On day three of Local Foods Week (Monday), I opted for a tour of the Elevator Brewery in downtown Columbus. The brewery is located in an old warehouse about 2 blocks from the Elevator Restaurant (it is almost a straight line from door to door, if you pause for cars). For $20, I got a T Shirt, a pint glass (which I could fill for free that night) and an hour long tour with a lot of questions and answers mixed in with several samples of beer and some malt to munch on.
The brewery is observing the tenth year of beer production. They completed the relocation of their production facility from Marysville to downtown Columbus in early 2009. For a few months, the Elevator brewers were operating two breweries as the new brewery ramped up for production at full capacity. The first Columbus batch of beer was started December 31st of 2008.
I have read that the recession has seen an increase in microbrew consumption. This seems to be true of locavore beer pourers as well. Sales and production of Elevator beers by July 2009 were the same as all of 2008.
For more background on beer crafting and touring at the Elevator, I suggest reading this article from Columbus Alive on the Elevator Brewery
The bad news is that I went on the tour and you did not. The good news is that the tours are now offered on most Saturdays by appointment. Give Caleb Amos a call at 679-2337 (BEER).
CMH Gourmand - Eating in Columbus & Ohio 