USA, OH: Warped Wing Brewing Company to open second brewery in Springboro

Dayton-based Warped Wing will open a second brewery and tasting room to be called “Warped Wing Brewing Company Barrel Room & Smokery” in downtown Springboro, the Dayton Daily News reported on June 21.

The new brewery will be the first retail user for Mills Development’s “Wright Station” project at the intersection of Ohio 741 and Ohio 73. The 20,000-square-foot facility will include a large taproom with outdoor biergarten, barrel-aging space for more than 400 barrels, a taproom, an eatery, a “test-pilot” brewery, special-event space, as well as canning, packakging and distribution equipment, brewery and developer officials said in a release.

The new Warped Wing Brewing Company Barrel Room & Smokery could open as early as the summer of 2020. Nick Bowman, Warped Wing co-founder and vice president of sales and marketing, said he and the brewery’s other co-owners “are absolutely committed to our production brewery and taproom” in downtown Dayton.

“We love being a part of the downtown Dayton community,” Bowman said. “Springboro gives us the opportunity to expand our barrel-aged program and incorporate a pilot system to experiment.”

In a release, Bowman said Warped Wing’s barrel-based program “has propelled us into an interesting place. ... My partner, co-founder and brewmaster John Haggerty brought a wealth of knowledge and experience with him when he joined our team six years ago ... . The scale of the new facility and the pilot system will give us endless opportunities to experiment with new styles and flavor profiles.”

Plans call for offering customers special programs such as a Barrel Club Reserve membership, which will allow members to get hands-on tour experiences, exclusive tastings and first-offering purchases of limited bottlings. Warped Wing’s flagship beers also will be available, and there will be an extensive bottle collection available to drink on premise or purchased to go, Warped Wing’s founders said.

Mills Development president Jerad Barnett told this news outlet this morning that Warped Wing’s operations in Springboro would be “just like they’re doing downtown. Actually a little bigger.”

In the release, Barnett said, “We couldn’t have asked for a better first retail user to announce than Warped Wing Brewing Company. They are a fantastic local operator with a proven product and growing fan base, exactly the recipe we are looking for at Wright Station. As we’ve gotten to know their team, it’s no surprise they’ve been successful. We look forward to a long relationship and can’t wait to get started on construction later this summer.” Springboro City Manager Chris Pozzuto said in the release that the city was “searching for a home run to jump-start our redevelopment of the 73/741 intersection and with Warped Wing, we’ve hit a grand slam.”

The brewery’s restaurant will bring what Warped Wing’s owners called “an innovative, eclectic menu to complement the robust beer selection.”

There will be a focus on smoked meat and smoked food items that in many cases will feature Warped Wing beers as ingredients. Other beverages available will be hard cider, wine as well as a limited spirits menu focused on specialty cocktails, as well as non-alcoholic options.

Wright Station is a new urban village center being developed by Mills Development in partnership with the city of Springboro. Anchored by the Springboro Performing Arts Center which opens in the fall of 2019, the development will include a mixture of restaurants, retail shops, office, and other entertainment spaces in a design that is friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists but which also will contain ample parking for vehicles, city officials and the developer said in the release. The performing arts center is already under construction, but Warped Wing is the first business expected to move to Wright Station.

This is a rendering of the redevelopment planned on the northwest corner of Ohio 73 and Ohio 741 in Springboro. A $3.5 million performing arts center, at the top corner of the rendering, is to open by next fall.

The Springboro City Council approved an amendment to the agreement with Barnett for the development, reducing from .60 to .15 cents per square foot the amount his company will pay for the ground lease on the Warped Wing facilities.

22 June, 2019