June 19, 2017

Meet Cayla Marvil and AC Jones of Lamplighter Brewing Co. in Cambridge

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cayla Marvil and AC Jones.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Cayla, AC. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We’re a microbrewery and taproom nestled right between Central and Inman Squares in Cambridge, MA.

We originally developed the idea for the brewery in 2013 – we were recent implants from Vermont to Cambridge, and thought it was crazy that a city of 100,000+ people didn’t have more breweries (especially compared to the 4 breweries in our tiny town of 5,000 people back in VT). We were big time home brewers and beer lovers, so, after a few beers one evening, we decided it was time that we take matters into our own hands. What originally started out as a joke became quite serious quite quickly, and before we knew it we had written a business plan, shipped ourselves off to brewing school in Chicago, and began the hunt for real estate around our fair city.

It was a bit of haul to find the perfect location, but by March 2015, we had secured our building at 284 Broadway and finished raising capital. With the help of the neighborhood, we battled our way through the zoning and licensing throughout the remainder of the spring and summer, and broke ground on renovations in November 2016. After the longest year of our lives (demolition, rebuilding, underground oil tanks, a crash course in plumbing, more electrical than we ever care to think about, standing massive stainless vessels upright, etc. etc.), we opened our doors to the public for growler fills on September 30th, 2016. The taproom followed shortly thereafter, and by mid-November, we were fully up and rolling.

We’ve been serving beer for just over half a year at this point, and we are beyond flattered by the reception and kindness of the local community and neighborhood. We’re pushing our equipment to its max capacity, and hope to add more fermentation space throughout the upcoming months. We’re opening a taproom expansion in the back of the building in early fall in order to better accommodate the crowds in the taprooms, and we are always expanding our reach with distribution to restaurants, bars, and liquor stores in the general vicinity. It’s been a hell of a ride, and we’re so happy to finally be serving the goods to customers near and far.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. We’ve been incredible fortunate with a variety of aspects (finding a suitable location, securing funding early on, partnering with an amazing head brewer, etc.), but there have absolutely been struggles along the way.

Most are almost comical to look back on now (i.e. finding a 3000 gallon oil tank underneath the floor in our current taproom space right when we were getting ready to start construction), but there were plenty of moments when we questioned whether the project would ever be completed, or whether we had made the right decisions. There are still plenty of obstacles each day, but we’ve learned to smile and laugh at a majority of them because hell, we’re brewing, drinking, and serving beer, and that’s been the dream from the start.

Please tell us about Lamplighter Brewing Co.
We are a microbrewery and taproom. We want to brew beer that matches the innovation and tradition of the marvelous city of Cambridge where we call home, and we also want to create a taproom that’s welcoming, friendly, and accessible. All in all, we’re excited to brew some unique and delicious beer, and foster a space where you can hang out, learn about the brewing process, and taste our goods.

We specialize in a variety of “funky beers” – beers that are sour, beers that have ingredients that you may not expect (i.e. sweet potato, coffee, chamomile, buckwheat), and beers that are fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria. We also have a variety of traditional styles, but we’re always trying to push the envelope and develop tastes, aromas, and mouthfeels that are particularly unique, delicious, and memorable.

We’re most proud of our taproom. This is an environment where we can explain our process and discuss our beers with patrons, and also a space where people can meet, learn, and play. We are home to Longfellow’s Cambridge, a coffee shop that serves amazing espresso, teas, pastries, donuts, and sammies in the morning and early afternoon, and we host a variety of food pop-ups and special events almost every afternoon and evening. We’re thrilled to watch people playing board games, participating in trivia, catching up with old friends, going on first dates, and everything in between each and every day – this is a community gathering spot complete with beer and coffee, and that’s everything we could have hoped for.

I think this community and cafe vibe sets us apart from most other breweries. We feel like a coffee shop in the morning, a neighborhood bar at night, and something in between during midday. Our 20bbl system and distribution operation is fairly unique for the middle of a city – most breweries our size are located in industrial parks or less accessible areas.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We would have made our taproom three times as large. And taken more vacations during the construction process when we were able to get away.

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