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ENTERTAINMENT

Loveland's Narrow Path Brewing plans grand opening

Shauna Steigerwald
ssteigerwald@enquirer.com
Narrow Path Brewing Co. in Loveland.

After many soft openings, Narrow Path Brewing Co. in Loveland is finally celebrating its grand opening. The brewery, 106 Karl Brown Way in Loveland, opens at 8 a.m. Friday.

Chad Powers and Greg Snow are the owners. They met at the Loveland church where Powers is a musician. When he found out Snow had been brewing beer in his free time for a number of years, he threw himself into the hobby.

That was seven years ago. Enter lots of positive encouragement from friends, and "before we knew it we were standing up in a zoning hearing talking about why Loveland should let us open a brewery," Powers said.

Still, he never quite thought it was going to work out. "'This is Mount Everest. We cannot climb this,'" he told himself. "Then all of a sudden we had stumbled backwards into a surprise party and everybody was waiting for us to just do it," he said.

The brewery opened a few days in December, then started opening Wednesdays through Saturdays since the beginning of the year.

"We got into this loop of soft openings," Powers said. "So many people kept coming every weekend that it would literally drain all of our beer. Finally we just said, 'whether we're ready or not, we're going to do it.'"

(And, he figures, they'll be able to celebrate their opening on St. Patrick's Day every year.)

They're now making enough different beers to fill all eight tap lines. The styles include cream ale, IPA, maple bacon porter, coconut porter, Irish red with oak soaked in Jameson, Irish cream coffee stout and some Belgians, including a tart cherry.

"We're home brewers, so we've got about 40 different recipes," Powers said. "We're just throwing things at the wall to see what will stick."

He thinks they'll eventually have four year-round beers, with the remaining taps devoted to seasonals or experiementals. With their small (five-barrel) brewhouse, they "have the freedom and flexibility to be very creative with our beers," he said.

With its current equipment, the brewery's current capacity is 650 barrels a year. Powers guesses that they'll make around 500 barrels this year.

The beer list at Narrow Path Brewing Co. in Loveland.

Customers can see all the equipment in the brewery's tap room, housed in a 2,000-square foot 1950s building that was originally an auto shop. Most recently, it was a workout facility.

Powers did much of the revamp himself. ("I'm the only guy I could afford," he joked.) The look is industrial with rustic elements such as brick and reclaimed wood, he said. There are no TVs, which Powers said is to encourage people to connect with one another. (They will bring in a projector screen for big events, such as March Madness, Powers said.)

But perhaps the building's best feature is its location.

"The genius about this space is that it back up to the bike trail," Powers said.

Building on that, the brewery will have a beer garden with picnic tables and Adirondack chairs and plenty of green space out back.

During Friday's grand opening, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) in honor of Henry Rogers, a Loveland-area child who needs a kidney transplant.

Powers said the brewery will regularly highlight nonprofits organizations in the community. They're planning a program along the lines of the "wooden nickel" programs at grocery stores, where shoppers who bring reusable bags can donate a "coin" to one of a few causes. At Narrow Path, drinkers will place a coaster to designate their donation to one of three causes that the brewery is highlighting at the time. A wall will have more information about the different causes. "We want to help the people who are making our world a really great place ... to raise their flag so people can make a connection," Powers said.

The brewery doesn't serve food, but customers are welcome to bring in food from area restaurants.

Current hours are 4:30-10 p.m. Wednesday through Thursday; 4:30-11 p.m. Friday; 3-11 p.m. Saturday. Powers said they might extend those hours when the weather warms up.

Information: www.narrowpathbrewing.com