UPDATE – 5/1/24 – The brewery has announced that the location will be opening on 5/3/24!

This is one of those stories that I feel like we’ve been whispering about for a long time, now. The township wasn’t exactly secretive about their plans to get HighGrain Brewing Company into the former Brentwood Bowling location on Winton Road, and so folks who were paying attention sort of knew that it was coming.

That doesn’t mean that this second location for the brewery isn’t exciting, or that we shouldn’t be talking about it… it’s just taken me way longer than it should have to get a post put together.

A Quick HighGrain History

Since there is a chance that some of the folks reading this might not have any clue who HighGrain is – I thought it might be fitting to get all of us on the same page. HighGrain opened their doors in 2019 over in Silverton, taking over a former municipal building. Their concept is simple, yet done really, really well. It’s a small brewpub, that has grown to sending a decent amount of beer out into the local distribution market.

That means that while you should be able to find a few of their beers at any given time in any of the more reputable bottle shops and bars – most of what they are doing is designed to be consumed in their space, hopefully with some food and good friends around you.

The brewery has continued to grow, and so has demand for what they’re doing. One trip (and taste) and you’ll understand why… they’re doing some really, really fun stuff (don’t miss their slow pour pilsner tap if you’re a fan of traditional styles). The increased demand saw them quickly moving to figure out new ways to add on production capacity to their location, which isn’t easy in the small building that it occupies.

That’s where Springfield Township Comes In.

The Former Brentwood Bowling Alley

Right around the same time that HighGrain was experiencing their growth, Springfield Township found themselves purchasing the former Brentwood Bowl from a developer. They were deadset on keeping the location intact as a community gathering spot, but weren’t sure how to accomplish that goal.

Springfield Township’s director of administrative services just happened to be having a pint of beer over at HighGrain when she struck up a conversation with ownership. The topic of their growth, and the pains that were coming along with it came up. Lightbulbs went off. More serious conversations started happening, and the starts aligned for the serendipitous meeting of HighGrain and the space on Winton Rd.

What To Expect, What Not To Expect

This is always a tough step for a brewery… their second location. The balance of taking what makes you, you – while allowing a new space to develop its own personality is sometimes a difficult one. When Highgrain started their planning for the Brentwood location, they already knew who they were. They are a brewery that values sustainability efforts, preserving the past via traditional brewing methods and in reviving spaces in their community. They believe strongly in the relationship between beer, food, and community.

With all of these things in mind, plans for the new location came together.

The building will house a production space, a new restaurant concept run by the brewery, event spaces that are able to be rented out, a covered patio that opens up to an outdoor green space to relax with a drink – and on top of all that is the effort to help increase sustainable efforts with the building itself.

While it might not be any small task – it’s one that clearly the brewery is up to.

The Details

Construction for the new location is planned to begin this month (March, 2023) and is expected to take somewhere around 5 months to complete. While they are hoping to have things up and running by the fall – as is true with any project, I hesitate to throw dates out there until things are really close to actually opening.

When it’s all said and done, the project will cost upwards of 3 million dollars, but what it does for the neighborhood that it’s joining is certainly worth far more than that. For anyone who like me has emotional ties to the Brentwood Bowling location – you can embrace them taking over the space from a much deeper level.

I’m thrilled to have these guys in Cincinnati – and even more excited to see them thriving in a market that didn’t know how much we needed them until they showed us.