Birdfish Brewing Company, LLC is a local craft brewery with an onsite tasting room located at 140 E. Park Avenue Columbiana, Ohio 44408. The Company was established in 2015 and currently has 34 employees. The taproom is open seven days a week and provides a gathering space for customers to enjoy time with their friends and family.
Birdfish specializes in a wide realm of craft beers to serve a diverse customer base. Craft styles made in 2019 range from Pilsner, Stout, Porter, Sours, IPA, Barrel Aged Stouts/Barleywine/Sours, and Lagers.
The cap of the decade was a record year for Birdfish as we entered our fourth year in business. Birdfish entered 2019 with the official opening a new tasting room. This follows a year in 2018 in which planning and executing expansion for the facility had occurred.
The new tasting room offers entertainment for the whole family. The tasting room has a wall of pinball machines, bowling games, and bubble hockey – all owned and operated by our friends at Pirate’s Life Pinball. Expansion continued with the addition of a new patio along side Park Avenue in Columbiana!
Birdifsh had a record setting year in terms of growth in production. Production capacity increased by more than 100% from the beginning of 2019 by the end of 2019. Overall, beer production was increased by 60% over 2018
With the increase in capacity, we increased the amount of craft beers being canned and bottled. Birdfish had 19 new can/bottle releases in 2019! More than half of the new can releases were also brand new beers in 2019.
During 2019, our Tips for Cause continued with great success throughout the year. Between Tips for a Cause events and other charitable events, Birdfish helped raise more than $16,000 in various organizations. In addition to tips for a cause, our employees have volunteered with Second Harvest Food Bank, which is a volunteering activity in conjunction with Harvest Haze a beer brewed to raise additional funds for the organization.
The year also marked a new partnership with Austintown Pediatrics. Birdfish and Austintown Pediatrics started a 3 year commitment to raise $10,000 to support four charitable causes that support each pediatrics in some capacity. This partnership is referred to as the Charity Collaboration Project. Austintown Pediatrics purchased a 15 barrel fermenter for Birdfish’s use in production, and in return, Birdfish will make donations from revenues generated by beer sold from that fermenter!
The year marked a historic year for the City of Columbiana. The City implemented the Mahoning Valley’s first DORA – Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area. This is an area in which individuals can purchase drinks from a permitted establishment in a special cup and can walk around the DORA district.
As production expanded, as did our footprint in wholesale distribution. Our market area expanded into Summit, Stark, and Cuyahoga counties. A new customer for 2019 was Blossom Music Center. We were fortunate to have supplied beer for the entire concert series in Cuyahoga Falls.
Outlook on 2020 – More Righteous Beer for the Righteous Kind! Look for new can/bottle releases throughout the year. We plan to expand our onsite facilities. In addition, we plan to expand our canning and bottling offerings. We will continue to evaluate the need for additional production capacity as we did in 2019.
We will continue to source more local ingredients as we did in 2019. We have been a collaborative business since day one and will continue to expand those opportunities.
A key challenge that we face in 2020 will be remaining on track and sustaining the growth that we have experienced since first opening in 2015.
One this is for certain, 2020 will bring you many new things to try…. We’re looking to have fun and to try some new things!
