Independent Fermentations Brewing (aka IndieFerm) is a small craft beer brewery, kombucha brewery, winery, tap room, home brew supply shop, and hop farm all located in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
IndieFerm specializes in making craft beers with locally grown ingredients with an emphasis on Belgian and German styles. We brew what we like to drink and that covers a lot of territory. We tend to like beers with balance, believing that a beer made with the perfect mix of malts and hops is better than a beer overloaded with either one. In other words, we make a lot more than just New England IPA’s. There are so many ways to combine water, malt, hops and yeast that there is no need to go crazy with other flavorings. The guiding mantra is “beer should taste like beer”. This is not the place to look for Fruity Pebble Stout or Mango Lasse Milkshake IPA (I just made those up, I don’t mean to offend the makers of any actual beers that might exist with those flavors). In an era when breweries are willing to add just about anything to their beers, we sometimes describe our brewing approach as “radically traditional.”
Our tap room has 12 beers and several kombuchas on tap Tuesdays and Thursday through Sunday every week (closed Monday and Wednesday). In the warmer months we often have a pop-up food vendor and live music on Saturdays. We are always pet and family friendly.
Our craft kombucha is brewed in small batches, handcrafted with organic tea, and organic cane sugar. We lightly carbonate our kombucha and keg, bottle, and label everything by hand. It is a labor of love.
We now also offer our own house-made wines. We don’t grow the grapes, but we make some fantastic wines, both red and white, from juice and also mead and hard cider.
Our homebrew store, IndieFerm Supply, has everything the new or experienced home brewer needs to make their own beer, kombucha, cider, wine, or mead as well as supplies for home fermented foods and cheese. We frequently hold classes on brewing beer, kombucha making, cheese making, and other fermentation topics. The shop is open Thursday through Sunday.
Our hop farm is located in the Chiltonville section of Plymouth on land owned by Wildlands Trust. We have a total of 400 hop plants growing there including centennial, cascade, and nugget hop varieties. We are still brewers first and foremost but it is great to grow and harvest some of the ingredients for our beer ourselves. Thanks to Wildlands Trust for allowing us to use their property!
Our taproom and seasonal outdoor beer garden are open for pints, flights, wine, hard cider, and mead. We also have to-go sales of cans, growler fills, and other merchandise. The taproom and beer garden hours are:
Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Thursday & Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday from 12 – 7:00 p.m., and
Sunday from 12 – 5:30 p.m.
We have 12 beers on draft plus 6 additional taps with rotating kombucha (non-alcoholic), hard hop water, hard cider, and seltzers. We pride ourselves on having a wide variety of styles to choose from including a few malt forward beers, something hoppy, and usually something funky or sour. The line up changes often as new beers are brewed. Drafts are available to-go in 64 oz. and 32 oz. re-usable growlers. We also sell 4-packs of 16 oz cans of many of our beers and 16 oz bottles of kombucha. And we are now also serving our own house-made wines, cider, and mead.
The taproom is a family-friendly relaxed atmosphere where fine beverages and conversation are the focus. No TVs, no loud music, and one wall is a large chalkboard for kids to draw on. We are “dog-friendly for friendly dogs” so bring your best friend.
We have Cape Cod Cafe’s South Shore-style bar pizzas and also soft pretzels available and several fermented food options including sauerkraut, kimchi, beat kvass, salsa, and more. You can get a flight of several fermented choices also.
Kombucha is fermented tea that is thought to originate in China in 200 BC. Fermentation is one of the oldest food preservation processes. Kombucha is a sweet tea fermented with a unique culture of active yeast and bacteria referred to as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). Kombucha is popular for its array of health benefits, specifically it’s live, active cultures that promote gut health along with polyphenols (antioxidants) from the tea, B vitamins from the yeast, and other healthy ingredients such as turmeric for joint health, raspberries and hibiscus for lowering blood pressure, etc.
IndieFerm Kombucha is brewed using filtered water, organic black or green tea, organic cane sugar, and our home-grown SCOBY and starter liquid from a previous batch of kombucha. We brew the tea, add the sugar, allow it to cool and then add the starter liquid and SCOBY. The brew then aerobically ferments at room temperature for anywhere from 1-3 weeks. While the kombucha ferments, the starter liquid inoculates the tea with active yeast and bacteria to jump start the fermentation process and lower to pH to encourage an acidic environment that inhibits the growth of bad bacteria and mold. The active yeast consumes the sugar, converting it to ethanol. The bacteria then converts the ethanol to acetic acid (vinegar). Carbon dioxide is also produced during the fermentation process. By the end of the fermentation cycle, you have an effervescent and slightly tart beverage.
Our craft kombucha is brewed in small batches, handcrafted with organic products in stainless steel vessels. We typically flavor our kombucha with dried herbs and dehydrated berries to reduce the use of added sugars commonly found in fruit juice, but we also have limited edition flavors that are brewed with local goods such as herbs, whole fruits and maple syrup. We lightly carbonate our kombucha and keg, bottle, and label everything by hand. We have several rotating flavors of kombucha on tap at our brewery and we have more flavors available in bottles. We offer discount refills on empty kombucha bottles to help you reduce and reuse resources. You save a dollar off the retail price on each bottle!!!
We also sell kombucha kits, SCOBYs, and teach classes on how to make you own kombucha. Classes are announced on our events page and in Facebook posts.
Where to find IndieFerm Kombucha:
IndieFerm Brewing & IndieFerm Supply: on tap & bottles & discount refills (127 Camelot Drive, Plymouth)
The Market at Pinehills: bottles (Plymouth)
Jolly Bean Cafe: bottles (Plymouth)
Hot Yoga 1620: bottles (Plymouth)
Lamplighter Brewing: on tap, bottles (Cambridge and Cambridge Crossing)
Wondering what’s going on at IndieFerm and IndieFerm Supply? Here’s where you’ll find a listing of upcoming events, classes, etc.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Use only the links below to buy tickets/reservation for our events. There are scammers out there who will post fake ticket links to take your money.
Sun May 3, 10 am – 2 pm. Kingston Farmers Market. Check out the amazing vendors at the Kingston Farmers Market https://www.facebook.com/farmersmarketkingston/ IndieFerm will be there with kombucha, fire booch, malt vinegar and fermented hot sauces.
Tues, May 5, 4-7 pm. Cinco de Mayo Fiesta. Bad Larry Tacos, Taco Pizza, and Bebidas Fermentadas
Sat, May 9, 2-4 pm. Ukulele Group. No experience necessary – strum and sing along.
Sat, May 16, 10 am – 2pm. Bizarre Bazaar. A combination yard sale, flea market, arts/crafts, and food vendors. Contact us at info@independentfermentations.com if you are interested in participating ($15 table fee goes to Black Feather Horse Rescue). The Bazaar will be held in the IndieFerm brewery parking lot at 127 Camelot Drive in Plymouth.
Sun, May 17, 2-5 pm. Irish Session. If you haven’t experienced this, you are missing out on some fine music.
Sat, May 23, 2-4 pm. Ukulele Group. No experience necessary – strum and sing along.
Sat, May 23, 2-5 pm. Buck a Shuck Oysters. The Massachusetts Oyster Project (https://www.massoyster.org/) is teaming up with Cape Oyster Experiences (https://capeoysterexperiences.com/) to bring us what we all crave…$1 oysters (or Buck a Shuck as us locals call it). Not only do you get to enjoy fresh, local oysters for a reasonable price, but you will also have an opportunity to learn about the amazing coastal restoration work being conducted by the Mass Oyster Project.
Sat May 23, 3-8 pm. Live Music with The Cordobas and The Shady Roosters. Yes, it’s that time of year again when the Beer Garden opens back up for the season. The Cordobas (https://www.facebook.com/TheCordobas/) and The Shady Roosters (https://www.facebook.com/groups/45374330981/) will be on hand to help us celebrate. Enjoy a plate of fresh, local oysters with beer or wine while grooving to the surf beat of The Cordobas and the rockabilly swing of The Shady Roosters. Yeah…..summer!
Saturday, May 30, 5-8 pm. Live Music with Dave Yaeger. Gotta respect how one person can entertain an audience for hours by their lonesome. Dave is a masterful and entertaining musician who is returning to grace us with his gift of song. https://www.facebook.com/p/Daveyaegermusic-100048913266644/
June 2026
Saturday, Jun 13, 12-5 pm. 3rd Annual Plymouth Pickle & Fermentation Festival. Food, Drinks, Vendors, Workshops, Science, Make-Your-Own Sauerkraut, Fun! Note the workshops start at 10:30 am. See the information below the flyer for individual workshops and how to register.
Saturday, June 13, 1030 am – 12 pm. Coffee Cupping with Rob Fitzgibbon. Did you know coffee is produced via fermentation? Have you heard of coffee cupping?
Coffee Cupping is like a wine tasting, but for coffee. Led by longtime coffee enthusiast Rob “Fitz” Fitzgibbon, this interactive program invites participants to slow down and really pay attention to a drink most of us take for granted. The experience begins with a presentation covering coffee’s journey from farm to cup, how it’s grown and processed, how people have consumed it throughout history, and how to think about roasting, aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel. Then, participants dive into a hands-on tasting, sampling three different coffees and recording what they smell and taste using stickers and a flavor wheel. No prior coffee knowledge required, just curiosity. The program finishes up with a group discussion comparing perceptions of taste and aroma, a Q&A session, and time to finish the coffee together. Coffees are selected specifically for each event and revealed at the end, often including a local roaster’s blend as a fun hometown wildcard. Gain a deeper appreciation for the complexity, craft, and quiet wonder of coffee, and maybe never drink it the same way again!
Independent Fermentations 