Odd Logic Brewing Company Opens Taproom In Bristol

Tim Shaw and John Merrick were busy Sunday afternoon pouring coffee stouts and shaking hands with their new customers.

The co-owners of Odd Logic Brewing Company were celebrating a successful opening weekend for their tap house location in the 500 block of Route 13 in Bristol Borough.

The tap house officially opened on Black Friday, where Shaw said over 300 people walked through the door to buy cream ales and IPAs for the first time.

“We knew in the last couple of years we created this buzz and we knew that there was going to be a good-sized crowd for the opening,” said Shaw, of Croydon.

But it wasn’t always smooth sailing leading up to the grand opening, Shaw said.

What started as bond over the love of quality beer in 2015, Shaw began to pitch brewing ideas and Merrick would then create the different beers at his home.

“Once we gave them out to friends and family, people suggested we should start an actual business. But that was kind of just a pipe dream,” Shaw said.

But the friends began to create a brand, logo, business plan and then they started sampling their beers at local beer festivals and tastings. Next they purchased a property on Radcliffe Street near Mill Street in Bristol, where a person who was interested in working with the co-owners suddenly disappeared, Shaw said.

“The person left us with the aftermath, but we were so in love with the area and the space that we knew there was no turning back. No matter what happened, we were going to execute,” Shaw said.

Plans shifted and the co-owners looked at the possibility of contract brewing with a Philadelphia company. But when Shaw and Merrick crunched the numbers, they realized that it would be easier to purchase a smaller location and do all of the brewing on their own.

“The long story is that the tap house was the interim until the brew pub is finished [on Radcliffe Street.],” Shaw said.

“We’re from the area. It was just a place when we saw it the first time, it looked perfect for what we were trying to do, so we wanted to have the tap house close by to our other property,” Merrick said.

Shaw said that so many people would love their beer at the festivals, and word of mouth spread along with more social media followers. Now, the co-owners said that they’re happy they finally have a home base and place where they can finally sell the product to their fans.

The Route 13 location is roughly 2,000 square feet. When the Radcliffe property opens, it will be 11,000 square feet.

Still, despite hiccups in the business plan, crowds spent the weekend watching sports on the tap house’s TVs, playing old school Nintendo games on the second floor and sampling local food trucks outside in the parking lot.

They’ve come a long way, Shaw said, and there are no plans on slowing down.

“Still it’s just one step at a time. We’ve got a lot to focus on. Even now, people are interested in the Radcliffe property and we tell them it will come. We don’t know exactly when, but it will come. They always say to crawl before you walk, walk before you run and run before you sprint. So it’s just focusing on one thing at a time and then we create the future as it happens,” Shaw said.

The Route 13 location has 12 beers on tap, they also serve Pennsylvania wine and spirits and cold brew.