I am so, so pumped to hear this news. I have absolutely fallen in love with Warped Wing over the last few years, and while I was pretty ecstatic that they opened up their barrel house in Springboro – it still wasn’t close enough for me to visit as much as I really wanted to. Today’s news is amazing, because its going to get a lot easier for all of us to swing by for a pint as they take over the old Basil’s location in Mason.

That’s right… they’re most definitely official as a Cincinnati brewery, now.

The Location of the new Warped Wing

Let’s ease into this story and start with the location. The building is massive, and I know you’ve seen it. It’s a big two story building right at the corner of Tylersville and 42 – just around the corner from 16 Lots and down the street from The Common Beer Company. (we’ll get to that in just a minute)… the location is more than 13,000 square feet and has a big biergarten. They’ll remodel the space to include a big indoor taproom, and eventually an event space inside as well.

The space is pretty awesome, but I’ve heard a few comments online from people talking about how the location is so difficult for places to survive there. We need to talk about that. The building was literally built in Ireland. The owner at the time had a firm build it, and then shipped it over to Mason where it was put together and became the Brazenhead Irish Pub – a fantastic addition to Mason, which desperately needed places like it at the time. While I’ll agree that during it’s tenure, the Brazenhead might have been suffering from declining sales, they were on track to turn things around – bringing in a new management team, doing some renovations and revamping the menu. Then the owner passed away. The family had no interest in being in the restaurant business – and they were forced to shutter the restaurant for good.

The next business to move in was Basils – a successful chain of family friendly restaurants in the area. They poured a ton of money into the space with some updates and were looking like they were going to really start making some waves when they announced they were adding a small brewery to the building. For them? 2020 marked the end of the dream – you guys remember that stuff… right?

The point here is that I think both of these businesses were on the right track, and it was outside forces that finished them off. To blame the location? The corner of Tylersville and 42? If I knew which emoji meant “pssssssh” – I’d put it right here. This space is finally due, and I’m thrilled to see Warped Wing able to bring new life into it for the long haul.

The Food!!!!

I used to give Mason a lot of crap about not having great places to eat… and while it’s certainly gotten a lot better, there area a lot of souless chain restaurants in Mason, still. Warped Wing is looking to do their part to help with that, bringing a full service restaurant along with the new brewery. To start off they’ll be doing a menu that is very similar to the one in Springboro, with a heavy focus on smoked meat.

If you haven’t been to the Springboro location – trust me… this is fantastic news!

From traditional BBQ to smoked tacos and poutine – coupled up with homemade sides – the core of this menu is really delicious – and you’re definitely gonna be happy with it.

Much like the brewing side of things, though – you can expect the Mason brewery to take on it’s own personality over time. The menu will evolve and change, which is sort of what makes this whole thing fun, right?

Warped Wing Brewing Company is opening up a brewpub in Mason Ohio

The Brewery Side of Things

I’ve been a little hard over the years towards taprooms that pose as breweries – and I want to make it clear that Warped Wing isn’t doing that with this location. They are saying that there will be a pilot system inside the brewery, that will be flexible with what it will brew. I think that’s really important for a brewery that moves into a new market, even if you’re just making a little bit of beer in a space, it’s important for customers to see that it’s an operating brewery.

Currently the plan is to focus on making higher gravity beers in Mason, allowing them to focus on some other styles in Springboro and Dayton. They are being really clear, though, that there aren’t any rules with this. Flexibility and evolution are a big part of the plan when it comes to the brewing operations here, and with that it might change as they settle in.

They’re still shopping for the brewhouse that will end up in the new brewery, so size is still a little in flux, but I’d expect you’d end up seeing something in the 3-5bbl range. I also think that they’re going to be busy. Mason is chomping at the bit to have more places like this the create more opportunities for folks to stay in the suburbs in the evenings and weekends. Between parties, date nights, game days… there are going to be a lot of people wanting to find more neighborhood spots to support.

Oh… the neighborhood – we should talk about that, too.

The Mason Brewery District

I love these pockets of breweries that have started to form in some places around town. The idea that you can head over to a different neighborhood, and spend the day hopping to a couple different places scratches the beer geek itch in my brain perfectly. Mason is becoming a really great destination for that, too.

From the new location:

  • 16 Lots is right around the corner .5 miles… you can walk.
  • The Common Beer Co is 1.3 miles down the road.
  • Grainworks is 3.3 miles away
  • Sonder is 4 miles away
  • Cartridge is 6.3 miles away
  • March First is 6.4 miles away
  • Fretboard is 8.6 miles away
  • Narrow Path is 8.7 miles away
  • Dogberry is 8.9 miles away
  • Firehouse Grill is 9.2 miles away
  • Third Eye is 9.4 miles away

That gives us 11 breweries within 10 miles of each other… IN THE SUBURBS. This is fantastic for those folks who happen to live in the suburbs, and the thought that you have people who live closer to downtown and might actually want to venture out to spend some time in Mason? That’s pretty freaking exciting for Mason.

The Moral Of The Story

It’s fun when an established brewery comes into Cincinnati and sets up shop… it might be easy to get territorial and pretend that they’re “outsiders”, but at the end of the day… it’s way more fun to embrace them. More beer is always welcome if you ask me, especially when it’s good beer. When you look at Warped Wing specifically – even the grumpiest of beer geeks would have a hard time saying that these guys haven’t been part of Cincinnati for a long time. Their ties run deep, and we’ve been drinking their beer for a long time at this point. We have been inviting them to the table… they’ve just been busy.

To finally have them sit down and admit that they love Cincy enough to set up shop is long, long overdue.

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