Lord Hobo Plans Humongous Restaurant and Taproom in Boston’s Seaport District

A stalwart of Massachusetts craft beer has large-scale expansion plans in its sights. Lord Hobo Brewing Company will reportedly expand its Woburn taproom nearly threefold while also working on finalizing plans for a massive taproom and restaurant in Boston’s Seaport District — and potential expansion to New York City, too. (See October 21 update below for more news on the Seaport front.)

Lord Hobo recently cut eight jobs across the company, but it has new hiring in the queue, including a potential 100 hires in conjunction with its growth plans in the Seaport District. The huge space — address not yet announced — will reportedly accommodate around 800 in the summer, with about half of that on a sprawling patio.

The company has had its eyes on the Seaport for a while now. Back in March 2017, founder Daniel Lanigan told the Globe that he was close to signing a Seaport lease for a brewery and brewpub. When Lord Hobo does arrive in the Seaport, it will join a couple other breweries in the neighborhood, including the ever-expanding Trillium (which opened its sizable, multi-level Thomson Place space in late 2018) and Northern Avenue mainstay Harpoon.

That’s not the only plan that Lord Hobo has in the works, though: An expansion at the existing Woburn facility, which opened in 2015, will see taproom space go from accommodating 180 seats to 500. The company is also close to signing a letter of intent for taproom space in New York City, per Brewbound.

Amid physical expansion plans, Lord Hobo is growing in other ways as well. The company is on track for an annual sale of 50,000 barrels in 2019, Lanigan told Brewbound, and it’s gaining visibility at some of Boston’s biggest attractions: Its beer is a top seller at Fenway Park, and it became the “official beer” of Everett’s Encore Boston Harbor casino when it opened last month.

Stay tuned for updates regarding Lord Hobo’s expansion plans, and in the meantime, visit the Woburn brewery or the original Lord Hobo bar in Cambridge, which predates its sibling brewing company — it has been located at 92 Hampshire St. for the past decade, serving up craft beer and comfort food.

Update, October 21, 2019: Lord Hobo is moving forward with its Seaport plan and has announced more details, including an address: the Two Drydock office building (at, surprise, 2 Dry Dock Ave., Boston, near Harpoon), where it will occupy the entirety of the building’s available retail space, building a brewery and restaurant that spans 9,000 square feet. Lanigan described it to Boston.com as Lord Hobo’s “version of the Taj Mahal of breweries in the Seaport.”

There will also be a 10,000-square-foot patio and a “coffee concept.” The brewery-and-coffee-shop combo has been building in the Boston area for a few years now, with examples including Winter Hill Brewing in Somerville, Lamplighter Brewing in Cambridge, and most recently, Night Shift’s new Lovejoy Wharf location.

Construction at Two Drydock could be completed early next year. Meanwhile, the Woburn taproom expansion is also proceeding, with the doubling of indoor space and the addition of a patio.

• Lord Hobo Cuts 8 Jobs, Plans to Add Hundreds More With New Taprooms [Brewbound]
• Lord Hobo Brewing Coverage on Eater [EBOS]
• Lord Hobo to Open ‘the Taj Mahal of Breweries in the Seaport [Boston.com]