New brewery could open soon in Middletown


BUTLER COUNTY BREWERIES

  • Unbridled Brewery plans to open in Middletown in 2016 at 3387 Cincinnati-Dayton Road;
  • Municipal Brew Works plans to open in Hamilton in 2016 at 20 High St.;
  • Rivertown Brewing plans to build and open a brewery in Monroe by 2017 off Ohio 63;
  • DogBerry Brewing opened in 2015 at 7865 Cincinnati Dayton Rd., West Chester Twp.;
  • Quarter Barrel Brewery + Pub at 107 E. Church St., Oxford; and
  • MillerCoors operates a brewery in St. Clair Twp. on more than 1,000-acres along Wayne Madison Road.

Not on the list but opening a local brewery? Email this reporter at chelsey.levingston@coxinc.com

The latest craft brewery set to open in the area will be in Middletown on Cincinnati-Dayton Road, where Unbridled Brewery plans to open a beermaking, tasting and sales operation, the property owner said.

Unbridled has leased about 8,400 square feet of space at 3387 Cincinnati-Dayton Road. The newly constructed building was one of two commercial facilities built speculatively by Middletown developer PS Properties, with the site neighboring Unbridled’s future brewhouse filled by a BP pipelines office, said Paul Sivak, president of the commercial real estate development company.

“With the traffic count… we thought it would be a good location,” Sivak said.

A brewery owner could not be immediately reached by deadline Thursday.

“They’re going to be opening up a facility in Monroe at some point in the future, but they needed to get on the ground and running now,” Matt Eisenbraun, assistant economic development director for Middletown, said Thursday about Unbridled Brewery. He was speaking to attendees of a luncheon Thursday hosted by The Chamber of Commerce Serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton at Miami University Middletown. “We had the opportunity to put them in place and get them rolling.”

Unbridled Brewery’s opening plans mark at least the third brewery publicly known to have announced an opening in Butler County this year.

Construction is underway on renovations for Municipal Brew Works opening in downtown Hamilton in the city's former municipal building at 20 High St.

Also, Rivertown Brewing Co. announced late last year plans to build and open an approximately $5 million production, restaurant and bar space in Monroe near the intersection of Ohio 63 and Salzman Road. Rivertown is set to become fully operational in 2017.

Started in 2009, Rivertown, known for its sour beers, has outgrown its existing space in Lockland faster than anticipated, Roeper said.

"We're making a huge investment," Jason Roeper, Rivertown's founder and leader, previously told this news outlet. "We're calling it our forever brewery."

The new craft breweries in the works join so-called "nano-brewery" DogBerry Brewing in West Chester Twp., as well as the massive MillerCoors outside of Trenton.

Additionally, there are plans to open a distillery called Liberty Spirits to make bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, moonshine, vodka and gin, but a location and other details have not yet been finalized.

A state law passed in 2013 cut start-up costs for micro-breweries and made it easier for a growing number of craft distilleries and brewers to sell to the public, helping trigger growth and expansion of the emerging industry in Ohio.

NOTE: This story was updated online Friday, Feb. 5, 2016, due to incorrect information provided to Journal-News about the brewery’s opening date. Hopes are for the brewery to open in Middletown sometime this year at a date yet to be determined.

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