Dayton brewery, open 3 months, already expanding

The Dayton Beer Company in downtown Dayton is expanding as it gears up to start canning and bottling its brews for retail sale, and it also may soon be looking for another location for its Kettering tasting room.

Pete Hilgeman, DBC’s founder and head brewer, said the brewery has leased the 5,000-square-foot building just west of its existing 8,000-square-foot brewery and tap room at 41 Madison St. in Dayton, and will use the space primarily for storage as the brewery prepares to produce bottled and canned beers for retail sale. That activity could start as early as August, Hilgeman said.

The Dayton Beer Company also now has the permits to use the 5,600 square feet between the two buildings as an outdoor beer garden for special events, Hilgeman said.

The existing facility, which consists of a 4,000-square-foot beer hall and tap room and a 4,000-square-foot production brewery, opened less than three months ago, but Hilgeman said the early success of the tasting room played a role in the decision to expand.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better response,” Hilgeman said of the opening of the downtown Dayton tap room, which includes DBC-brewed beers and other Ohio brewery’s beers.

Dayton Beer Company plans to can and bottle its beers in 12-ounce cans and in 12-ounce and 22-ounce “bomber” bottles, for distribution to retailers and taverns in Dayton, then to Columbus and Cincinnati and beyond, Hilgeman has said.

Meanwhile, Hilgeman said he may be looking for a new home for the initial Dayton Beer Company microbrewery and tasting room at 912 E. Dorothy Lane in Kettering, which opened in 2012 and continues to operate.

The building, which also houses a United Dairy Farmers convenience store, has been sold, but he hasn’t yet spoken with his new landlord, Hilgeman said. His current lease extends through at least April of 2016, so no move is imminent, he said.

“We’ll either remain there, or we’ll find another place to move it to, but we’d like to keep it in Kettering,” Hilgeman said.

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