Drawdown Brewing, located in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, opened in 2023. Notable in a field made up overwhelmingly of men, the female-led Drawdown has wasted no time building a strong reputation for the excellent beer, a welcoming community space, and as a great place to catch a game. Owner, founder, and head brewer Liz Nicol won Vinepair Brewer of the Year at the 2025 Next Wave Awards.
Engineering a Brewery
Nicol started out as many brewery owners do: homebrewing. As a civil engineer, working on drainage and utility projects, she homebrewed on the side. On a European trip to see the 2016 UEFA Championships, she became even more inspired by the European styles of beer at the beer gardens that she and her friends visited. She recalls the brewery starting “in [her] mind” on that trip. She eventually took a second job at a brewery before taking the leap to open a brewery.
The name of the brewery connects to her first career: “drawdown” is a hydrology term referring to the amount of time a well or body of water takes to be drawn into the ground. It also happens to be the way that beer is drawn out of a keg!
Locating the brewery in Jamaica Plain made a lot of sense given its storied history of breweries—Drawdown is just up the hill from Sam Adams, with whom they have collaborated on a beer.
A Community Space for All
Drawdown Brewing is intentionally a community space for all, in particular the LGBTQ+ community which has a large presence in Jamaica Plain, and people of color. “As a woman and LGBTQ+-owned brewery, it is important to be a safe space for all,” Nicol says.
The taproom hosts an array of events. There is a weekly viewing and fantasy league for Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Annually, the brewery hosts a huge Pride party in June. Private events for a variety of milestones and celebrations take place in the tap room, including weddings, graduation parties, and birthday parties.
Credit: Drawdown Brewing
Sports
Drawdown Brewing is well-known as a place to view live sports, especially women’s sporting events. A detailed calendar on their website lists what will be shown on their big screens.
When going through the permitting process for the brewery, Nicol thought ahead and obtained a variance to open early on Saturdays to show European soccer matches and special events like the Olympics. Don’t worry, if you don’t want to have a beer that early, there’s non-alcoholic drinks for sale including nitro coffee.
In March, you can track your brackets and follow all the college basketball action. Drawdown is a great place to take in FIFA World Cup, WNBA action, and so much more. Nicol is fostering partnerships to create long lasting relationships with local women’s sports teams.
Drawdown’s logo is a nod to sports fandom, as it deliberately evokes a college mascot. Explaining the choice of a tiger, Nicol reports that in addition to being a “cat person”, she felt the tiger was even more meaningful because a “tiger team” is another engineering term (and used in other professional fields) for when the best of the best come together on a difficult project.
Beer Styles
Drawdown’s beers tend to be malt-forward, but there’s always an IPA or two on draft. Nicol wants to highlight different beer styles, including the somewhat lesser-known styles of cream ale and altbier.
Flagships include their sports name inspired “Let’s Gooo”, their flagship cream ale, and “From the Jump”, their flagship Porter. Seasonal offerings include “Better Days”, a German Lager, and “Petty Party”, a raspberry berliner wiess. The beers can be enjoyed in the taproom or in crowlers to go.
In the taproom, snacks are available for noshing and food pop-ups from local businesses populate the events calendar.
Come on down and catch a game over a beer at Drawdown Brewing!
Please drink responsibly and do not drink and drive.
