SKOWHEGAN, Maine — The owner of a popular brewing company in southern Maine will expand with two new restaurants — one of them will be in Skowhegan, his hometown.
Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co., established in 2017 in Yarmouth, serves craft beer, pizza, salads, protein bowls and more, depending on the location. Brad Moll owns the Yarmouth Brewpub, plus restaurants focused on craft pizza and beer in Freeport, Portland, Ogunquit and Yarmouth.
A new location will open at 123 Madison Ave. in Skowhegan, hopefully by the end of the year, Moll said. The company also will open a restaurant on Flagstaff Lake in Eustis around the same time.
Introducing Brickyard Hollow to Skowhegan is an example of a business choosing to grow operations in central Maine, just as Bangor-area Harvest Moon Deli is doing in nearby Waterville. The company also is investing in the community as organizations like Main Street Skowhegan work to revitalize downtown and build the state’s first whitewater park.
“I grew up in Skowhegan, and there are a lot of great things going on in the community right now,” Moll said. “It felt like an opportunity for our company to give back and to be involved in the rejuvenation of Skowhegan and the downtown.”
When Moll opened the brewpub in Yarmouth, he didn’t have plans to oversee multiple locations, but as the business saw success in recent years, he recognized it was a good time to grow, he said.
“We’ll have 12 tap lines of our craft beer [in Skowhegan],” Moll said.
Brickyard Hollow restaurants offer a unique menu. For example, they serve a pizza with smoked pulled pork, gouda, macaroni and cheese and jalapeno cornbread. Another popular and Maine-themed option includes blueberries, ricotta, roasted shallot and lemon zest.
Whit’s End Grill & Bar has operated at the location on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan since June 2011, according to the family-style restaurant’s website. Last week, owners announced on Facebook that the business was entering its final days of serving patrons.
New owner Sam Hight, who runs Hight Ford in Skowhegan and Hight Chevrolet in Farmington, is leasing the space to Brickyard Hollow. He bought the restaurant with plans to renovate and transform it into a new eatery attractive to visitors, he said in August.
It would be walking distance to the $8.6 million proposed Skowhegan River Park, which is meant to redevelop the town’s industrial downtown Kennebec River corridor into an outdoor recreation area.
Moll has plans to transform the facade of the building dramatically, he said. The company will also make changes to the interior, focusing mostly on painting, floors, finishes and decorations to match branding at the other locations.
About 30 positions, including kitchen and waiting staff, will have to be filled at the new location. The company has hired a few people already and will likely advertise in mid-November, Moll said.
“We’re hoping to bring a brewery with good food and good beer to Skowhegan,” he said. “Really, it’s about bringing a restaurant to town where people want to come together with family and friends. That is our mission.”
