USA, OH: North Water Brewing Co. hopes to be able to open in Kent by Labor Day

In his previous career as an engineer, Don Schjeldahl toured a lot of cities and towns all over the world. He found areas he liked shared a specific trait.

A craft brewery.

Through his job he began working with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a vanguard of the craft-beer movement. Schjeldahl even spent two years helping the venerable brewery open its outpost in Asheville, North Carolina.

That helped plant the brewing seed.

Schjeldahl met Ken Carter, a local home brewer, and that mesh of business and beer has resulted in North Water Brewing Co. Scheduled opening date is around Labor Day, though shelter-in-place orders have made that a bit of a moving target.

"Construction has started, equipment's coming, we're getting prepped for product," Schjeldahl said. "If everything happens right and coronavirus goes away and people get thirsty again, we will be there for them."

Carter, 37, is from Tallmadge, while the semi-retired Schjeldahl, 70, is from Kent. They are part of a large group of investors who bought a 4,200-square foot building at 101 Crain Ave. in Kent, near the convergence of North Water and Lake streets.

The building dates to the 1920s and had been a car dealership and collision-repair shop, they said. It's a long, industrial, open space with lots of windows and block construction.

"It's on the Portage hike and bike trail, it's right by the Cuyahoga River with nearby kayak and canoe launch spots," Schjeldahl said. "We're right next door to a local bike shop." A feed store also is next door so they are mulling events like 'bird seed and beer' and 'bikes and beer' and 'trail runs and beer,' he said.

"Our whole vision for this is a community-based meeting place," Schjeldahl said. "It's something that will support the arts and sustainable environment and local business."

That vision was formed in part by Schjeldahl. In a previous career with Cleveland-based Austin Company, which has roots dating to the 19th century, he traveled quite a bit.

"I would see these craft breweries and see what they would do for these towns, particularly smaller towns, maybe hurting a little bit," he said. "I witnessed that these microbreweries became a catalyst for rejuvenating downtowns, which then in turn made them more attractive for investments."

That idea fermented for four years, staying with him as he worked on assorted economic-development projects.

When he was seeking a brewer, Schjeldahl even went so far to look to the University of California-Davis, whose renowned brewing-education program is supported by the Chico, California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing. But a friend of Carter's ended up introducing the two men, and a business relationship was born. Fundraising began last summer, and the initial construction phase is under way.

Carter brought in Rob Vitarella, an electrical engineer from Kent. The two have brewed together for 10 years, though this will be their first commercial venture.

"He's the meticulous kind of mad scientist," Carter said. "Every recipe we’ve ever made we’ve got meticulous notes on how it's made."

Those recipes will be churned out on a seven-barrel system. Flagship will be a Rye Pale Ale, which will be one of six initial beers. Down the road they hope to have six cores and six rotating beers.

"Rob likes to experiment and play around quite a bit," Carter said. That will play well with the healthy home-brew collective in Kent, he added.

“We want to encourage that community to come in and actually feel like they have a home to geek out about beer,” he said.

Expect beer names to pay homage to Northeast Ohio's history and traditions - the industrial innovative economy, the outdoors, railroad, historic figures and others, they said.

"There's no other place like it in Kent," Schjeldahl said. "There's a lot of good places in Kent - there's a lot of good bars - but this is really unique."

16 April, 2020