Ten years after its founding and eight years after opening its brewery and taproom at Gabreski Airport’s industrial park, Westhampton Beach Brewing is setting up shop on Main Street in its namesake village.
The second location of Westhampton Beach Brewing Brew & Grille, which opened its first location in Manorville last April, is aiming for a March launch in time for the village’s popular St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 14.The new location in Westhampton Beach is housed in a space previously occupied by Daphne’s cocktail bar and bistro, with indoor seating along with a small outdoor area in the front on Main Street and a larger rear patio.
“We look forward to appealing to both locals and people visiting the area with a similar menu to our Manorville location, which has a mix of family-friendly pub food and upscale offerings accompanied by our Westhampton beers on tap and a full bar,” Westhampton Beach Brewing co-founders Brian Sckipp and John Salvaggio said.
Sckipp and Salvaggio are childhood best friends from Kings Park who both grew up to become high school teachers. They were partners in the early 2010s in Sherwood House Vineyards in Jamesport, but their true passion was beer. They left Sherwood and, in 2016, switched to opening a craft brewery after recruiting Dave DeTurris, a longtime brewer at John Harvard’s brewpub in Lake Grove.
After leasing a 4,800-square -foot space in the Hampton Business District at the Francis S. Gabreski Airport, the founders opened the Westhampton Beach Brewing brewery and taproom in 2018.
“We built a large 15-barrel brewhouse because our plan was to expand to more locations,” said Sckipp. “Dave was very helpful in getting us started and some of his beers are still brewed today, including Hurricane IPA and Irish Eyes Cream Stout.”
Mike Rizzo, who had previously brewed at Greenport Harbor and Port Jeff Brewing, took over as head brewer in 2022. He brews a wide variety of beer styles ranging from light Summer and Blonde Ales to Belgian-style tripels and seasonal beers, including Oktoberfest and Winter Cranberry. Rizzo brews several hoppy IPAs, including Riptide, which won the Gold Medal for Double IPAs at the Tap New York competition in 2025.
Westhampton Beach Brewing has canned its beers since it launched, and after initially self-distributing on Long Island, is currently distributing through S.K.I. Beer across Long Island, New York City and Westchester. With that growth, Sckipp and Salvaggio felt the time was right to expand the brewery’s footprint by opening more locations and offering food.
“We were fortunate to partner with Vinnie Grieco, who brought extensive experience in restaurant management,” said Salvaggio.
After several months of renovations, the Manorville Westhampton Beach Brewing Brew & Grille opened in a 3,200-square-foot location in a mixed-use retail and medical office complex just south of the Long Island Expressway. Since its opening last year, the Manorville location has drawn a busy lunch business and family-friendly crowd in the evenings.
Source: LI Press
