This profile first appeared in Yankee Brew News.
If you’ve been to Lops this past year, there’s a good chance the beer was brewed, packaged, and poured by Dylan! Newly promoted to general manager, in addition to overseeing tasting room and biergarten operations, Dylan oversees Lops’ community outreach and charitable donation programs. We talked about their journey from occasional worker to brewery colleague!
How did you first get involved in the craft beer industry?
The story starts with doors. I had a friend who had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. One day, she went to Home Depot, saw doors, and knew she wanted to work in interior design. It was the same for me when I went to Two Roads Brewing Company in Connecticut one day; I got excited about bags of grain! So, I decided to sign up for the Professional Craft Brewing Certificate Program at Johnson & Wales University; I had zero homebrew experience, and I was the only non-male in the classroom. But it gave me such a stable base of working and interacting in the world of beer.
How did you get involved with Lops?
I finished at J & W in 2019, and worked in a hospital as a phlebotomist, but I still had the bug for beer and kept looking for job opportunities. Then COVID happened and I couldn’t leave my job for something uncertain. But when things started opening up again, I saw a Facebook message in the J&W Alumni Group that Lops was hiring for a bartender. I started part-time, but in October of 2021, I came on full-time; I quit my job at the hospital because pay cut be damned, I wanted to be in this industry. I will clean the tanks, clean the bathrooms, whatever needed to get done, I will get done.
Lops is a charmed place to be. I hear a lot of stories of people working with difficult bosses or culture clash, but this job is the luckiest I’ve ever been. And I appreciate working for a nano-brewery; none of the physical work is automated, so there’s more of a connection that exists, and it feels more intimate, and it means more to the people who come in for it.
What’s a beer recipe you’re proud of?
The Peach Better Have My Basil Honey Wheat Beer. I love the creativity of brewing, of having your own perspective on what can make something shine.
When you visit a brewery, what do you tend to order?
Anything balanced. I tend not to like IPAs, although I like a West Coast IPA. You find that balance with lagers and classic styles, but I also love when you’re using an interesting combination.
What do you say to someone who’s visiting Lops, or even the city of Woonsocket, for the first time?
Woonsocket gets a bad reputation. But new people, they walk in and are surprised! I always start with: “What do you like?” Some people are looking for one type of beer; our tap list changes all the time, but it always starts with a conversation. One of the things I like about being a bartender is that every customer is interreacting with beer in a different way. You’ve got your homebrewers, you’ve got the ones who have no idea what craft beer is, and then the tasters who are analyzing every flavor.
When you’re hiring, what do you look for in a Lops beertender?
I’m not looking for experience, especially since I’m someone who comes from zero experience! I’m looking for personality and whether you make people feel comfortable. The best compliment is when people say they are comfortable here.
What’s your plan for the future, how that you’ve been made general manager?
My plan is: I don’t know what I’m doing, let’s take the year and figure out! If you keep doing the job, you figure out what works and doesn’t. But the title is agency: yes, I do know what I’m doing in this industry, and in this brewery. Working more with the community is also a big goal.
Speaking of that, what’s coming up at Lops for community outreach?
Woonsocket Craft Beer and Community Week in mid-March: we’re taking the whole week to celebrate! We host a lot of community events like book clubs, Vinyl Nights, monthly brew clubs, and always try to partner with local organizations, like the Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative. We also traditionally do a Pride Beer in June, where a portion of proceeds will go to Haus of Codec, who help transition-aged youth homelessness in Providence through the arts and workforce.
Lops Brewing
122 N Main St Unit #1A, Woonsocket, RI 02895