The name is a certainly an attention-grabber (or maybe even a bit of a head-scratcher). Mark Mansfield's new craft brewery is full of blarney.
Irish Mafia Brewing opens in late September in Bloomfield, Ontario County. And the first question Mansfield always gets is: Where did that name come from?
"That’s what everyone is asking, and I wish I had a better story," Mansfield said of Irish Mafia Brewing, 2971 Whalen Road (near the intersection of Route 5 & 20), which will become Ontario County's 14th craft brewery.
"My stock answer is, I’m really proud of my Irish heritage and I wanted to bring that out," he added. "I’m not saying I have relatives in the Irish Mafia, but I’m really proud of being Irish. That’s why it says, 'you know who you are' on the label and in my logo."
Mansfield struggled with a name. (He even considered "Suburban Mafia.") "My whole theory on the planet and life itself, 'everything happens for a reason,' " he said. "I’m a big karma guy."
He wanted the name to be welcoming and he wanted it to be a bit edgy, he said. "It just hit me like a lead balloon, like a punch in the face: Irish Mafia," Mansfield said. "That’s the name. I didn’t want to offend people. But I wanted to have fun and I wanted to embrace it. It is cheeky."
Mansfield, 47, is a Bloomfield native. He graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1988. He now lives with his wife and four kids just up the road in Victor. His Bloomfield roots run deep and he wants to be a valuable stop in the bustling Finger Lakes beer trail. (You can even see Bloomfield's Nedloh Brewing from the front patio of Irish Mafia).
Thanks to Will Cleveland.
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