All About Bardwell Brewing
Mt Orab is home to Sons of Toil, a really fantastic destination brewery – but they were also home to a place called Bardwell for a period that took a really different approach to their brewery. They were small… really small. Even their wine-making operations, which was their primary business, were extremely small, but that was the charm of the place.
The winery was first started in 2008 when the owners got caught up in the Real Estate drought and were looking to find a new journey together. What resulted was a neighborhood winery, that maintained itself as a community hub, and a place that didn’t have to strive to be anything more than what they were.
In 2021, they quietly announced on social media that they would be retiring and that Bardwell was shutting its doors for good.
What Was Bardwell Like?
The winery/restaurant was located in the historic Moon Buggy Factory, right off of 32 in Mt. Orab. They had a few of their own beers on tap without any rotation of special seasonals or experimental brews. It was never the place that you go because you want to get a massive variety of beers, but it was a fun place to grab dinner and have a beer while you were there.
The atmosphere of Bardwell could best have been described as “homey.” It was comfortable and didn’t have even the slightest hint of pretentiousness that I know a lot of beer drinkers fear when they think of the wine industry. I stopped in on a couple of different occasions and only got beer without feeling the least bit pressured into wine, as well.
The Bardwell Timeline
- 2009 – The winery opens for business… but without beer.
- 2014 – The winery adds beer.
- 7/9/2021 – Bardwell quietly announces on their social media that they would be retiring and closing the business for good.
Drinking Some Bardwell Beer, Finally!