The Amherst Select Board has granted Jason DiCaprio a full liquor license for a new brewery called High Horse that will move into space now occupied by the Amherst Brewing Company on North Pleasant Street.
That eatery is moving at the end of the month and reopening at the former Leading Edge fitness facility August.
DiCaprio not only had to apply for the license, he also had a stipulation in his lease that within 30 days of receiving that license he join the University of Massachusetts Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking.
His landlord, Barry L. Roberts, said this was the first time he is requiring it. He said he didn’t require it for the brewing company because the coalition wasn’t in existence when Amherst Brewing signed its lease. ABC did, however, participate in it, according to local media reports.
The coalition, organized more than five years ago to help address problem drinking, is comprised of university and Hadley and Amherst town officials, as well as landlords and business owners.
DiCaprio owns the Moan and Dove in South Amherst and has operated there without any problems, Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie J. O’Keeffe said.
DiCaprio said High Horse will specialize in serving traditional, low alcohol brewed beer and a gastro-pub menu.
He sad the earliest they could open would be November, but he said, “By New Year’s Eve, we should be fully operational.”
