Columbus’ first brew-on-premises concept has taken another step toward opening. BRU has grown its team by another member with the hiring of Charlie Davis as the head brewmaster.
Davis arrived in Columbus by way of Chicago where he’s been honing his craft at several regional breweries including Finch’s Beer Company and Crown Brewing.
“Ever since I graduated college I’ve wanted to work in the craft beer industry,” he explains. “I started out doing marketing for Pabst, took a brewing school crash course at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, and got a job at Crown Brewing in Crown Point Indiana.”
After learning the ropes at Crown Point, Davis found an opportunity with Finch’s as they were just getting started. He offered his services there as a volunteer and was quickly hired on as a brewer/marketer. His marketing role is what first introduced him to Columbus.
“I was here representing Finch’s at the Columbus Ale Fest back in May, which is where I met Gavin and Jason and learned about BRU,” says Davis. “We met up after the event at World of Beer to talk about the brewmaster position, and now, here we are.”
Davis is experienced in assisting with the startup process at microbreweries, but Columbus is brand new to him.
“I had never been to Ohio prior to the Ale Fest,” he says. “I never really had any reason to come here, but I was surprised at how big Columbus is. I was expecting a small town.”
While getting acquainted with the city is important, Davis is spending the majority of his time testing equipment and perfecting recipes prior to the grand opening of BRU, planned for sometime in October or November.
“When we open we want to have 30 recipes for our customers to choose from to brew,” he explains. “So right now I’m working on those recipes and cranking out 30 all-grain and 30 extract brews in batches of two per day.”
The brewing is all taking place at the home of Gavin Meyers, co-founder of BRU, while construction continues at 1288 North High Street where the bar and brewery will be located. Once up and running, Davis plans on spending a lot of time at the brewery building relationships with customers.
“The whole concept behind BRU is education,” he says. “I have a passion for brewing beer and I think it’s hugely rewarding to teach people how to do it.”
More detail about the concept of BRU can be found HERE.
More information can be found online at www.facebook.com/YouBRU.