Twisted Fate Brewing's Erica Tritta Sees 'Great Path Forward' For MA Beer Industry

DANVERS, MA — The craft beer landscape across Massachusetts has shifted significantly within the past couple of years as several breweries have closed or merged, while others continue to open and expand.

One other significant evolution in the industry was exemplified during the recent Board of Directors elections at the Mass Brewers Guild where the three new members of the Board were all women looking to help steer the craft beer coalition's future across the state.

"I do think there has been an increase in women ownership across breweries," Erica Tritta, co-owner of Twisted Fate Brewing Co. in Danvers and one of the new Mass Brewers Guild board members, told Patch. "That's not to say that women weren't owning and running brewers across Massachusetts before. But the percentage of owners and women on the brewing side has increased. With that, it has increased our representation in the industry.

"Women are feeling more comfortable moving into other roles and being more of the face of the beer industry."

Tritta, who brings 15 years of legal expertise to the Board, said the recent Mass Brewers Guild election not only included all women winners, but that all the candidates were also those who identified as women.

Liz L'Etoile, co-owner of the Brewery at Four Star Farms, and Sarah Real, head brewer and owner of Hot Plate Brewing Co., were also elected to the Mass Brewers Guild Board of Directors ahead of the Guild's biggest publicity campaign of the year with Mass Beer Week set to run from March 1 through March 8.

As brew pubs and taprooms continue to fight for their share of increasingly tight hospitality and entertainment consumer spending, Mass Beer Week annually includes a series of special events, tours, music, tastings and other efforts to encourage craft beer enthusiasts to check out — or return to — their local breweries.

This year's Mass Beer Week includes sales of a commemorative glass and T-shirt with art design from Marlborough graphic artist Meredith Price. A full list of Mass Beer Week participating breweries and events can be found here.

"We want to connect with people where people want to hang out and where people want to spend their dollars," Tritta said.

Tritta said her role on the Board of Directors will include working with the state legislature on bills that allow craft breweries to survive and thrive in Massachusetts. One such recent achievement was a law change that now allows farmer breweries to sell their beer at farmer's markets — previously they could only do tastings and had to direct patrons back to the brewery if they wanted to purchase beer.

Another ongoing objective Tritta hopes to influence is a law change that would allow brew pubs to self-distribute their beer the same way farmer brewery license businesses now can.

"We do feel like there is still a great path forward for beer in Massachusetts," she said. "We've just become a more mature market than 15 years ago. The goal of the guild is for the breweries to work together.

"A rising tide raises all ships. That works in the industry as well and is what we hope to do at the legislative level."

Tritta said she is also excited about Twisted Fate's third anniversary in Danvers in April and its plans for expansion to a second location in Revere at the site of the former Suffolk Downs "hopefully by this summer."

"Danvers is still going strong," she said. "We continue to brew beer there and Danvers will remain when we open our second location in Revere."

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