Beer Brewer, Fans Looking for Answers About Abrupt Firing

The now-former head brewer of Blue Lobster Brewing Company says he's still in the dark about his sudden and controversial firing, as he said he "wasn't told much" when he was let go with no warning on Monday.

David Sakolsky, who had been with the company since it started in Hampton in 2012 and was the creator of several highly rated beers, said he had submitted his schedule Sunday night to Blue Lobster owner Michael Benoit.

When Sakolsky came in for work Monday morning as usual, though, "none" of his security codes allegedly worked and he was unable to get into the 875 Lafayette Road facility.

Sakolsky said he didn't receive a call or notice about why his codes no longer worked. He called Benoit, who met him at the brewery Monday morning with a box containing Sakolsky's boots, gloves and coffee, in addition to the brewer's final paycheck.

Many local residents have rallied behind Sakolsky on social media, some stating that they will boycott Blue Lobster. Some have even posted protest videos depicting them throwing away Blue Lobster items over the firing of Sakolsky, which Sakolsky himself said may have to do with a desire to be more involved in the business end of Blue Lobster. 

"I had asked for stake in the business last year and was told no but was still pumped for streams of my intellectual property so it would then be IP of the business," Sakolsky told Patch in a message Tuesday.

Sakolsky said he can only speculate that his request may have had played a role in his firing, based on third-party information and rumors he's heard.

"That was when the camel started showing signs of fatigue [in the relationship with the company]," said Sakolsky. "Not sure if it was the back breaker though."

Benoit couldn't immediately be reached for comment. 

Ian Browne, Sakolsky's replacement, answered the phone at Blue Lobster Tuesday, although he said it was "not my place to say" anything about the reason why the company decided to cut ties with Sakolsky.

"I am not the one who made that decision," said Browne, deferring comment to Michael Benoit.

While the incident has left a bad taste in Sakolsky's mouth, he said one positive did come out of the termination — one that will allow him to succeed elsewhere.

"But in that same moment [of the firing] my intellectual property once again became my own rather than being on a drip to something I was refused a piece of," he said. "And that felt indescribably good."

How the beers were "built" remains his intellectual property, although, Blue Lobster retains copies of Sakolsky's recipes, which he said are "exempt from copyright law" because "steps are always being changed" in the brewing process.

"I don't know what blue lobster [sic] will produce in the future but they are free to produce any of my recipes they hold," he said. "Which is every single beer that has come out of blue lobster since opening until a couple weeks from now."

Sakolsky hinted that he may soon have a new brewing opportunity, although he didn't go into the specifics of that opportunity Tuesday.


Hampton-North Hampton Patch will have more on this story as it develops.