Downeast Cider Could Start Renovating New Space Soon

Downeast Cider House is on the move. The Charlestown-based cidery has secured construction documents for its planned expansion to the Boston Harbor Shipyard, according to co-owner Matt Brockman.

The documents could be finalized later this month or early in December, at which point the permitting process will begin. Brockman said he hoped the new facility would be under construction in January.

"If all goes well, we'd be opening up in June, give or take a month," he said.

The new 16,000-square-foot space in East Boston will be similar to the Charlestown production facility, but on a much larger scale.

"We'll be able to double immediately when we move in there," Brockman said. This leaves Downeast plenty of room to grow — both in production volume and in the product itself. It has a handful of year-round ciders, plus a seasonal lineup that changes every few months, and Brockman said they had some ideas in the works for future projects.

Through all this, Downeast has plans to keep the Charlestown facility going for events, tours, and — once the new facility is up and running — for some small-batch production.

"One of the possibilities is that we would expand our barrel-aging program in Charlestown," he said.

Brockman said they hoped to experiment with barrel aging on a larger scale than they have been able to up to this point.

The cidery has made a number of moves in its brief history, first from Waterville, Maine to Leominster, then to Charlestown and now to Eastie. As Downeast grows, it will add members to its sales and production teams. Brockman said he hoped this would be their last move for a while.