Community
is Not a Place

It is common for grieving people to seek solace in artistic expression. What may be uncommon is the particular activity that provides a creative and healing outlet for Matt Smith – brewing beer. While it may be non-traditional, Matt’s Wandering Soul Beer Company has been about much more than beer.

In 2017, Matt and his wife Abby were preparing for their first child, whom they had already decided to name Melody in honor of their shared love for music (which also helped bring the couple together in the first place).

At nearly 9 months of pregnancy, the couple found out that Melody's heart had stopped beating, and she was born still in May. Abby and Matt were blindsided and of course devastated by their daughter’s death.

“After Melody’s silent birth, we entered the darkest period of our lives,” explains Matt. “Flipping back and forth through the so-called stages of grief, I reached a point where I knew that I needed to do something to honor Melody's memory.”

For Matt, brewing beer was a natural choice. Home brewing was a treasured pastime (and Matt was also working in the beer industry at the time).

“I had started the recipe for a hazy New England style IPA before Abby was even pregnant,” says Matt. “I enjoyed tweaking it over the years and never making the same recipe twice, just as a hobby.”

However, after the loss of Melody, he began brewing more frequently and putting all the pieces in place to create his own beer business, Wandering Soul (the name inspired by the idea of not being bound to any particular place).  

Matt named Wandering Soul’s first beer "Melody Maker", and it came from finally perfecting the Pale Ale that he’d been working on for so long.

Pretty much everything about this beer is personal and serves as a tribute to Melody.

The beer’s logo is based on a tattoo that Matt got shortly after Melody died, which is a treble clef with an infinity symbol to signify that she is always with them. 

Matt and Abby also generously decided to donate a portion of the profits from all sales of Melody Maker to Resolve New England (RNE), a partnership which is referenced on every can. 

“We knew that we wanted to give to a local non-profit, and our interaction with RNE had been one of the first conversations where I felt like you knew how to respond, had the right tone, got it and cared,” says Matt. “We wanted Melody Maker to give back and help raise awareness.” 

Well, the broader purpose of Melody Maker helping to grow understanding, empathy and awareness has certainly been achieved.

“Starting Wandering Soul is the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, which grew out of the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced,” shared Matt. “This deep, personal tragedy is obviously part of it, but my message is one of hope and resilience.”

Indeed, Abby and Matt learned firsthand that pregnancy loss is not discussed enough, and that “stillbirth seems to be almost taboo.” This can feel uniquely isolating for those who go through the experience. As such, Melody Maker became a way to have more openness and shared human experience. The couple’s transparency opened the door, and Matt has been “humbled by how many people have cared and reached out, particularly with their own stories of loss.” 

Grief groups were helpful to the couple after losing Melody, but support can also be found in unlikely places. So actually, beer is not a strange way to foster community, as people can come together by bonding over a beer.

Over the past couple years, it was harder to enjoy a beer together in person, but even the shared affection for Melody Maker has provided meaningful connection on social media and beyond. 

Lots has happened personally and professionally since the launch of Melody Maker. Abby and Matt have welcomed two daughters into their family, and Wandering Soul has grown too.

There have been many more beers, each with a meaning behind it. For example, one beer is called “Things We Don’t Say”, to which Matt quickly adds, “And should!” This includes but is not limited to loss and grief. 

Wandering Soul has truly been a labor of love, but the reality is that it has been heavy on the labor aspect. Though he has lots of support and partners, Matt has essentially been running a one man show, which “is getting old.” It also might be beneficial to build some distance between the personal and professional. Thus, Matt has announced that Wandering Soul will stop making beer at the end of 2022.

“This is like removing a part of myself, so it depends on the day how I am feeling about this decision,” Matt explains. But rest assured, Wandering Soul will live on, just in some ways that are not even known yet. In the meantime, the website will stay up, and the mission will keep evolving. 

Matt says, “I am very glad I’ve done this work. Being so transparent has been part of my healing and processing, so I want to be able to look back in a positive way.”   

Fittingly and powerfully, Wandering Soul as a beer company will close as it started, with a final batch of Melody Maker IPA.