Rockmill Brewery planning to open two Columbus bars in 2016

The Belgian beers brewed by Rockmill Brewery are beloved in Columbus, but the distance to the Lancaster-based brewery’s taproom has prevented many from enjoying the on-site experience. Fortunately that’s about to change as Rockmill is planning to open not one, but two new concepts in Columbus by the end of this year.

Rockmill has been pursuing a bar in German Village for several months in a space adjacent to Juergen’s, a small german bakery located at 525 Fourth Street. However, several concerns, largely about parking and noise, have been raised by German Village residents about the brewery’s proposed plans, preventing the German Village Commission from approving them.

“People heard ‘brewery’ and they heard ‘tavern’ so they thought it would be people raging in the streets until 2am causing ruckus and problems and disrupting the peace of the neighborhood,” said Rockmill owner Matthew Barbee.

Rockmill is still hoping to get approval for that space, but with a slightly different concept, as the brewery announced recently that they will be opening a bar called Rockmill Tavern in the former World of Beer space, located in the Brewery District at 503 S. Front Street, not too far from the Juergen’s location.

“It seemed like a better fit for Rockmill Tavern given the feedback from German Village,” said Barbee. “It made sense to have the tavern over in the Brewery District and more of a chef-driven dining experience in German Village, and I think when we submit our plans [to the German Village Commission] that the neighborhood will really be excited about it and agree with me that it’s the better fit.”

Even though a primary factor in World of Beer vacating the Brewery District space was their inability to retrofit a kitchen in the building, Barbee says that Rockmill will be able to make a small kitchen work by removing a third of the bar’s walk-in cooler.

“For the size of the space and the size of the kitchen, we’re gonna have to have laser focus in order to execute,” said Barbee. “We’re going to have a really focused, small tavern menu built around the portfolio of our beers and creating some really exciting beer pairings.”

Both the Brewery District bar and the pending-approval German Village cafe will feature on-site brewing equipment, with the Brewery District location focusing on sour beers. Barbee said he had been hesitant to brew sours in Lancaster due to the risk of infection to the rest of Rockmill’s beers posed by open fermentation.

“The idea of having sour production being a separate facility has given me a lot of peace of mind,” said Barbee.

Barbee hopes to have the Brewery District location up and running this fall, and the Juergen’s concept open by the end of the year. Rockmill recently hired brewer Zach Cline, who previously worked for Elevator Brewing, to work on all three breweries.

Rockmill is also moving forward with renovations to their Lancaster facility.

“We got our zoning approved down there, which is very exciting, so we’re gonna build my dream production facility,” said Barbee. “It will have a tasting room connected to it and a restaurant with a formal dining area. The kitchen will also create more of a casual menu for the tasting room.”

Barbee says the renovated farm will also feature a large event space and a separate catering kitchen. Early plans for the Lancaster renovation included adding a hotel, but Barbee said that Fairfield County officials stipulated no overnight business could be conducted on the property.

The Lancaster renovations will not begin until next year, with hopes of being completed by the end of 2017.