Honoring Worcester's Bravest: Community of Brewers Collaborates for a Cause

Photos by Michael Piazza

On the January day Wormtown Brewery released “Worcester’s Bravest,” a beer brewed in honor of Lt. Jason Menard, its taproom seemed to bulge from the sheer number of people who poured in to raise a pint for the fallen firefighter.

The line outside formed more than an hour before the beer’s noon release. Fifteen minutes before the doors opened, it snaked from the brewery’s entrance to the sidewalk along Shrewsbury Street. The Worcester Fire Brigade Pipes & Drums band played bagpipes from the patio, as people in the taproom searched for standing room or squeezed through the crowd to find the queue for the bar. From the taps, in a near endless stream, flowed the bright straw-colored Belgian witbier that Menard’s friends, family and co-workers helped brew in his name.

Even as everyone wanted to try Worcester’s Bravest, which Wormtown, Wachusett Brewing Company and Greater Good Imperial Brew Co. brewed to raise money for Menard’s family (combined, they would raise over $60,000 for the Menard Children’s Fund), they did not come for the white beer itself, but rather for what it represents: a tremendous outpouring of support from the city for one of its best, a firefighter who gave his life to save others. The release day at Wormtown was the first of three; each brewery hosted its own Worcester’s Bravest release day this winter.

“This is a fitting tribute to Jay, not because they brewed a beer, but because they came together [when] they saw there was a need,” Worcester Firefighters Local 1009 President Michael Papagni said from behind the bar. “They saw there was a way to help. And it didn't matter whether or not they knew Jay; they were just like him. Because day after day … he did whatever he needed to do to help others, to be there for others, and without any question in his mind, he would sacrifice himself no matter what.”

Papagni raised the first glass, calling out, “A hero among heroes—to Jay Menard.”

Menard, who was a firefighter in the city since 2010, had been assigned to Ladder 5, Group 2, at the McKeon Road Fire Station. Around 12:58am, on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, dispatch reported a fire at a multi-family home at 7 Stockholm St. Initial reports were frantic, describing flames on the triple-decker’s second floor and a baby possibly trapped on the third floor. Menard and his crew arrived to find heavy black smoke billowing from the home. When they reached the third floor, the spreading flames quickly overwhelmed them, trapping them inside. A fourth alarm sounded, and the firefighters amassing outside received a mayday call from the third floor. Powerful winds on the frigid cold morning made it hard for the firefighters outside to reach the firefighters on the third floor.

Meanwhile, Menard was already working to free his team members: He assisted one to a stairwell, then helped another, Firefighter Chris Pace, escape by pushing him out a window, saving his life. (Pace, who suffered burns and broken bones, was hospitalized for two weeks). Menard, though, could not get out. The 39-year-old was the city’s ninth line-of-duty death. He left behind his wife, Tina, and three children. They had been planning to leave for a trip to Disney World that day. As reports of the fire rippled through the city that Wednesday, Wormtown Managing Partner David Fields was among the first people at the brewery to hear about Menard’s death. He would later break the news to Wachusett President Christian McMahan. The need to brew another Worcester’s Bravest was obvious. And they did not need to discuss the logistics too deeply. They just knew they had to do it.

“I didn’t have to call our team, and say, ‘Can we do this, what would it look like? What would it be like?’” Fields says. “I didn’t have to call Wachusett and say, ‘Will you guys partner again with us this year?’ because I knew the answers already. I know the type of people who work in the beer industry, while not putting our lives on the line every day, do put the community in front of everything we do every day, and it’s just so cool to be a part of this, especially as a Worcester guy.” Still for both breweries, it did feel altogether too soon to have to brew Worcester’s Bravest again. Not even a year had passed since Wormtown and Wachusett last collaborated on the witbier, following the death of Firefighter Christopher Roy. Over and over amid that release, which raised close to $50,000 for Roy’s family, they wished that that batch would be their last.

“We were emotional about it,” McMahan says. “We knew this is what we have to do, but we never wanted to brew it again. But you put everything else aside and go to work on doing the right thing.”

The very first batch of Worcester’s Bravest, brewed sometime after Wormtown opened a decade ago, did not follow a tragedy, but it was made as a tribute to firefighters. Part of the brewery’s original core lineup, the beer helped raise money for Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Fire Protection Engineering laboratories, where the university works on new science and equipment to keep firefighters safe. Those early sales of Worcester’s Bravest went to funding advancements in fire safety, including the piloting of a device that warns firefighters of an impending flashover—the moment in which combustible materials in a room simultaneously erupt in flames. Wormtown brewed Worcester’s Bravest regularly from 2010 to 2015, then stopped to focus on its popular American IPA, “Be Hoppy.”

Four years later, in the wake of Firefighter Roy’s death, Wormtown’s brewers pulled out the Worcester’s Bravest recipe again, partnering with Wachusett and pledging all proceeds from the beer to the Ava Roy Fund, named for Roy’s 9-year-old daughter, Ava. Not even 12 months later came Menard’s death, and the brewers found themselves collaborating again, this time bringing in Greater Good. For both brews, Wormtown and Wachusett invited people closest to Roy and Menard into the brewhouse to make the beer. The breweries hoped the brewing would be a cathartic experience for friends and families and a way for them to honor the lost firefighters.

“When we do have to fire up the kettle and bring in a group of people who’re grieving, I’m proud to do it,” says Wormtown Brewmaster Ben Roesch. “It’s about the families and the people that go out there every day and risk their lives. I’m not going out there doing it, so this is our small way to thank them, and everybody at our company is super proud to do it. It’s an unfortunate honor.”

Wormtown’s brew day for Menard took place in early December. The group of brewers-for-a-day numbered about a dozen, including friends, family and fellow firefighters. They stayed hydrated with pints of Be Hoppy, toiling most of the day. Among them was Mike Giangrande, one of Menard’s closest friends, who started the brewing process by dumping heavy sacks of malt into the large steel mash tun; inside, the steaming hot mixture of water and grains would create the beer’s sugary foundation. As he worked, Giangrande recounted how he would regularly join Menard in Wormtown’s taproom for pints. “This was Jay’s favorite place,” he says. Giangrande would return to Wormtown a month later to can Worcester’s Bravest.

On the beer’s release day, Giangrande is in the taproom well before the doors open. He says the beer tastes great but admits he’s slightly biased. “It’s crazy,” he says of the turnout. “I can’t believe the line is all the way down the street. The more people who come in, the better for the cause. There are a lot of emotions involved. We’re happy, because all of the proceeds are going to the family. But it’s a little sad, too, because of who it’s for.”

In the crowd, too, is Jon Sturgis, one of Menard’s cousins. About 11 months earlier, Sturgis attended the release party at Wachusett’s Westminster Brew Yard for the Worcester’s Bravest batch brewed for his friend Christopher Roy. Now, he is at Wormtown, sipping the beer he helped brew for Menard. “It’s all about the community coming together and getting behind one of their own,” he says.

The taproom just gets busier and busier. And with all the people coming and going from the bar, full glasses of Worcester’s Bravest in hand, it seems at any moment the kegs could kick. There’s no chance of that happening, but it wouldn’t matter if it did. This day is not about the beer. “The beer is the thing that brings us together, but the community is what provides the support,” says Michael Papagni, the firefighters’ union president. “The community is what rallies around the family, and it raises money that supports the family. But it’s also sometimes just the amount of emotional support and knowing that these people are there for you, that’s really the bigger thing that transcends everything.” As of the date of this publication, beer was still available incans at Wachusett and on tap at Greater Good and at both Wachusett’s Westminster and Worcester locations.

Donations to the Menard family can be made online at PFFMFoundation. org or by mailing donations to Worcester Fire Department Credit Union, 34 Glennie St., Worcester, MA, 01605. Checks should be made payable to PFFM Foundation, c/o Menard Children’s Fund.

greatergoodimperials.com
wachusettbrewingcompany.com
wormtownbrewery.com

This story appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of Edible Worcester and was written before the outbreak of Covid-19 in the US.