Originally a sawmill on the Miami & Erie Canal in the 1828, The Peerless Mill in Miamisburg became a restaurant in 1929. After serving up food for over 8 decades, a major fire destroyed a good portion of the building in 2003. The stone floors and big ceiling beams survived and after a 2 year renovation, the restaurant reopened in 2005. Owner Gary Wiegle had taken out huge loans to rebuild and was faced with increased competition and touch economic times, which he wasn’t able to overcome. The restaurant fell into foreclosure and closed in 2008. After several misfires, it looks like the newest owners, brothers Justin and Brian Kohnen and Brian Yavorsky made have just the recipe to succeed at 319 S. Second St.
The Star City Brewery joins the explosion of microbreweries that are invading the Miami Valley. With their grand opening today (Friday, Nov 15th) at 4pm until 
10pm with food catered in from TJ Chumps and Saturday from 1-10pm with a visit from the Harvest Mobile Cuisine Food Truck. There will be 4 beers on tap to start. I was lucky enough to attend a preview tasting last weekend and enjoyed a flight that included:
Belgian Blonde Ale (ABV 3.8%, IBU 21) reminiscent of the German style Kolsch. Light bodied and lager like. $4 pint/$10 growler
Bavarian Hefeweizen (ABV 4/6% IBU 10) an unfiltered wheat beer with a light banana and clove flavor $5 pint /$13 growler
IPA (ABV 7.4% IBU 56) deep golden in color hoppy with citrus and pine notes. $5 pint /$13 growler
Oatmeal Stout (ABV 5/2% IBU 28) and my favorite by far – with a slight sweetness and roasted hop flavor. $5 pint /$13 growler
Eventually there will be 8 taps, which according to Justin Kohnen will always include the standard four already mentioned and 4 seasonal brews that will rotate. Food will be catered in from local Miamisburg restaurants, but opening their kitchen is in the plans, “but that’s sometime in the future,” says Kohnen. He explained that there were a lot of renovations and repairs needed on the 14,000 square foot building and they concentrated on the tap room first. It is in the plans to continue renovating so they can start to open some of the banquet rooms for special event rentals.
Even before opening Star City began teaching home brewing classes including extract brewing, all grain brewing. There next class scheduled for Thurs, Nov 21st form 6:30 – 8:30pm will be about Understanding Flavor Profiles. This class is for aspiring craft enthusiasts and new home brewers who want to understand the many beer styles, origins and tasting profiles. And class attendees will receive 50 cents off of beer during the class. $25/person.
Star City offered membership and prior to opening already had over 60 members. Aside from declaring yourself a craft beer enthusiast, being a member of Star City Brewing comes with certain members only perks. A few such perks include being the first to sample some of our experimental brews and earning double loyalty points on select days.
The standard Level 1 membership includes:
- A Star City Brewing Company bottle koozie
- A Star City Brewing Company Pint Glass
- $25 annual membership
Level 2 membership includes:
- A Star City Brewing Company bottle koozie
- A Star City Brewing Company Pint Glass
- A Star City Brewing Company T-Shirt
- $75 annual membership
The standard Level 3 membership includes:
- A Star City Brewing Company bottle koozie
- A Star City Brewing Company britannia mug
- A Star City Brewing Company embroidered polo
- 2 Invitation(s) to “invite-only” private “Member Appreciation” parties when hosted.
- Catered Food provided.
- Discounts on pints ($0.50 off per pint anytime you come in)
- $125 membership
Follow Star City Brewing on Facebook for more updates or visit them from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. And look forward to another opening soon of their neighbors, Lucky Star Brewery, located a block away at 219 S. Second St. in Miamisburg.
