Dorchester Brewing Co. and Somerville-based Aeronaut Brewing Company have crafted a plan to align their expertise under one parent entity to be called Tasty Liquid Alliance. 

While the brands will function independently and continue to produce their own beer, they will also provide contract services for a combined total of 20 regional and national brands. By marshalling their shared resources under one umbrella, the breweries say they hope to strengthen their positions in the highly competitive craft beer industry.

“There’s a lot of shared synergies,” said Matt Malloy, co-founder and CEO of Dorchester Brewing Co., and an Ashmont resident. “We said, ‘Hey, the market is consolidating a little bit. We’ve all known each other for years, we trust each other, we both make great beer, and we share the same passion for making high-quality liquid. Why don’t we create an alliance and go from there?’”

He added: “Somerville and Dorchester share a lot of similar characteristics. We celebrate nonprofits, we donate money, and we try to be good citizens. At the same time, we also celebrate diversity, whether it be Black, White, straight, or gay, name it.” 

Dorchester Brewing and Aeronaut co-founders Ronn Friedlander and Daniel Rassi expect to close in the latter half of this year. “There’s a lot of knowledge sharing for how we run our taproom and production so I think that can be really helpful,” said Friedlander. “Overall, it’s going to bring costs down for everyone. So that will allow us to be more competitive by price point.”

Once the merge is complete, Aeronaut’s Everett production site is expected to cease operations. The Somerville location, however, will continue to produce small batches of beer for its brand. With the consolidation of Aeronaut’s locations, the majority of production will be completed at Dorchester Brewing Co.’s facility on Mass. Ave. 

The partnership will result in some layoffs, Malloy said, while noting that the combined workforce will still be robust— roughly 90 employees.
“I would say that the only really sad thing is that you have to let some people go,” Malloy said. “The reality is, we need to do this to continue to survive and thrive. It’s better to employ 90 than none.”

Overall, Malloy and Friedlander believe their alliance will have a positive impact on both communities.

“We see a lot of similarities between our different taprooms and the communities we serve,” said Friedlander, who lives in Wakefield. “I know from how they run things at Dorchester [that] there are a lot of community activities and meet-ups and things similar to what we do in Somerville. I think it’s great to have another community that we can engage in that has, a lot of diversity, a lot of interesting cultural elements, artists, musicians, things like that.”

“More resources mean more ability to give back,” said Malloy. “More social gatherings here, more celebration of diversity, more donations, more staff engagement as it relates to going out and doing even more stuff within the community. For us, it’s about community engagement. It’s about outreach events. It’s about speaking. We’re going to be able to have more resources and bigger teams to do this, both here and at Aeronaut.”