Our Story

Braven Brewing Company, was founded in 2013 by Marshall S. Thompson and Eric Feldman in the historic Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. In April 2019, Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Company purchased the Braven brand. Newport Craft is now producing Braven's Bushwick Pilsner up in RI, and distributing throughout NY. 

Braven celebrates the Bold & Crafty. Artists. Creatives. Entrepreneurs. Risk-Takers. Believers. Our vision is to inspire Creativity and Independence with every sip.

The dream began in October 2009 during a serendipitous conversation when, at the same moment, Marshall and Eric asked each other if they wanted to start homebrewing. Before long they designed their own recipes and transformed Eric’s fifteen square foot, East Village kitchen into their first brewery. They toured scores of craft breweries in some of America’s greatest beer cities: Denver, San Francisco, Asheville, and more. At each stop, Marshall and Eric were inspired to create the same kind of intimate, consumer-focused beer culture in New York City.

In August 2013, Marshall and Eric founded Braven Brewing Company ®, a craft brewery based in the historic Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. That fall they launched a Kickstarter campaign that garnered both local and national press to help get the company off the ground. 

Throughout the following year, Eric and Marshall continued to make connections throughout the NYC beer scene. Eventually they crossed paths with the leadership of S.K.I. Beer Distributors, who thought had some great products, a relatable story, and a vision for where they wanted to take the company. S.K.I. also helped connect them with Olde Saratoga Brewing Company in Saratoga Springs, NY, where they began brewing their first batches of beer just a few months later in December 2014.

By January 2015 they were launching White IPA - their first style - for the very first time in bars across New York City. Later that year they added Bushwick Pilsner, a beer made in the old style of the former Bushwick breweries like Rheingold, Schaefer, Piels, and Trommers, to their repertoire. It quickly became Braven's top selling beer due to its easy-drinking character, its historic lineage, and its distinctive yellow and black packaging.

In 2019, when Braven's brand came up for sale, the Newport Craft team jumped at the opportunity to help keep the brand, and specifically the Pilsner, alive and well. Today, you'll find the Bushwick Pilsner on tap in the Newport Craft Tasting Room and distributed throughout NYC. 

Cheers from NCB&DCo. & Braven