COMING SOON: 3 Dayton-area breweries we’re looking forward to in 2018

The Dayton-area brewery scene is about to get a lot more interesting.

A second wave of brewery openings is coming to the region, and we’ve got some new details on a couple of those new breweries.

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Local beer enthusiasts have done a fine job of supporting the first dozen trailblazer breweries that opened in the Miami Valley over the last six years. None of the Dayton area’s young breweries have closed. On the contrary, nearly all have expanded, some significantly.

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Here are three of the half-dozen or so new breweries that are in the works that we’re looking forward to trying in 2018. And a couple of these are closer to pouring their first pint than you might have thought.

• Devil Wind Brewing is a 3,000-square-foot brewery coming soon to 130 S. Detroit St. in downtown Xenia. The space will seat as many as 100, and plans call for distributing Devil Wind beers in kegs to local establishments shortly after opening.

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Here’s an update from Douglas Lane, one of the brewery’s founders:

“We have been hard at work for the past couple of months trying to get things ready. … We now have equipment in place! We have spent the past couple of weeks cleaning and passivating tanks, getting our glycol chiller running, and hooking the brewhouse up to our control panel. We are hoping to set up an inspection with the state soon so we can start brewing.”

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“As far as the taproom goes, we are still working through inspections with the city and county. We can’t give a set date for our opening yet, but as soon as we are passed on certain areas, we can continue finishing up the taproom. We are getting closer by the day!”

Devil Wind will become the second brewery to operate in Xenia during this century. The Miami Trail Brewery opened in Xenia in the late 1990s and shut down by 2002, and was, during its time, the only craft brewery in the Dayton area.

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• The new brewery called Branch & Bone Artisan Ales is also making progress. Branch & Bone is in the works at 905 Wayne Ave. in Dayton's Historic South Park.

RELATED: Another new Dayton brewery in the works, this one in South Park

Branch & Bone co-founder Brett Smith gave us this update:

“Things are going well at Branch & Bone. Construction is wrapping up. We have just some cosmetic things to be done. We are setting up the brewhouse now — all of our equipment is in house. We received our Federal brewers notice and once we get licensed with the state we will begin making beer.”

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Dayton’s newest brewery will be built in space that previously housed P&D Body Shop.

• The new brewery called Alematic Artisan Ales is in its early fermentation stages in Huber Heights.

RELATED: New craft brewery is coming to Huber Heights this summer

The new brewery’s founders are working with an architect and gearing up to build out 4,000 square feet of retail space at 6182 Chambersburg Road in the Huber Center near Brandt Pike (Ohio 201), according to Jerrod Fisher, co-founder and lead brewer for Alematic Artisan Ales.

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Fisher said the new brewery will specialize in craft beer and hard cider, and also will make its own wines and gluten-free craft beers.

Fisher and business partners Mike Meholick and Greg Cason had looked for a suitable space in downtown Dayton and in suburbs south of Dayton, but ultimately turned their attention to Huber Heights, where Meholick and Cason both live.

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Plans call for a 100-seat taproom. The brewery will initially serve only its own beers, ciders and wines, and it will have the equipment to can and bottle, Fisher said. If all goes well with licensing and construction, Alematic Artisan Ales could open as soon as late spring or early summer of 2018.

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