Yellow Springs Brewery Chief Operating Officer Jayson Hartings raised a pint to toast the local brewery’s good news: A new taproom is set to open in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus in October. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Yellow Springs Brewery to open Columbus taproom
- Published: August 22, 2023
Ohio’s capital is about to get a taste of the village: Last week, Yellow Springs Brewery announced plans to open a second taproom in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus in October.
The brewery aims to move into an existing bar and restaurant currently occupied by the “modern Appalachian” restaurant The Crest, which will be exiting the space in September.
While the brewery will continue serving up its diverse array of craft suds, it will not brew beer at its new location. It will, however, take over The Crest’s kitchen to serve food — a first for the Yellow Springs Brewery, which began its operation in 2013.
As Yellow Springs Brewery’s chief operating officer and longtime village resident Jayson Hartings told the News last week, the fare served at the new taproom will be mostly “tavern” cuisine, such as hamburgers, French fries, chili dogs and the like.
“If I can run a large production brewery, I figured I could probably run a small kitchen,” Hartings said.
Hartings is one of 35 Yellow Springs Brewery staffers who run the taproom at its original location in the Millworks industrial park and the Barrel Room event space on U.S. 68. Once the Columbus taproom opens later this year, Hartings said an additional 10–15 employees will be hired.
“The brewery is really gaining momentum,” Hartings said. “We’re always looking for new opportunities, and this one really fell in our laps.”
Conversations about expanding to Columbus began earlier this year when Abed Alshahal, owner of The Crest reached out to Hartings and brewery founders Nate Cornett and Lisa Wolters. The Crest and Yellow Springs Brewery have maintained a close partnership since both places opened around the same time 10 years ago. After seeing the space and hearing how the brewery could keep most of the existing restaurant and bar’s equipment, Hartings said the “turnkey” offer was too good to pass up.
“Columbus has always been good to us. They love us up there,” Hartings said. “The new taproom location will allow us to increase our brand awareness and give folks another place to get the Yellow Springs Brewery experience.”
Beyond bringing more beer to more people, Hartings said the brewery’s expansion to Clintonville may be good for Yellow Springs as a whole.
“We want to be advocates not just for our beer and our brand, but also our community,” he said. “There’s a big hope that this new taproom will drive people to come check out our village.”
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