A long-vacant auto body shop tucked beside Sacco's Bowl Haven in Davis Square is about to become something the neighborhood has never had within walking distance: its own brewery. Curiosity Brewing plans to open at 49 Day Street in late spring 2027, serving coffee and snacks by day and hazy New England IPAs by night, according to Boston.com.
The site sits directly adjacent to Sacco's Bowl Haven and American Flatbread at 45 Day Street, placing the new brewery squarely inside one of Davis Square's most established dining and entertainment corners, according to WhatNow. The building itself has quite a history: it operated as an automotive repair shop before being converted into a 5,882-square-foot office space in 2014, and the same outlet reports it had sat vacant for a number of years before Curiosity signed on, per Boston.com. Founder Nick DeFae plans to split the footprint roughly in half between production brewing and front-of-house service.
From Homebrewing Awards to a Ten-Barrel System
DeFae, a data scientist who has lived in Somerville since 2011, is an award-winning homebrew enthusiast and a longtime advocate for New England-style IPAs, per Boston.com. He has said there is no brewery within walking distance of Davis Square, and he's pointed to Trillium and Tree House Brewing as inspirations for the venture. DeFae also believes new hop products and an improved understanding of hop biochemistry may help renew interest in the hazy style he champions. “New hop products and an improved understanding of the biochemistry of the hops may help turn the tide,” he said, per Boston.com.
Leading production will be Bryan Daly, a certified brewmaster who trained in classical beer styles at VLB Berlin, a beer research and education institute in Berlin, Germany. Daly previously served as head brewer at Definitive Brewing Company, where he oversaw the launch of the company's flagship hoppy beers, according to the same Boston.com report. Together, DeFae and Daly plan to experiment with low-ABV IPAs designed to retain the hoppiness and flavor of classic versions of the style.
Coffee Counter by Morning, Taproom by Night
The brewhouse itself will carry a 10-barrel capacity, and the finished space will include an indoor taproom, an outdoor patio, and a brewhouse, with combined seating for around 120 people. Beyond the New England IPAs central to DeFae's vision, the dossier from WhatNow reports Curiosity plans to offer sours, lagers, seltzers, non-alcoholic beers, and coffee-infused specialty drinks such as an espresso martini-inspired stout, alongside the daytime espresso and snacks Boston.com describes. The idea, per Boston.com, is a place for neighborhood residents to grab espresso, socialize, or work during the day before it shifts into a taproom serving the wider community at night.
Getting there required navigating Somerville's municipal approval process. DeFae and his team consulted with the city's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development through its Small Business Office Hours to work through zoning, permitting, and licensing requirements ahead of taking over the space, WhatNow reports.
A Design Firm With Deep Local Roots
Handling the buildout is ASK+, a local architecture design firm whose past clients include Lamplighter Brewing, Remnant Brewing, and Broadsheet Coffee, according to Boston.com. WhatNow's reporting adds that ASK+ has also designed Broadsheet Coffee Roasters in Cambridge and Remnant Brewing at Somerville's Bow Market — the same brewpub Hoodline covered back in 2018. The firm's track record with hybrid coffee-and-beer spaces across Cambridge and Somerville positions it well for a project that has to function as both a morning cafe and an evening brewery.
Curiosity will be entering a neighborhood already dense with craft beer options. Somerville features one of the densest walkable craft brewery clusters in Greater Boston, home to established producers including Remnant Brewing, Portico Brewing, Winter Hill Brewing Company, and Aeronaut Brewing Company, according to the Mass Brewers Guild. Aeronaut itself illustrates the financial pressures facing the industry: the Somerville pioneer merged with Dorchester Brewing Company under parent company Tasty Liquid Alliance in 2024, shifting large-scale production to Boston while keeping its original Somerville site for small-batch taproom experimentation, per Brewbound and Boston Neighborhood News reporting.
A Maturing Market, and New Rules for Small Brewers
The broader industry context helps explain why a project like Curiosity's makes sense now. Massachusetts is home to roughly 200 operating commercial breweries as of 2026, compared with just 34 licensed breweries when the Massachusetts Brewers Guild was founded in 2007. Under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 138, Section 19C, a farmer-brewery license allows state beer makers to brew malt beverages and sell them directly to consumers for on-premises consumption and retail sale, a framework that underpins the direct-to-consumer taproom model Curiosity is pursuing. A state economic development law enacted in late 2024 also updated alcohol regulations to let craft brewers sell beer directly at local farmers markets and removed U.S. citizenship mandates for liquor license holders, according to WBUR and the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
Curiosity's arrival adds to a recent run of new beverage concepts taking root in Somerville. Hoodline reported last month on Coreanos owner Alex Kim opening Kima Cafe in Union Square, another all-day specialty beverage venture, while Davis Square neighbor Redbones BBQ began a new ownership era under Cypress Realty Group last year. With Curiosity targeting a late spring 2027 opening, Davis Square residents will have to wait a bit longer before they can walk to a brewery of their own.
