About Night Shift Brewing

Night Shift Brewing was founded in 2011 by Robert Burns, Michael O’Mara and Michael Oxton. The three of us share a very awkwardly built Somerville apartment by Davis Square, about ten driving minutes from our brewery in Everett. In the first few weeks of March 2012, we are finally joining the movement of local breweries and businesses taking root all over Greater Boston. Check our home page for more details about upcoming launch events!

The NSB Story

Night Shift Brewing is not simply a brewery, or a business, or three friends who decided to start a company. It is all of those things, but more importantly, it is an ongoing story.  It started with a group of friends – sometimes numbering eight or nine – who shared a deep interest in the world of craft beer. We began brewing with a 5-gallon pot, a Gatorade cooler, a basic homebrew kit, and no idea what we were doing. As Mark Twain once wrote, “All you need is ignorance and confidence, and success is sure.” The confidence came later.

While refining our brewing skills, we also organized weekly beer tastings in an attempt to sample every style, brand, and region possible. As time progressed and palates developed, our appreciation for beers, both our own and on the market, began to shift. We realized that while the making of a truly great beer is by no means common or easy, it is possible. Craft breweries like Dogfish Head, Stone, Sierra Nevada, and The Bruery were consistently producing great beer. Somewhat more surprising was the realization that our beer, too, often turned out rich, flavorful and, sometimes, truly great (insert gratuitous back-patting).

As importantly, however, was our growing opinion that a beer’s greatness was often very closely linked to its uniqueness and memorability. The market seemed flooded with a collection of very similar beers in very typical beer styles.  When something unique AND great came along, we took notice, and we remembered it. 

In our test kitchen, we applied these lessons learned. Because no one judged our beers but us, we experimented like mad scientists with unorthodox brewing ingredients, weird recipes and funky yeasts, attempting to create nearly every beer style imaginable. Years of testing and tweaking led to some especially horrible stuff, but also to some memorable, innovative, truly great beers. When everyone started demanding more Night Shift beer, we realized: brewing had become much more than a nighttime hobby.

It is only a few more weeks until we officially begin our Night Shift Brewing. The beers that we offer to the Greater Boston community are the very best of all those years of fine-tuning – wholly unique brews with complex, interesting flavors. While we wait for production to begin, we’re more than happy to talk or meet up with anyone interested in hearing more, so get in touch and become a part of our ongoing story.

info@nightshiftbrewing.com