Jay Gray knows how his brewery looks. He’s talking about doing a beer collab with a local strip club while standing in front of a mural that a friend told him “looks like the ‘90s threw up on your wall.”
Odd By Worcester Brewing is loud in its personality and explosive in its visual impact. From its beer labels to its trademark artwork, the new upstart in the city’s craft beer scene is riddled with nerdy references and nostalgic nods that inevitably catch the eye on the internet.
But Gray and his team want to make it clear. They’re not doing this as some marketing scheme. It’s just who they are. They’re weird.
And that might be the best part about the brewery.
Odd By Nature, Worcester By Choice
Odd By Worcester is a ‘90s-themed brewery that opened up in mid-February inside downtown Worcester’s Midtown Mall, which is undergoing a revitalization, but has a long way to go before it’s a trendy date night spot.
The taproom is hard to miss. It’s the one whose signboard is a play on the old Blockbuster logo. Once you step in, your eyes are immediately drawn to the spectacular and intricate ‘90s-themed mural produced by local artist Ferdinand Nazario. The floor-to-ceiling explosion of color is a love letter to the ‘90s, featuring nods to Nickelodeon, Kurt Cobain, and video games. It even has a chunky old portable phone.
It doesn’t take long to notice the retro video game consoles at each table — with choices including Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and Playstation. That’s all on top of another set of unique art designs on each table — done by Nazario in Sharpie.
Then there are the beers, which are varied, creative and unabashedly eclectic. The “Sorry I Need Space” stout is brewed with Oreo and astronaut ice cream. The new Woo Juice beer is “a Danimals-inspired strawberry banana yogurt smoothie sour.”
But it’s not all ‘90s references and candy thrown in the beer. Odd By Worcester is working to build strong ties to the city.
Gray, who lived in Worcester for a decade, is keen on embracing the weird parts of the city. His goal is an unusual one.
“I want to make grimy Worcester beer,” Gray says.
How does one go about that? It starts with a flagship light lager called “Parking Tickets,” which has a label of a heavily ticketed car in front of Polar Park.
It continues with the brewery working with local businesses, including Woo Juice, a juice and smoothie spot also in the Midtown Mall. Woo Juice provides fresh-pressed juice for the brewery’s budding mocktail program. It’s also the basis of a beer featuring it name.
A “strawberry banana yogurt” might sound bizarre. But in reality, it’s astonishingly smooth, sweet and drinkable. At 6% ABV, it’s almost dangerous in how delicious, creamy and light it feels.
It’s a wild idea that comes from a sincere place and has the execution to show it’s not just a gimmick — which more or less sums up the whole experience of Odd By Worcester.
“It’s supposed to be funny. But there’s also heart”
So, about that strip club beer.
Gray is working with the owner of Hurricane Betty’s, a longtime “adult entertainment club” on Southbridge Street. He plans to make a beer called “Sweaty Betty’s,” which is a play on a common nickname for the club.
He knows it sounds ridiculous and that it will get a response from people in the city.
But Gray is genuinely excited about the actual beer. “Sweaty Betty’s” is based on a Blue Hawaiian cocktail, featuring fresh pineapple, fresh orange and blue raspberry.
“It’s just so cool in flavor and the color. But there’s also heart in it. The owner, we talked about it and his grandmother’s favorite drink was a Blue Hawaiian,” Gray says. “Yes, it’s collab with a strip club. It’s supposed to be funny. But there’s also heart, and that’s what I want in that.”
That sentiment carries over to the cartoon and video game references plastered over every surface of the brewery. Heck, even the bathroom keys are mock-ups of old NES cartridges.
But each nod and reference comes from a place of sincerity. Gray highlighted an image from “Super Mario Bros.” in the mural. It’s tied to one of his fondest memories, when his mother took him out of school early one day and surprised him with an N64 and a copy of “Super Mario 64.”
“When I look at that, that’s not a marketing tool to get people in the door,” Gray says. “That’s not any other reason than it reminds me of my mom.”
How to open a brewery in a mall
Odd By Worceter’s small, 40-seat taproom doesn’t have a kitchen. But it does have a unique beer list, a lively atmosphere and free-to-play retro consoles at the tables. It’s that energy that’s been key in finding an audience, with the brewery drawing 3,000 customers in its first month.
“It’s not the size of the brewery, it’s what you do with it,” general manager Justin Suarez says. “We’d rather serve 40 people the right way, than 100 people the wrong way.”
Odd By Worcester is a spinoff of Gray’s York, Maine-based brewery, Odd By Nature. The taproom in Maine is temporarily closed while Gray focuses on getting the Worcester taproom up and running. Once that happens, Suarez will take the reigns at the new spot.
Suarez worked at Medusa Brewing Company in Hudson before teaming up with Gray. He’d taken notice of Odd By Nature’s video game references on its labels and started following them. Now, he’s all-in on the company’s creative approach.
“Just a little out there enough where you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is weird. But this is a cool, good weird,’” Suarez says. “I guarantee you Maine’s never seen anything like the beer that we’ve been making.”
For the Worcester taproom, that creativity has translated into a beer list that isn’t limited to a bundle of IPAs or heavy stouts. There’s a light beer that will appease Bud Light fans. One of their flagship beers is a crisp kolsch.
If you don’t drink, they have creative mocktails like “Carrot Cake in a Cup,” “Smurfs in Hawaii” and “Ube Coffee Cake.”
The team has been listening to customer feedback and plan to add cocktails to their lineup, along with “beer slushies.”
The endgame is to create an environment where everyone is welcome, not just craft beer nerds. They don’t want customers trying to conform to their tastes. They want everyone to stay weird.
“The Odd by Nature name – the whole name comes from, like, be yourself,” Suarez says. “We don’t care who you are, what you want to be, as long as you’re respectful and you’re a decent human being. Be your weird self, and if you don’t think you’re weird, you’re lying to yourself.”
More stuff you should know about Odd By Worcester Brewering
Check them out: Website | Facebook | Instagram
What’s the address? – 22 Front St, Worcester, MA, 01608
What’s the parking situation? – There is street parking outside the Midtown Mall, as well as multiple parking garages nearby.
Do they serve food? – No. But customers can bring in their own food.
Is there outdoor seating? – No
When are they open? Here are the listed business hours at the time of writing:
Monday: Noon – 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: Noon – 10:00 p.m.
Friday: Noon – 10:00 p.m.
Saturday: Noon – 10:00 p.m.
Sunday: Noon – 10:00 p.m.
