Luppoleto East Granby Expansion

In the Summer of 2026, Luppoleto Brewing will move the bulk of its brewing operations to East Granby, CT. We are taking over the space previously occupied by Almost Famous Brewing. During the transition, we will brew collaboratively with the folks at AFB to learn their equipment, and get the hang of how scale and different water impacts our recipes.

Passing the Torch

There’s no doubt, what Chip & Jim built at Almost Famous was special. A vibrant space for folks to imbibe and enjoy live music - lots of it! A brewer’s dream setup. Upwards of 14 miles of bar top – or so it seems, loads of special musical memorabilia. They continued to build their community and carve out a unique space in the Northern Connecticut Beer Market. But the last few years have been especially challenging in the craft beer business and when faced with the difficult decision to keep grinding or end this chapter of the AFB story, they reluctantly decided to close the doors.

A few weeks after their announcement, we reached out to inquire about the equipment and the space. We’d been on the lookout for a larger spot - not necessarily this soon or this big - but, with it’s proximity to Windsor Locks, we felt compelled to at least take a look.

It only took one meeting to realize that we just might be crazy enough to take on this challenge. We built a plan and worked behind the scenes for a few months to dot all the i’s and cross the t’s. And here are the highlights:

Almost Luppoleto

The Almost Famous crew is planning to re-open in mid-April with a handful of their beers, and a growing slate of Luppoleto Collab beers to introduce the Almost Famous community to Luppoleto.

You might think of this phase as Almost Luppoleto. The space and staff will be familiar but the drink offerings will be shifting to match the selections Luppoleto plans to offer in the future.

Luppoleto Grande!

We are aiming for a full “passing of the torch” in June. The East Granby space will be 100% operated by Luppoleto, though you may still see some familiar faces behind the bar. We are also working to incorporate on-site food. We’ll share more about that as things progress. There are still some logistical challenges ahead but once we’re further along, we’ll announce some clear dates, draft lists & menus.

For the Luppoleto OG’s, our WL taproom will stay open for now. We have some ideas how to change things up a bit to make sure the EG & WL taprooms remain distinct yet both unmistakably Luppoleto. Ultimately, this means: more beer, more bocce, mug club…with actual mugs, more activities, more music, bigger bands, and more opportunities for you to gather, sip, savor and enjoy an escape from the world for a pint or two.

We’re super excited for this next chapter in the Luppoleto story. We’re honored to carry the torch; the legacy that Chip & Jim started in this great space. We firmly believe any chance at success we have here comes from standing on their shoulders.

We hope to see you all soon in the GIANT (to us anyway) taproom.

Ciao for now!

~ Team Luppoleto

FAQ’s

Here’s a list of questions that we’ve seen come up a lot in the comments about this move. We will continue to update this list as new items emerge.

Will the place still be called “Almost Famous”? During the collaborative period (April-May), yes. In June, we will takeover as Luppoleto.

Will you have live music? Yes. We plan to have live music but a bit less often than AF. Many choices we made about music in our current WL taproom were shaped by our small space so we are still exploring how that all changes when we don’t have the same space constraints. Let’s just call this a work-in-progress.

Will any of the beertenders still be there? We will need beertenders! We’re very interested in hiring any folks who (a) want to stay and (b) are a good fit. We’re working with the AF team to ensure we have opportunities for AF staff to ask questions and get to know more about Luppoleto to determine if they want to be part of the next phase.

Will you be dog-friendly? Well behaved, leashed dogs are allowed on the patio. However, because we’re working with a food vendor to build-out a kitchen and provide food on-site, the initial feedback from the health-board is that dogs will NOT be permitted inside once we have a kitchen.

Will you have food trucks? Sometimes. We expect there will be opportunities for Food Trucks – especially in the summer – to support special events. However, we are working with a food vendor to build-out a kitchen in the space and anticipate they will be the primary food purveyor MOST of the time.

Will you have pinball? Unfortunetely not. Those belonged to someone else and they are already gone. Perhaps they may return in a popup capacity – but for now, they are no longer on-site.

Will you have pool tables? Not right now. We plan to use that space to introduce EG folks to our wacky indoor version of Bocce – which we’ve been running as a league in our WL taproom for the last few years.

Will you have Almost Famous Beers on tap? During the collaborative transition time, yes. After that, only if Jim get’s nostalgic and wants to come back and brew on the ol' system. As of June 2026 (pending approvals), all beer on tap will be Luppoleto beer.

Last Updated 3/30/2026