Brewery staff were hard at work Thursday, brewing the latest batch of Raspberry Springer, a light and fruity ale, at their location at 305 Walnut St in Yellow Springs.
The brewery crafts between 4,000 and 4,500 barrels a year, or about 140,000 gallons annually. Much of that is their most popular IPA, Boat Show.
“Our core brands, especially our IPA, are so sought after that we literally can’t make enough of them,” said Chief Operations Officer Jayson Hartings.
Founder Lisa Wolter said her husband and cofounder Nate Cornett had operated as a home brewer for several years, before Yellow Springs Brewery opened their doors in the Millworks business complex on April 15, 2013.
At the time, Wolters said, she had no idea the wave they were about to ride.
“It caught me off guard as to how big this was going to be,” she said.
The early to mid-2010s saw an explosion in locally-owned craft breweries, as Americans were drinking less Anhauser-Busch, and more custom brews from their friends and neighbors. American brewery employment exploded from 2010 to 2016, with the industry adding 33,716 jobs, a growth of 135%. By 2016, breweries employed 58,580 people, and growing.
Today, the brewery employs 31 people, including brewers, bartenders and other staff.
Of the emotions that came up during the business’ 10-year anniversary, the biggest was gratitude, Wolter said.
“Gratitude, obviously to our employees, that they put in their life, their energy, their spirit into everything, and gratitude to our customers and to the community. I’m in a little bit of awe, of like, ‘Holy moly. Where did 10 years ago?’ "
In 2021, the company expanded its canning production, pushing to make its product available in grocery and liquor stores in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed one of the brewery’s greatest challenges.
“COVID was tough, just emotionally,” Hartings said, adding that they changed their entire taproom model to accommodate the changes. “Getting the new canning line was huge, because we realized we needed to really have the potential to get our product into stores so people could drink at home.”
Later that year, the company revived plans to open a second tap room at 1475 Xenia Avenue, at the former Village Lanes bowling alley building.
Looking to the future, the company is focused on ways to keep up with demand, though any plans for growth will be slow and sustainable, Wolter said.
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