Work is underway on Downtown’s newest brewery. Holy Trinity Brewing is aiming for a July opening at 155 N. Fifth St. Downtown.
Holy Trinity Brewing’s taproom will occupy 7,500 square feet of a 100-year-old building which most recently housed a dance studio and weightlifting gym. At the helm are husband-and-wife team Tim and JoAnn McFeely.
Tim is the brewer, embarking on the learning curve of home brewing eight to nine years ago. After a move to Columbus and upping his home brewing game, beers went from self-described “very not good” to sippers that they, and others, were enjoying.
Although they don’t come from an industry background, Tim is a nurse manager at the James, and JoAnn an ophthalmic tech, the couple initially wanted to open a sports bar. But as Tim got better at home brewing, “We decided that a brewery made more sense,” JoAnn says. “It gave us more control over what we were serving and making beer that people would like.”
As for the name, “Our trinity is religion, sports and beer,” JoAnn says.
All three play a hand in how they met. As fate would have it, the two were watching an NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots at a sports bar in North Carolina in 2005. When, thanks to beer, JoAnn stood up on a chair and yelled, “Somebody break Tom Brady’s leg.” Tim knew he’d found the one.
“For me, that really made me realize that was the perfect woman for me,” he says.
They were married four months later.
Fifteen years later, they’re building a brewery in the middle of a pandemic. The coronavirus certainly has been a concern, but the couple find themselves in a unique position to have ample square footage and the ability to build out their taproom to accommodate social distancing.
The front 5,000 square feet of space will be the main taproom. Airy with tons of natural light from the windows that line the front of the building, JoAnn describes it as heaven for beer. Things will be a little darker in the back 2,500 square feet. A project for down the road, the graffitied walls left over from the gym will stick around for a taproom that’s more members-only / mug-club style. It’s where new releases or limited releases could be poured – and will provide Tim an opportunity to spread his brewing wings.
Holy Trinity Brewing will have 18 beers on tap – all their own creations. Reflecting the way they like to drink – rarely sipping on the same style of beer all night – Holy Trinity Brewing will see a wide variety of styles of beer. Whether IPA fan or porter preferrer, imbibers should be able find something they like.
The beers will come with some tongue-in-cheek names, too. The Coco Berry Jesus, a coconut raspberry imperial stout, has been a favorite among friends, and nabbed a first place award in the home brew contest at the Ohio State Fair last year. There’s also the Cherry Poppin’ Jesus, a cherry porter, and Christ on a Cracker, a (you guessed it) wheat beer.
The taproom won’t serve its own food, but instead rely on a lineup of food trucks.
Initially looking in their Westerville neighborhood before expanding the search further outward, Tim and JoAnn feel they’ve found the perfect location in their Downtown digs.
“Where we’re located, you can see PINS Mechanical from the back of our building; there’s Elevator 13th Floor, Wolf’s Ridge, if you go a couple of blocks down the way, there’s Platform,” JoAnn says. “You can actually park in one spot and walk to all of these breweries.”
Obsessed with all things beer – brewing it, talking about brewing it, showing other people how to brew it – Tim has been taking coworkers on walking brew tours in the area. Now he’ll have one more spot to add to his outings – his own brewery.
For more information, visit Holy Trinity Brewing’s Facebook Page.
