E-Malt.com News article: USA, OH: Granville Brewing to launch draft beers

Since opening earlier this year, the Granville Brewing Co. has focused on bottling its three Belgian-style beers. But the small nanobrewery — operating out of a former horse barn on co-owner and brewer Ross Kirk’s property in Granville — will release some beer on draft soon as it participates in local beer festivals and starts to raise its profile in central Ohio, ohio.com reported on June, 5.

"We’ve been very quiet about our opening as a whole," Kirk said. So far, marketing has been limited to word-of-mouth.

Now it’s time to start kegging and "see how it goes from there," he said. "My business partner calls it our get rich super, super slow plan."

Ironically, Kirk never bottled as a homebrewer. He eschewed the time-consuming task of cleaning individual bottles and the bottling process, and opted right off the bat to keg his homebrew.

Granville Brewing launched with 22-ounce bottles and no draft. So it’s no surprise that Kirk’s least favourite part of being a professional brewer is bottling, which Granville does by hand.

"There’s a big difference between homebrewing and having to brew," said Kirk, who works full time as a highway construction estimator. "I love it. I’ve never referred to it as having to brew yet. It’s a lot of fun. I have referred to having to bottle. I’m not a huge fan of bottling."

Granville Brewing makes three beers with ominous names: The Oppressor, imperial amber; The Betrayer, a tripel; and The Reaper, a saison.

The Reaper is the best-seller so far.

"I have a lot of friends who are Bud Light and Busch Light [drinkers] and they have that and wow," Kirk said. "Then they get to the bottom of a 22-ouncer and they text me and say, ‘That was something.’ It’s an 8.4 percent beer that drinks like a 5-percenter. It’s very refreshing."

The imperial amber is a bit polarizing. People either love it or hate it, Kirk said.

The beers are available in limited locations around Granville, Newark and Columbus.

"Everybody seems to like the beer," Kirk said. "We’re getting some positive reviews. We’re selling so much beer in the county we can hardly get out of the county. This is great."

Granville Brewing isn’t open for regular tastings and tours right now.

Kirk and Parsons have talked about opening a tasting room in a family recreation room next to the brewery. But that comes with complications. They’ve discussed opening the tasting room on a single Saturday a month and making the day an event with a food truck and special beers available.


06 June, 2013