Not So Fast… Great Crescent Returns With Purchase From Holtkamp Winery!

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome

8/28/25

With all the recent talk about breweries closing and consolidating, the ever-present status of craft beer in this country, it’s a ton of fun to get to write about something way happier. Last year, I was heartbroken to have to share the news that Great Crescent Brewery in Aurora, Indiana, was closing its doors. Today, I’m much happier to share that the brand and the equipment from the brewery have been sold to the Holtkamp family, who own and run a great little winery out in Sunman called ‘Holtkamp Winery’.

What does this mean? Let’s break it down, shall we?

Great Crescent Lives On

The obvious point in this news is that a brand that a ton of folks absolutely loved will live on, in the hands of a new ownership group that seems (I don’t personally know them, so I’m looking from the outside in) will take loving care of it.

Great Crescent, to give you a little context, was one of the first breweries in Greater Cincinnati (in the modern craft beer sense). They were founded in 2008 when they opened a small nano brewery in a small storefront. Over the next 12 years, the brewery grew, they added a restaurant, started (and stopped) canning… they gained fans for a spot that was always filled with some of the warmest, nicest people that I’ve met. It was one of those places that, when they announced their closure, was accompanied by a real pain to think of a community without them in it.

Holtkamp Winery

Holtkamp Winery was founded in 2013, establishing a commercial winery that would open a tasting room two years later, in 2015. They grow around 17 different varieties of grapes over 6.5 acres of vineyards at two different sites, and from that produce a huge variety of estate wines.

I mentioned earlier that I haven’t been to the winery – but… with that said, I have had multiple people tell me that this is their favorite local winery. Family-owned, small, but producing great wine (and wood-fired pizza) that will make sure you enjoy your evening with friends or family.

The Takeaway

It’s hard to take a brand like Great Crescent that grew up on the back of a local first, family-focused mentality (especially in a small community like Aurora), and let it continue somewhere else. It’s hard to expect it to survive anywhere else, and in the arms of anyone else.

I say that, with full optimism that it won’t have trouble doing it with new ownership, because that’s exactly what they’ve been doing with their own winery since it opened. I’m a firm believer that they seem to get it.

I’ll be watching this one closely, and obviously will be updating the news as the brewery reopens and there’s some beer to taste! Cheers to the Holtkamp family, the Valas family, and to all the Great Crescent fans that hopefully have a hole that was in their heart being filled with this update!