Dayton Beer

© 2019 Timothy R. Gaffney I'll be at The Barrel House in downtown Dayton this week to share a bit of the Miami Valley's brewing history, especially one Dayton brewer who sticks to this location in my mind. It's one of those strange associations the brain—mine, anyway—makes between seemingly unrelated things. In this case, it has more to do with boots than barrels, or even beer. Nicholas "Nick" Thomas (1825-1913) is one of three strong men and women among Dayton's 19th century brewers whom I'll profile in my "History and a Pint" presentation at The Barrel House, 417 East Third Street, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15. I'll sign copies of Dayton Beer and I'll have books available for sale. Thomas grew up on a farm in the kingdom of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany. He immigrated to the United States in late 1847, landing in New Orleans and making his way up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Cincinnat...

Warped Wing and Barrel House are in the heart of Dayton's original brewing district. © 2019 Timothy R. Gaffney When you visit the Warped Wing Brewing Co.  or The Barrel House in downtown Dayton— as I will on Aug. 7  and Aug. 15 —you journey to the heart of Dayton's Historic Brewing District. Warped Wing occupies a former foundry building at 26 Wyandot Street, just south of East Main between North Patterson Boulevard and Wayne Avenue. The Barrel House is in an old commercial building at 417 E. Third. They're both close to where Dayton's founders built their first cabins and close to where its first breweries opened. George Newcom, one of Dayton's original settlers, built his cabin    on the southwest corner of Main and Monument in 1796 and later enlarged it  into a two-story tavern. He added a brewery  about 1810. It was Montgomery County's first brewery, according to historian Augustus Waldo Drury . Sketch of Newcom Tavern, from Lutzenb...