HADLEY — Joe Eckerle wants people to come to his place to talk, to use Wi-Fi and to sample the myriad local beers and wines he will serve in the town’s first taproom.
Eckerle, who lives in South Hadley, will open The Taproom in the recently completed 1 Mill Commons building on Aug. 26.
He is spending the last few weeks before the grand opening working on the cosmetics and waiting for the electric and plumbing work to be completed.
This is his first such establishment, but he helped his wife Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle launch Brew Practioners in the Florence section of Northampton.
The Taproom will serve beer made at her brewery along with brews from Iron Duke Brewing in Ludlow, Hitchcock Brewing in South Deerfield and Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton, among the dozen locally crafted beers that will be on tap.
He will also sell locally produced wine such as from Black Birch Vineyard in North Hatfield and from the Florence-based Mineral Hills Winery. Eventually, he plans to sell distilled spirits. He has an all alcohol license.
No food will be sold, but people can bring in their own or order it delivered, he said. And he hopes to have a direct line to a local eatery so people can call and order directly.
He started thinking about opening a place about 18 months ago, and loved the location here.
“I have a passion for beer. I love beer,” he said.
He said the location is great because of the high volume of traffic that passes by daily. “Hadley is great to work with,” he said, adding that the town is business friendly.
“There’s plenty of parking,” he said of the site at 1 Milley Valley Road, at the corner of Russell Street (Route 9).
The taproom has seating for 60 and offers the bar, booths and tables, and will also have outdoor seating.
He thinks of the place not like a bar but “like a coffee shop with different flavors of beer.”
He wants people to be able to sample a variety of beer and wine and hang out. He envisions it as “a very social place, a nice place.” The taproom will likely have some acoustic music, nothing loud, he said.
Eckerle doesn’t see many college-aged students coming – beer will cost $6 or $7, he said, and he will close at 11 each night.