Soon-to-open Runaway Blue Brewing in Newark taps into community

Brewery, the shared vision of high school sweethearts, will be second to open in Wayne County

Note: This newsletter is supported by Donnelly’s Public House, a wonderful canal-side establishment in the village of Fairport.

Mix together a rambunctious Australian cattle dog mix and a pair of high school sweethearts and you arrive at the region’s newest brewery.

Brian and Maria Bremer, both Newark natives, met in high school, went to college together, and are now putting down roots in their Wayne County hometown through Runaway Blue Brewing Company, named after their soon-to-be 2-year-old blue heeler mix named Coley.

The Bremers hope the brewery at 102 S. Main St. will open in late August or September. Renovations are underway and they’re currently waiting on licensing. When completed, the 800-square-foot space will provide the community with a new spot to gather.

“We’ve been thinking about doing our own thing for a while now,” Brian said.

And there was never any doubt the brewery would be in Newark. Runaway Blue will be the second brewery in Wayne County after DisBatch Brewing opened last year in Macedon. (And there are credible rumblings of at least two more breweries coming to Wayne County soon.)

Photo: Maria and Brian Bremer hold their dog Coley inside their soon-to-open brewery on South Main Street in the village of Newark, Wayne County.

A journey taken together

Brian and Maria, both 27 and both Newark High School graduates, met in high school and attended Niagara University. Brain earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management and gained some excellent experience working in breweries and wineries. Maria finished her degree in event planning.

He then caught on at Canandaigua’s Young Lion Brewing in 2017 and worked his way up to assistant brewer. During his five-plus years at Young Lion, Bremer has been instrumental in beer production and also responsible for some of the taproom-only pilot batch beers. (One of Brian’s creations is the delectable Honey Bear IPA, an IPA brewed with wildflower IPA. Because it was such a hit, it was later scaled up and released for wider distribution.)

This type of experience should serve him well as Runaway Blue will utilize a 2-barrel brewhouse system (or roughly 62 gallons of beer per batch), making the brewery one of the smallest in the Rochester and Finger Lakes region.

“Phil (Platz, Young Lion’s head brewer), Jen (Newman Lion CEO and co-founder), and the whole Young Lion crew have been really supportive,” Brian said. “I learned a lot about brewing from Phil. They’ve been really helpful.”

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Brian said Platz, who has also been with Young Lion since the beginning and previously brewed at MillerCoors (now Molson Coors) and Trim Tab Brewing in Alabama, opened Brian’s eyes to new styles and techniques, some of which he hopes to recreate at Runaway Blue.

“Phil helped me appreciate sours,” Brian said. “It’s not a style I had much experience with. Him coming from a brewery down south, before it started up here, that was a style that really took off down there.”

The Bremers said their skills are exceedingly complementary and will dovetail together nicely as they each bring different strengths to the table.

“Our skills match up perfectly,” Brian said. “She can run the front-of-the-house side of the business and I can take care of the back of the house.”

A rambunctious dog

The brewery is named after Coley, the couple’s eager and excited blue heeler mix. 

“She loves to run because of the type of dog she is,” Maria said. “So we came up with the name Runaway Blue.”

The Bremers envision the brewery will be very dog-friendly.  

I look at it this way: A good brewery name is really hard to find. Like band names, it seems like all the best ones are taken. But the Bremers found an identity that reflects them and should connect with the public.

“We just think Newark is a nice, good-sized area that’s up-and-coming,” Brian said. “They just re-did the Main Street to look really nice and we’ll be right on Main Street. We’ve always just really loved it here.”

Because the brewing system is so small, Brian envisions being able to take more chances. He said the brewery will feature hazy New England-style IPAs and other pastry (or dessert) styles like sours and stouts.

“I hope we can do some really cool experimental stuff,” Brian said. “Stuff it wouldn’t make sense to do on such a large scale.”

While the brewery might push out some trendier styles, the ultimate goal is to produce enough variety to satisfy everyone. The brewery is centrally located near multiple restaurants and other businesses the Bremers hope will benefit from the presence of a brewery.

“We’re so excited and nervous until we actually get up and moving,” Brian joked.

“It’s going to be cool, because we both have our areas of expertise,” Maria added.

Title sponsor: Donnelly’s Public House

This work is made possible through support from Donnelly’s Public House, 1 Water St. in Fairport. So make sure to get out to Fairport and support one of the best establishments in our area.

I remain open to sponsorships, sponsored content, and advertisements, especially if it’ll keep the newsletter free for readers. And if you have information about upcoming releases, events, or happenings, don’t hesitate to reach out. For more information, feel free to drop me a line at clevelandprost@gmail.com.

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