Jarfly Brewing has local owners
SOMERSET, Ky. (May 16, 2016) — Somerset’s first craft brewery celebrated the beginning of American Craft Beer Week Sunday with the installation of tanks in its newly renovated facility on the town’s fountain square.
Jarfly Brewing owners and Somerset residents Daniel Stroud and Delaney Stephens, who have been working since fall 2015 to remodel the former Goldenberg Furniture building on West Mount Vernon Street, hope to open their brewery and taproom to the public by mid-summer. With tanks installed, they can soon begin brewing in the new location.
Stroud and Stephens will introduce three craft beers when Jarfly Brewing opens this summer — a dry-hopped session IPA, a coffee stout infused with locally roasted coffee, and a pre-prohibition style Kentucky Common ale. Seasonal and experimental brews will also be a focus during the brewery’s first year. And though Jarfly beer will only be sold in the taproom initially, patrons will be able to purchase crowlers — 32-ounce, recyclable aluminum cans — to take home.
Stroud began brewing beer in 2005 as a pastime. Upon meeting Stephens, the two discovered a common and deep appreciation for beer that started a conversation about opening a craft brewery. They began brewing together in 2014 and researching the craft beer market in short order. That research proved favorable for both Kentucky and Somerset, Stroud said, not only in the general popularity of craft beer, but also in the support of new business.
“This is an area that has shown the need and capacity to take in a business like Jarfly,” Stroud said. “Our town is supporting its own. There’s a major trend here in supporting local items and independent commerce, which goes along well with our business model.”
Everything involved in the creation of Jarfly Brewing is symbolic of transformation — from the brewing process itself, to the growing trend from domestic to craft beer, to the legalization of alcohol sales in Somerset three years ago, and finally, to the conversion of the building that was once Somerset’s premier furniture store for 105 years into a brewery. It seemed fitting then, Stroud said, that Jarfly’s brand should also communicate transformation. The logo does so through the visual representation of an insect’s metamorphosis.
The Goldenberg Furniture building has experienced its own metamorphosis, with care being taken to ensure the building’s infrastructure compliments the space, Stephens said. Modern and efficient lighting combined with climate control and the reuse of structural elements — such as floor beams converted to tables and benches — make the space a unique mix of modern and traditional.
The store safe, which dates back to the 1930s, will be the centerpiece of the bar, and through preserved storefront windows, passers-by will be able to watch the brewing process take place. A garage door has been installed in the other storefront window so that when lifted, patrons sitting at tables experience outdoor seating where they can hear and see the fountain at the square and take in downtown Somerset’s charm while enjoying their beer.
“Everything we’ve done in the space has complimented the way it has been for the last 100 years,” Stephens said.
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