by Cait Lubelczyk, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
Greater Good Imperial Brewing Company, located right here in Worcester is renowned for its focus on crafting high-quality imperial beers. Established in 2016, Greater Good has distinguished itself as America’s first and only all-imperial brewing company, offering a diverse selection of robust, flavorful beers with higher alcohol content than traditional brews. This commitment to crafting imperial-strength beers has made Greater Good (GG) a standout in the New England craft beer scene.
The brewery offers a welcoming taproom where visitors can enjoy a variety of their unique creations. Their flagship beer, Pulp Daddy, is a New England-style IPA known for its juicy, hazy character and balanced hop profile. In addition to their core offerings, GG regularly experiments with new flavors and limited-edition releases, ensuring there’s always something new and exciting for visitors to try. The brewery also hosts events, live music, and food trucks, making it a popular destination for both locals and tourists.
Greater Good Imperial Brewing is dedicated to sustainability and community involvement, emphasizing environmentally friendly practices, local partnerships and a gathering place for families, businesses, and local organizations. They source ingredients locally whenever possible and focus on reducing their environmental impact through innovative brewing techniques. By prioritizing quality, community, and sustainability, Greater Good has become a beloved fixture in Worcester and a must-visit destination for beer enthusiasts across the region.
Paul Wengender, the mastermind of the company’s vision and Founder of Greater is a passionate craft beer enthusiast. With a background in both brewing and life sciences, he has successfully combined his expertise to develop a brand that emphasizes innovation and premium quality. Under his leadership, Greater Good has become an employer of choice and attracted high-end local talent. Wengender’s team has positioned Greater Good as a prominent player in the New England craft beer scene, attracting both local patrons and beer aficionados from across the country. Although he took a step back from day-to-day operations for a few years, since the end of 2023 he is back in action at the brewery full time and busy reconnecting with the community that he chose 9 years ago!
Can you tell our readers a little bit about you and your background?
My career has always involved biology. I am a microbial geneticist by university training and got my first job in the 90s at Pfizer, started my own biotech in Worcester a decade later, and then a decade after that started a brewery in Worcester! I’ve built and grown lab-based teams that in some way or another utilized microorganisms (yeast etc.) in fermenters for either drug discovery products or beer!
What inspired you to start a brewery, and why did you choose Worcester as the location for your venture?
Well like many craft breweries I started home brewing with friends and biotech coworkers about 15 years ago. However, unlike any other craft breweries I was focused solely on imperials, beer that is 8% or higher in ABV (Alcohol by Volume). I love big beers. But the imperial products on the market in 2000s were too boozy and had an unpleasant burn, so that simple experience became my (and our) quest to solve… the Pain Point (as they say) that we set out to solve and construct recipes that delivered balanced drinkable and approachable beers at 8,10, even 12% ABV.
I love Worcester. I really do. It’s been home for my businesses. There’s always been this sense of forward transformational motion in Worcester over the last 20 years. It’s emotional, it’s hopeful, it’s industrious. Business, culture, sports, all of it. I wanted my brewery to be a place that embraces its community and a place that the city identifies as its hometown brewery meeting place. What I think is really cool is that we’ve also brought a “destination brewery” here that travelers outside the city like to visit.
What challenges did you face in establishing an all-imperial brewing company, and how did you overcome them?
It takes considerable investment to get noticed for your “points of differentiation” in a market like craft beer where there is a great deal of uniformity. We have been more of bootstrap-financed startup and growing venture so the path for getting Greater Good Imperials brand awareness has been incremental, probably slower than we expected, but especially in New England and certainly here at home in Worcester we’ve done well to differentiate the GG brand.
How do you approach the development of new beer flavors, and what influences your choice of ingredients?
We draw inspiration from our mug club members, our staff, our colleagues in the industry, and mash in ideas from everywhere. The GG team started saying “we will try to imperialize any style” even traditionally low ABV styles like sours, blondes, lagers and pilsners. It’s R&D and it doesn’t always work out! but we’ve actually become quite good at making any style at 8% or above a smooth, drinkable experience.
How do you see the craft beer industry evolving in the next few years, and what role do you envision your brewery playing in that future?
Well, craft beer market is like George Costanza after he jumped in a cold lake. There’s shrinkage. Can I say that (:-)). Haha. There are some breweries in distress out there. But strong breweries will remain if they have brand loyalty and a superior product. Right now, we feel like we are in a position of strength on those points. Plus, we have our taproom and it is an amazing place to meet colleagues, have an event, listen to music, play trivia with friends, bring the family or the dog etc so we remain very focused on offering the neighborhood a welcoming fun and relaxing day or night out with friends and family. We hope to launch a brick-and-mortar site for our other popular brewing brand, Soul Purpose Brewing, in Worcester County.
What advice would you give to an entrepreneur just making their start?
Oh wow. That’s a broad question. I honestly just believe that the best entrepreneurs I’ve known truly understand that it’s not an individual sport. Most media and business press would lead you to believe that entrepreneurship is a singular term or name, and those names get to pontificate advice on Shark Tank. My reality is that it’s 100% about the team you build. It’s a team sport. I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of (and inspired by) some great entrepreneurial teams.
Greater Good Imperial Brewing is located at 55 Millbrook Street in Worcester. You can find them online at greatergoodimperials.com.
