Riverhead’s new microbrewery getting ready to roll out the suds — in a unique way

As construction winds down at the West Main Street site of the Crooked Ladder Brewing Company, the men behind Riverhead’s newest microbrewery are already working on an innovative way to send out the suds.

In the past month, the partners acquired a surplus Jamesport fire truck they plan to modify into a rolling kegerator that could transport as many as 16 kegs to private events and parties, once the boys get brewing in three weeks.

“The truck had been sold to a fire company down south, but the deal fell through,” partner David Wirth said of the vehicle’s acquisition. “[Jamesport Fire Chief and fellow Crooked Ladder partner Duffy Griffiths] made an offer to the committee on my behalf. He recused himself while they made a counter offer and we accepted.”

If all continues as planned, Wirth said the bladder tank on the back of the truck will be modified to carry kegs and tap handles installed in three driver’s side compartments.

“The thousand-gallon pump truck will have the top taken off,” Wirth said. “We’re going to fiber-glass and insulate it with a lift-up lid and put a keg system in there, possibly 16 of them.”

Crooked Ladder brewmaster Griffiths, has brewed in Florida and Colorado, and most recently at John Harvard’s Brewery & Ale in Lake Grove between 1997 and 2000.

“I’m very excited,” Griffiths said of his imminent chance to create new Riverhead brews, all of which will be taste-tested at next door’s Digger O’ Dells before literally rolled out to the public.

“We want to be able to use next door as our laboratory,” said partner Steve Wirth, who owns Digger’s, the popular local Irish pub adjoining Crooked Ladder Brewing Company. “No matter what we brew, if we put it on tap there people are going to buy it and then we can get feedback on how to improve it. The customer base is beyond excited about it.”

Wirth said the brewery’s name was inspired by a 1920s photograph of a ladder’s distorted shadow at an archaeological dig site in Cairo, Egypt. The name, Wirth said, is partly a commentary on human perspective.

Wirth will make Digger’s the brewery’s first official customer by stocking Crooked Ladder’s finished products as well, adding he is confident other area restaurants and stores will begin carrying Crooked Ladder brews.

“We hope to get another 30 customers and hopefully become even bigger and better than that,” Wirth said. “But even if we expand, this boutique will always be what it is. People will always be able to come here to do tastings and buy growlers.”

Construction has begun on a storage facility located nearby, but a lease has not yet been signed, he said.

In the meantime, the Wirth brothers and Griffiths are wrapping up construction at the East Main Street brewing facility, which has a finished front facade, brewing tanks and equipment installed, and, by the end of the week will have its intricately designed black marble bar top in place.

“This is the culmination of three years of ideas and it’s all about to happen,” said David Wirth, who said he and his brother have long wanted to go into business together.
“We just need to open now.”

The Crooked Ladder Brewing Company is set to open mid-June and brewing will begin three weeks prior to opening its doors.

Photo captions, from top: 1. Exterior of the new brewery this week. RiverheadLOCAL photo by Peter Blasl. 2. The surplus truck the brewery plans to convert. 3. Crooked Ladder partners, from left,  David Wirth, Duffy Griffiths and Steven Wirth. RiverheadLOCAL photos by Gianna Volpe.

 Editor’s note:  Duffy Griffiths’ surname was incorrectly spelled in a previously published version of this story.

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