BATH — A new place to enjoy a craft beer and chat with your pals, watch a game and listen to music, or bring the family for dinner, will open in November at 141 Front St.

The Bath Brewing Co., described as a village brewpub, is the brainchild of developer Sean Ireland – whose recent projects include the Otto Pizza and neighboring Owl and Elm restaurants in Yarmouth  – and brewers and restaurateurs Mike Therriault and Terry Geaghan, both of whom are from Bath.

Ireland owns and is developing the Bath property, which he is leasing to Geaghan and Therriault, who own and operate the business.

Therriault runs Therriault & Therriault law firm with his father Roger Therriault, Bath’s city solicitor, and previously managed the bar at the Sebasco Lodge. Geaghan’s family has spent four decades in the beverage and food business, and operates Geaghan Bros. Brewery & Pub in Bangor.

The two men had been looking specifically in Bath to open a business, they said in an interview Monday.

“We feel that we know this area very well,” Geaghan said.

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“We’d been talking about it for quite some time,” Therriault said. “We looked at several locations here in Bath. We both love going to brewpubs, and we really thought one day, why not put something in Bath, and have a different experience here that’s really not here right now?”

The Bath Brewing Co. will be a bit more “pub-ish” than other places in the city, he added, promising high-quality food will be served along with the craft beer experience.

The pub will be open seven days a week, possibly 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The pub’s beers, brewed on site, will have names identifying areas around Bath that may include “Hell Gate IPA,” Geaghan said.

He said he wants the place to feel like a clubhouse, “somewhere people are comfortable coming multiple times and enjoying the whole thing. It’s going to be more living room than bar, in that the decor will be more paintings and prints than beer signs.”

The downstairs will cater more to the pub crowd, while the upstairs will be structured as a dining room.

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The duo expects to have a staff of about 20. Geaghan’s daughter, Molly Jellison, will be the general manager; she brings about 15 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Therriault’s cousin, Tony Mandeville, will be executive chef; he previously ran a pub in New Jersey.

The space had once housed Morris Povich’s clothing store, then was an antique store, and most recently was used by developer Hilary Rockett as a model condominium.

In choosing that spot, “we feel like we finally found the right scale,” Ireland said in an interview Sept. 22. “Scale is so important to a project like this in a city like Bath.”

The pub will encompass about 3,400 square feet, including both floors and a deck being built on the back for outdoor seating, with views of the Kennebec River.

“We really wanted an experience,” Ireland said. “Not just great food, beer and service, but really an atmosphere and experience that people would want to come back to.”

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

A sign outside the future Bath Brewing Co. on Front Street in Bath.

Brewers and restaurateurs Mike Therriault, left, and Terry Geaghan are working with developer Sean Ireland to open the Bath Brewing Co. at 141 Front St. in November.


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