebrewing, a lot of the equipment available, you sort of had to DIY it. You’re literally going to the hardware store and assembling the equipment you’ll need to make beer. Beer was always on the forefront.”

Coupled with a burgeoning Internet and a movement to support local business, the early 2010s was the perfect setting for craft beer to explode in popularity. It is how he would come to meet Gaura and, in time, open up Labyrinth Brewing Co. The switch from home brewing to a full-scale craft brewery, however, is not that simple.

While the building Delaura and Gaura moved into posed its own set of challenges, they could not pass up on the location.

“The building that we’re in is in the historic district,” said Delaura. “Our building is from the 1880s. We still have the original wood floor in there. The original ceiling and walls. It has a heck of a lot of really awesome charm and character.”

Manchester’s bustling Main Street is a short walk away, as is a revamped apartment complex built from the town’s old Cheney Silk Mills. More importantly, both Delaura and Gaura have history in town. It was important for them to set up shop in their local community.

Even if, starting off, it was a wee bit bumpy.

Delaura puts it best: “Every system works a bit differently. Essentially, we’re trying to make the same beers that taste the same multiple times. If you have this batch of Turbo Love Juice, it should taste the same as the last batch and will taste the same as the next batch.”

Delaura compared it to cooking for your family compared to cooking at a restaurant. Sometimes dinner will come out a bit different at home, but it is usually par for the course. At a restaurant, you have to serve the same meal every day, for every customer.

But a change in where you source your water or upsizing of a recipe can drastically affect the end result of a beer. Consistency is key.

“When you’re trying to package something and put it in a liquor store or you want it to taste the same whether you get it at my bar, the next bar down the street, or at a bar across town, it’s a little more complicated and requires a lot more attention to detail.”

Five years of brewing later, it is safe to say they have got it down pat.

Labyrinth Brewing Co. has built up a staggering portfolio of mainstay brews while delving into new ideas through the years, all of which is supported by their community. One that many have come to love id the mix of Dungeons and Dragons and Heavy Metal references found on their labels and merch.

“We’re metal heads; those heavy metal kids in high school,” said Delaura. “Personally, I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. We’re into mythology. We try to lean into a little bit of that for beer names and even the imagery and artwork on the cans.”

Take Turbo Love Juice, their flagship New England IPA. The name is in reference to a song by Judas Priest. The imagery on the can pays a bit of homage to the album the song is from.

“We have a Helles Lager called Helles Awaits, which is a play on a Slayer album title,” said Delaura. “The artwork on the can is kind of inspired by that.

“We’ll do stuff that’s mythologically inspired. We have a Scottish Ale called Wail of the Banshee, banshees being Scottish mythological creatures. There’s a wailing woman on the front of that can.”

Like with many craft breweries, the self-expression and character of Labyrinth comes through well. The atmosphere blends the nostalgia of classic “nerd” culture with the rustic interior of their brewhouse. Staff is friendly and personable. Board games are at the ready for friends looking for a pint or two. Live, local music plays on Friday nights. There is even a monthly motorcycle night; both Delaura and Gaura have bikes, themselves.

Most importantly, there is a style of beer for everybody.

“Every year we do a bourbon-barrel aged imperial stout that we call Freezing Moon,” said Delaura. “It’s a little different each year. It’s your pretty typical double digit imperial stout.

“We have a sour called Sour Batch. It is like a roundhouse kick to your tastebuds if you like sours. It’s a clean sour, so it doesn’t have that funky farmhouse character.”

Customers can check out Baby Love Juice if they are looking for a scaled down version of Turbo Love Juice, or Lite Brite for some classic beer-tasting beer. With Oktoberfest on the horizon, expect a Marzen and Festbier to make an appearance as well.

All right in the heart of Manchester.

As Delaura puts it, “Once we walked [in], we thought ‘Man this is gonna be a heck of a lot of work and quite a challenge to turn this into something that can be legally, safely occupied by human beings. It’ll be totally worth it.'”

Labyrinth Brewing Company is located at 148 Forest St in Manchester.

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