Partners Luke Brevoort and Vaughn Stewart are putting the finishing touches on Bookhouse Brewing (1526 W. 25th St.), a neighborhood brewery and taproom located on the ground floor of the W. 25th Streets Lofts in Ohio City. The longtime friends announced this past winter their plans to transform a 19th-century space, once home to Baehr Brewing, into a laid-back saloon where neighbors could connect over a few pints of freshly brewed beer.
Luke Brevoort (left) and Vaughn Stewart Credit: Douglas Trattner
The first pints will begin to flow this Friday at 3 p.m.

Differentiating itself from both the rough and ready garage-style brewhouse and the cavernous factory-size production facility, Bookhouse is delightfully cozy, with fine carpentry softening exposed brick walls, tile floors and tin ceilings. Bookshelves line the walls, lending a snug reading room vibe to the 100-seat space. Stools and chairs are adorned with brass plaques bearing the names of Kickstarter donors.

“We really want to differentiate ourselves in terms of the vibe of the place, to sort of be the calm within the storm,” explains Brevoort. “Places can get a little crazy on weekend nights and we want to be a place that’s a little lower key.”

Stewart, who brewed at Portside for the last 18 months of that brewery’s life, as well as at Arcadia Brewing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is brewing on a 7-barrel system from Bridgetown Brew Systems in Portland. At the ready for opening day will be seven house beers, a handful of collaboration brews, and a couple guest pours. Craft beer lovers can look forward to flights flush with hoppy West Coast-style IPAs, wet-hopped blonde ales, Belgian pale ales, goses, saisons and porters. Rounding out the selection will be dry and off-dry ciders, cold-brew coffee and ginger beer. There will be no hard alcohol served for the time being.

To pair with the pints there will be hand pies and sausage rolls from Larder, popcorn from Campbell’s, and a few pastries.

Glimpse of history

This article appears in Sep 12-18, 2018.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

2 replies on “First Look: Bookhouse Brewing, Opening this Weekend in Ohio City”

Comments are closed.