USA, OH: Brink Brewing Co. set to open on February 14

College Hill's first brewery is set to open during a very romantic time of the year, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported on January 25.

Brink Brewing Co. at 5905 Hamilton Ave. is set to cut the ribbon on the brand new brewery on Feb. 14, opening to the public five days later on Feb. 19.

The brewery has made a lot of progress in the year since its owners announced it. It needed entirely new power and plumbing and is now completely overhauled on the inside to make it a welcoming community space. That's the brewery's strategy – rather than jumping straight into distributing its product around the city, Brink is aiming at being a community space devoted to College Hill.

Marketing director Sarah McGarry – whose husband John McGarry serves as CEO of the brewery along with her brother Kelly Montgomery, who is its head brewer – is an interior designer in Denver by trade and handled the overhaul of the building.

"We would rather meet people, sit down with them, talk about beer, talk about what we're passionate about, find out what they're liking and not liking rather than race to get on Kroger shelves day one," she said. "It's all about the human connection."

Brink has large garage doors that open onto the street in the front and a patio in the rear of the brewery.

The building's original tin ceiling was uncovered and restored, and a brick wall was revealed to showcase the building's charm. Grainwell in Covington created the signage out of cut wood letter blocks that can be quickly moved to show what beers are on tap at the moment as an alternative to the chalkboard seen at many other breweries. Such and Such in Over-the-Rhine is creating the tap handles, and beetle kill pine wood from Colorado was brought in for the back wall to make a connection between the owners' two homes. One wall features a giant Scrabble board laid into it for customers to play.

To heighten the community feel, a large table runs down the middle of the 3,200-square-foot brewery.

"We're hoping everyone comes in and sits and works and spends time with their families," Sarah McGarry said. "We want to be a community destination."

While the McGarrys live in Denver, they're originally from Cincinnati and brewery president Andrew McCleese, head brewer Montgomery and brewer Mark Landers are all local. They had looked all over the city but settled on College Hill after meeting with the College Hill Urban Redevelopment Corp.

"It felt like a really good fit," McGarry said. "I think we're in some ways ahead of the curve. We didn't feel like we were late to the party, we felt like we could be part of the community's resurgence."

The brewery is still working on its opening day lineup but it will have an oatmeal stout, milk stout, IPA, double IPA and nut brown ale on tap.

26 January, 2017