Beer Is Back on Pantigo

Beer trucks are unloading again on East Hampton’s Pantigo Place in front of the former Peconic Beverage East, soon to be called Hampton Beverage East. 

The shop, owned by Matthew Worrell and his son, Brendan Worrell, opened on Dec. 5 and is building up its stock of beer, soda, and snacks based on customers’ tastes. “We’re trying to feel out what the customer wants,” Matthew Worrell said Tuesday. The reopened shop has additional retail space and the owners plan to double the area dedicated to craft beers, his son said. 

Matthew Worrell, who also owns Hampton Beverage in Hampton Bays, is an owner of the building in East Hampton, which has been without a beer and beverage store since Peconic Beverage closed just before Independence Day weekend. Other tenants are Goldberg’s Famous Bagels and Flagels and Churchill Wines and Spirits. 

“I’m glad they’re reopened,” David Churchill said Tuesday. When he decided to buy the store, the beverage shop next door “was the main reason,” Mr. Churchill said. Afternoon and evening customers would buy beer, soda, and ice at Peconic Beverage and their wine and liquor at his shop. “It was a perfect storm for both of us.” While Goldberg’s was a morning and midday draw, Churchill Wines definitely felt the absence of Peconic Beverage over the past five months. It has been a frustrating time, Mr. Churchill said, but “it’s good news from here on out.” 

Several years ago, Matthew Worrell was an owner of Peconic Beverage East along with William Hurley and Charles Hausman. He later owned Bridgehampton Beverage, which most recently operated in Water Mill. Mr. Hurley, who had been a co-owner of the building, as well, is serving a sentence for two felony counts of vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated following a 2013 crash on Route 114. Matthew Worrell said he was in contract to buy Peconic Beverage prior to its closing, but that the sale had fallen apart because there was not enough time to transfer the liquor license before the deal was finalized.