Carey Brewing Station celebrates five years of local ingredients

CAREY — Derek Cunningham took ownership of the Carey Brewing Station building in February of 2020. He started a hop yard in 2014, but realized the margins were better for brewing. "We got ready to sign a contract in early March of 2020," he said. At the time, he was teaching marketing, entrepreneurship, finance and economics at Carey High School. He said he had been teaching for about 20 years and was looking for something different. But the best laid plans often go awry and in Cunningham's case, it was because of the COVID-19 pandemic. From hop yard to Carey centerpiece Back in 2014, his son approached him about growing hops, so he did his research and set up a hop yard. "We started out with two runs of hops and over a period of about five years, went from two runs to 14," Cunningham said. "Now we have eight or nine different varieties of hops that produce different flavors in the beer." Cunningham was born and raised in Arcadia on a 700-acre farm that has been in the family for "at least 100 years," he said. The farm is still operational and keeps a crop rotation of corn, wheat and soybeans but has also raised livestock, swine and sheep. Now also using the farm land to grow his own hops that are used in a large majority of the beer brewed at CBS, Cunningham said knowing what he knows now, malted barley would have been a better choice due to the agricultural infrastructure he had to create for the hop yard and the fact that hops are very labor intensive. He says for every one hour he spends helping on the farm, he spends 10 hours in the hop yard and will soon have to replace several of his plants in the next year or so. "Hops grow on a trellis system and will grow 20 feet in the air," he said. "So we had to build a new irrigation system for them." By 2019, he said he was noticing the better margins were in brewing, as opposed to growing, so he worked to open the Carey Brewing Station. "We opened in November of 2020 and have been open ever since," he said. Local ingredients and local customers Cunningham makes a point of using as many Ohio-sourced ingredients as possible, but says that brewing is the one thing he doesn't do. "I pretty much do everything else in the operation," he said. "… We wanted our niche to be that we use only Ohio ingredients." With his own hop yard, Cunningham sources malted barley from Columbus Grove and Marysville. "I don't know of any other Ohio brewery that's doing all Ohio ingredients," he said. He said it's important to him to use as many local ingredients as possible because agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Ohio. Sourcing ingredients from further away may be simpler and would make for a more consistent beer, but he knows firsthand how important sustainable agriculture and supporting local businesses can be. When deciding what the brewer should make, he also knows it's important to stay in tune with what customers want. He also knows customers can be the harshest critics but says that's the way it should be. "Over time, our beers have gotten lighter, less IPAs, more ales because that's where our market is," he said, also saying his regular customers are the most helpful in giving feedback when comparing one batch of a beer to another. "We've done our best to listen to what our customers say." When the Carey Brewing Station first opened, Cunningham said he should have been more critical of the product he was serving. Now in a better financial situation, he says he does his best to serve only the best beer. Obviously dumping product is never fun and Cunningham tries to avoid it as much as possible. "If we get something we don't want, we have to dump it," he said. But he understands it is unfortunately just the cost of doing business. "There's several hundred bucks gone," he reported with a smile, perhaps while also cringing from the loss. Recently hiring a new brewer, he views the opportunity as a chance to "reset." More than just beer Since opening, he says he's realized customers want more food options, something he won't be doing in the future. He says he never wanted to be a restaurant that serves beer because of the greater level of management required to serve food. The Carey Brewing Station has some snack options, but Cunningham recommends eating before arriving or the business food to be brought in. "We have Angelo's Pizza in here almost nightly," he said. In such a small town as Carey, Cunningham says he has always done his best to pull people in with events. "We can't wait for them to walk in." The Carey Brewing Station often hosts pickleball, volleyball and cornhole tournaments as well as live music, tasting events, sporting event viewing and many other events. About to celebrate the five year anniversary of the Carey Brewing Station, Cunningham said his favorite part of owning a business is the customer interaction it requires and is grateful for the support the community has given so far. Undaunted by the fact that many businesses fail within the first five years of operation, the Carey Brewing Station is currently going strong. "Here we are five years later, making it work," Cunningham said.