Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 34 DECEMBER 2019 CONTACT wanderingsoulbeer.com E AT + D R I N K E AT + D R I N K which he never strictly intended for produc- ing commercial batches of beer, Smith had limited options. "Obviously during that time I wasn't ready to take a huge risk and open up a million-dollar brewery," he points out. "Talk about the worst time to do anything." After striking out on contract brewing deals with other outlets, he reached out to Adam Romanow, Castle Island's founder and presi- dent, and told him the story of Melody; of his hoppy pale ale, Melody Maker ; and of the time he put into tweaking Melody Maker again and again to make it perfect. This all played out while Smith and Abby were in the hospital in January of this year welcoming their second daughter, Willow, into the world after a stress- ful eight-month high-risk pregnancy. Romanow said yes, and in February, Smith and the Castle Island team brewed the first batch of the recipe he'd put so much of himself into. "Coming here and brewing that beer was so moving," Smith says. "It was an emotional experience. I never thought that I would get those licenses. I never thought that I would start this whole thing dedicated to my first daughter, and I never thought that this would be born out of a story that, if you look at the story, it's a sad story." But everything happens for a reason, even terrible things we'd rather not have happen at all. Smith originally assumed that the Wander- ing Soul project would occupy just a couple months or so of his time. Now seven months have elapsed, and he's still making beer out of Castle Island, he's still putting his beer in liquor stores, and that beer is still selling out. The journey Smith has taken with Wander- ing Soul continues to defy his expectations. Life, as he puts it, can "take very unex- pected turns, and sometimes those unex- pected turns lead you to a place that you never expected to be." That Smith is making and distributing top-notch beer brewed in preservation of his daughter's memory is a case in point. As for the beer itself, it's spectacular. Mel- ody Maker presents a glowing, peachy hue as inviting to the eye as the beer's tropical notes are to the nose—more peach to start, but also mango and papaya, imparted by Smith's Mosaic, Motueka, and Citra hop profile. If the mention of mango piques your interest, pivot to his Belgian witbier, Young Mouse, dedicated to his nephew, Oscar (aka Young Mouse). Os- car loves mangos, so Smith added 500 pounds of mango to this beer. Like with Melody Maker, there's a story behind Young Mouse: Oscar has a rare genetic mutation (SC2NA) that causes epilepsy and vision impairment. "He can see," Smith explains, "but when he sees colors, he lights up." The can label, in fact, is one of Oscar's finger paintings—bright, vivid, and ab- solutely gorgeous. The key word here is, again, inviting. One glance at a four-pack provides persuasion enough to take some home. As for all breweries, great beer is key to Wandering Soul's identity, but creating space for people to open up about personal grief, and encouraging them to give themselves permis- sion to grieve, is its mission statement. "It's sort of a call to action," says Smith. "Let's start talking about this stuff. People go through these things that are taboo. God forbid you make someone upset. God forbid you tell a sad story and make someone sad." Wandering Soul wants to change that, both by telling personal stories with beer (Smith's double IPA, Things We Don't Say, is a direct nod to Wandering Soul's concept) and by donating part of its profits to charity. "For Melody Maker, I donate some of the profits to RESOLVE New England," Smith notes. "They help people with pregnan- cy loss and fertility." That's quite the slate of accomplishments for this Beverly brewer. But Smith doesn't nec- essarily think of himself as a Beverly brewer. "This whole thing started in Beverly, and my story is deeply rooted in Beverly because that's where I was at the time," he admits. But his story could have happened anywhere, so if he ever builds his own taproom, he'll look outside of Beverly's borders. There are plenty of towns on the North Shore that lack breweries; which one he ends up locating to, if he so chooses, will depend on wherever his soul wanders. Matt his wife, Abby, and their daughter Willow.