The Well: The Williamsburg Beer Hall Was Worth The Wait
Two years ago, Josh Richholt and Shay Vishawadia purchased the 25,000-square-foot corner of the old Hittleman Goldenrod Brewery on the advice of a friend who’d attended an illegal party there. The two were initially thinking only of a music venue and a beer hall, to be named the Wick & the Well. That grew to include an on-site food truck run by Urban Rustic and Lodge, plenty of space for live music, an art gallery called The Exit Wound, and a massive backyard fit for dumpster pools in the summer and curling in the winter. See? We told you it was ambitious.
The key to making a multipurpose space like this work, Richholt says, is its flexibility. And that flexibility is apparent even when it comes to the beer on offer. “I know a lot of [beer halls] are more focused on being a Belgian beer garden or being a German one,” Richholt says. “That’s not really what I’m interested in doing.” What he’s interested in doing is making the new spot into a Brooklyn institution. “In 10 years, everyone will know that if you go to New York, you play at the Well or you play at the Wick. Everybody knows that’s just part of New York. That’d be ideal.”
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