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Brewery, tap house to open by June on Youngstown’s East Rayen Avenue
YOUNGSTOWN
A brewery and tap room at a former church on East Rayen Avenue will be open for business by next June, its co-owners say.
Ira and Marcy Gerhart received approval Tuesday by the city’s Design Review Committee for a handicap-accessible ramp at the rear of the former Butler Memorial Presbyterian Church for their Noble Creature Cask House business.
The couple is investing $150,000 at the 126 E. Rayen Ave. location in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood near Youngstown State University. They signed a three-year lease with an option to renew for an additional four years, Ira Gerhart said.
“We’ve been looking for the right location and the right site for a long time, and this is it,” he said.
Ira Gerhart is a professional brewer, having done so since 2010, while his wife is a kitchen manager.
“This is our first endeavor into opening a brewery,” he said. “It’s always been a dream to open our own business. It’s been a passion. We’re super excited.”
The business will feature a tap room that will sell sandwiches, appetizers and bagels and be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Customers also can buy beer as well as purchase it by the bottle to go with a small-scale distribution business, Ira Gerhart said.
There will be an exterior deck at the back of the building along with the ramp, he said.
The city plans to give a $12,000 grant to the Gerharts for water and wastewater improvements to the business.
The structure was a working church until about two years ago, the Gerharts said, and the plan is to retain as much of the structure’s interior wood and stained glass as possible.