Beverly's Falconer Taps Into Its Brewery Roots With Name Shift

BEVERLY, MA — RiverWalk Brewing owner Steve Sanderson opened The Falconer Pub in Beverly late in 2022 with the idea of bringing the traditional English pub experience to the North Shore with the added bonus of offering the Newburyport brewery's popular line of craft beers, wines and ciders.

While the Cabot Street location has been a success, he said he noticed that something was getting a bit lost in transition when it came to the name based on the Lynch Park statue and that old country pub feel.

"The inspiration for The Falconer came from the places in London that I love," Sanderson told Patch in a phone interview from London on Tuesday. "I love the pub culture there and the place that the pub holds in the community.

"But the pub name, unfortunately, has a different connotation here in the United States. The more we talked about it the more we realized that what we wanted to do is the next evolution of the taproom in America that has less of that industrial feel and has more of that community feel."

So this week the location was rebranded The Falconer Taproom & Kitchen to help accentuate both the Beverly neighborhood feel and that it does offer beers, wines and ciders special to RiverWalk.

"The Tap Room name expresses better to people walking through the door what to expect," he said. "They won't be coming in here expecting cocktails and mixed drinks. It's bringing the beer a little more to the forefront."

Sanderson said the change was made after gaining feedback from both casual customers and the dedicated crew of regulars that the location and staff have cultivated over the past 18 months.

"Anytime you are trying something new you are taking a chance," he said, adding that RiverWalk may have initially gone "a little too far" in trying to differentiate the Beverly spot from its anchor brewery.

He said the taproom should have a niche that complements well the array of other breweries in Beverly and the North Shore.

"I have great respect for everyone in the brewing community," he said. "A lot of them personally I have worked with in the past. I think the key is that you all offer something that is a little bit different and that we are not doing the same thing as Gentile or Old Planters is doing.

"We definitely have a little bit of a different feel here."

He said the hope is to appeal to nearby residents as well as visitors to the nearby Cabot Theater for shows. In an effort to keep a connection to those pub influences, The Falconer Taproom & Kitchen will also be opening early to show the U.S. Women's Cup matches live from Australia when they generally line up with operating hours despite the time difference.

"In essence, with The Falconer we are not changing that much," he said."We are just trying with the name to do a better job of letting people know what we do and why it's a unique and fun place for them to come visit us."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)