The record needle drops on Verona’s Inner Groove Brewing
Kevin Walzer’s “obsession” with vinyl records spun into the name of the brewery he’s opening Saturday in Verona with cobrewer Tim Melle and their wives, Jennifer Walzer and Kelly Melle. “The brains, frankly,” quips the last.
They think the music will go great with the beer at their Inner Groove Brewing at 751 E. Railroad Ave. The building, which once sold home furnishings and interior design, now will be filled with the sounds of spinning vinyl and people enjoying beer brewed in the back.
For those who aren’t familiar with records, the “inner groove” is at the end of the vinyl playing surface, also known as the “run-off” or “run-out” groove. It’s a place where recording artists can “hide” tracks and messages, like the Beatles famously did with their 1967 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album.
As explained on the Inner Groove website, “It seemed fitting for us to re-create this idea into a brewery concept to provide an experience of hidden talents, tastes and turntable tunes.”
The North Hills (Richland and West Deer) couples met through their shared loves of LPs and craft beer, which the men home brewed for years. They already were pouring at events and festivals as Inner Groove Brewing by early 2018 but had to work to find a location for a brewery. Then they had to work to get Verona’s council to approve them, but that happened this past August.
Earlier this month, the space and the beer were finished enough to hold a two-day soft opening. There will be music playing during the grand opening — from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The two turntables behind the bar won’t always be turning, and the place doesn’t overdo the theme, but they have incorporated old albums into signs such as the one over the “Games” nook they set up for children and their parents. It’s behind one of the 17-foot-long avocado green crushed velvet-upholstered church brews they moved into the tasting room that has more room than its legal occupancy of 99 people. The Inner Groove brewery dominates one wall, and various wire spool-topped tables are spaced around. Candles are nestled in holders made from old music cassettes.
The L-shaped bar is topped with black penny tile, and white penny tile gleams on the walls behind that.
All eight taps will be flowing with a range of brews named with musical references customers may or may not immediately get. There’s Blurry Face (from a Twenty One Pilots song) imperial porter that can cause that effect, the banana-ish hefeweizen 6 Foot Bunch (see Harry Belafonte and Lil Wayne), Million Suns American pale ale, Engines On double India pale ale and a fruited kettle sour called Let the Mango Through.
“We want to make sure we have something for you no matter what your favorite style is,” says Ms. Walzer.
Chimes in Mr. Melle from the brewhouse: “I just want to make great beer!”
In scaling up from their 10-gallon home system to this seven-barrel commercial one for these first big batches, “They did an awesome job,” Ms. Walzer notes. “They really did.”
They’ll also offer some Pennsylvania wine and soft drinks and food trucks. (They have BullDawgs Saturday and Porky’s Sunday.) Otherwise, patrons can bring in or order in their own food. Eventually, they plan to do “bring in your own records” events, too.
In planning the experience they want to offer, “We took what we like from different places,” says Ms. Melle, who used to work as a sixth grade teacher. Ms. Walzer and their husbands are keeping their day jobs in digital marketing/software/IT for now.
How does their brewery find its niche in a region increasingly crowded with them? “I always say, I don’t really want to stand out,” says Ms. Melle. “I want to fit in.” “Add to the scene,” adds Ms. Walzer. They loved that their brewery wound up in a walkable town that has a lot of other small businesses, with more on the way.
What started out as KNURD and now is Acclamation Brewing got permission to renovate and open at 555 B Wildwood Ave. in a complex it will share with Pittsburgh Pickle Co. It should open this summer (follow on social media and at www.acclamationbrewing.com).
Also meanwhile, in April, Stonewall Cider House & Meadery opened in April in a lovely renovated storefront on the town’s main drag of Allegheny River Boulevard.
“We love that there’s more than one” craft drinks destination in town, says Ms. Walzer. “It makes it more of a destination.”
Inner Groove’s regular hours to start will be 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 3 to 11 p.m. Friday; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more, visit www.innergroovebrewing.com.
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For the Simply Slavic Heritage Festival in Youngstown, Ohio, Friday and Saturday, Modern Methods Brewing Co. once again brewed a Czech-style amber lager beer. But this year, Rodina not only will be
served on draft at the festival, but it also will pour after the fest at the brewery and other bars and restaurants and be available in bottles, too. The label is a stunner, depicting a Slavic bride who represents the spirit of the event. As organizer John Slanina puts it, “Our beer commemorates the enduring strength of this joyous belief in family — as strong today as it was for our ancestors.”
The mascot’s image — done by Nashville illustrator Sharisse Steber — will be available on Tshirts and posters at the fest. Learn more about it at www.simplyslavic.org. A firken of the beer will be tapped at 8 p.m. Friday on downtown Youngstown’s Federal Plaza East.
Explore the region’s other cideries, meaderies and breweries on the Post-Gazette’s interactive drinks maps at https:// newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/drinkmap.