BREWERY TO BE BUILT ON LAND ALONG RIVERFRONT
Site will have tap room; production will jump to 6,000 barrels a year.
Toxic Brew Company in Dayton’s Oregon District has purchased riverfront land north of downtown to build a brewery and tap room that will boost production tenfold and pave the way for canning and bottling for retail sales.
The project includes plans for a tap room that will offer visitors a view of the Great Miami River to accompany their brew, founder Shane Juhl said Thursday. The brewery also could host occasional festivals.
The project cost will likely exceed $1 million, Juhl said. That represents a significant investment in Old North Dayton, which has struggled in recent years with vacant industrial and commercial sites.
The 4.3-acre tract at the end of Janney Road is on the east side of the Great Miami River, north of Stanley Avenue and west of Troy Street. The view of the west riverbank includes a railroad trestle and the Great Miami River bike/ recreation trail.
“I am excited,” Juhl said while giving a tour of the property. “I believe this will be a destination spot where people will come to enjoy a beer while overlooking the Great Miami River.”
Juhl looked at several existing structures before noticing the tract of land for sale north of downtown. The ability to build a facility from the ground up will give him the flexibility to design the brewery to his specifications, he said.
Plans call for a 13,000-squarefoot production brewery constructed from concrete, steel and glass. Production will jump from the existing 600 barrels a year to 6,000, Juhl said. Among the first beers to be canned will be Toxic’s popular ISO Heaven IPA and Practice Yoga brews.
The brewery currently employs nine, a number that “probably will at least double” when the new brewery opens, Juhl said.
Construction is scheduled to start next spring, and if all goes well, “I’d like to be brewing in a year,” Juhl said.
The Oregon District tap room will remain open, and its brewery will focus on sours and farmhouse ales.
The brewery has signed a distribution agreement with Columbus-based Premium Beverage to distribute its beers throughout Ohio.
The project further advances the Dayton area’s brewing renaissance. More than a dozen breweries have opened in a region that had none five years ago. None have closed, and nearly all have expanded, some significantly. Warped Wing, Yellow Springs Brewery and Dayton Beer Company are all canning beer for retail sales throughout the area and beyond.