Jeff Heater

First Anniversary For Craft Beer And Fine Wine Bottle Shop

January 28, 2016 By Lisa Grigsby

We first wrote about The Barrel House – Coming Soon To Third And Wayne in January 2013. At that time, Olive owner Kimberly Collett had recruited her cousin Jeff Heater to move from Maine to come to Dayton as her partner and manage this coffee shop for beer. Jeff jumped write in to oversee the remodel of the building as the GM & Chief Beer Geek.

It took a while, to maneuver through some construction and lease obstacles and The Barrel House officially opened on Jan 30, 2015. On the eve of their first anniversary celebration on Sat, Jan 30th, Jeff took some time to talk with DMM:

The picture that started it all.

While this is your first anniversary, when did planning for the BH start?
It really all started with a text picture of Chimay White, mid March, 2012.
When I lived in Columbus my favorite bar always had the beer on tap and I would tease my cousin with it. This particular time I was living in Maine and celebrating with a Chimay from my local bar. The reply text was “I have an idea if you want to come home”, and that got the ball rolling. The Olive had been open nine months or so and Kim saw the potential. Originally the idea was that by the time I actually made the move back, the store would be ready to open. I could live upstairs in the apartment, it would be perfect. We all know that didn’t happen!

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the first year of business?
Facebook is a tool. No, seriously! A business tool. Social Media is an entirely different beast as a business. Alga-rhythms, paying to boost, who sees what, and on and on… One doesn’t want to be annoying yet it’s the way we keep up these days. It can be a double edged sword. Liking and sharing posts does a huge amount to spread the word. I’m trying to be better about tagging local breweries when we tap their beers or receive new package product.
We have such solid reviews, many sites contact us asking that we take it up a notch and pay to play.

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had about the business?
We are not a brewery! We leave that to the other guys. We get so much mail trying to sell us forklifts and spill kits and all kinds of fun stuff, however, we will not ever need any of it!

If you had it to do again what one thing would you change?
Absolutely nothing. I’m a firm believer in the here and now. All the what-if’s in the world wouldn’t result in the same end product. Part of our whole logic was to open when it was finished, nothing we had explain away. I distinctly remember the day i realized it was ready. Still, when we see necessary changes needed, we have evolved. We adapted to the needs of the customer. We will continue to evolve.

What can we expect new or different in year two?
More controlled events. My goal from the beginning was to have one wine and one beer event each month. However big or small. It’s time to focus on that. I want people to know that the second Thursday of the month is something at the BH.
When we were the new kid, breweries and distributors were throwing stuff at us so fast, we were not in a position to say no. Now I know to be patient. Maybe it’ll come back around? Maybe it’s not worth the hassle? As I say this, I’m already eating my words because the Ohio Craft Brewers Conference is hot on the heals of our Anniversary party. So five long days later we will have a Fatheads Meet and Greet event.

I like to think this is the end of the longest, toughest year of my life. I know it’ll never get easy, there will always be stress, and I’ll never really get a day off. But with the support of my wife, family and friends, I’ve…, we’ve made it this far. There is a great community of support here and I am certainly happy to be a part of it. We have a great staff, delivery a great product, and are committed to making our mark in the local beer scene. Here’s to many more years, Cheers!
We hope you’ll check out the 20 taps which include 17 craft beers, one gluten free cider a red and white wine at The Barrel House at 417 E. Thirds Street in downtown Dayton. You can fill a growler or howler, enjoy a flight of beers or pick a bottle of wine off the shelf, use the insta-chill cooler to chill your bottle in 5-7 minutes while you lounge in the comfy chairs and use their free wifi. You can even carry in your own food, or have it delivered.

HOURS OF OPERATION:
Tuesday-Thursday 3p-10p
Friday & Saturday 12p-1a
Sunday 1p-7p
Closed Mondays

Preview Nights Set For The Barrel House

January 21, 2015 By Lisa Grigsby

Next week there will be several opportunities to tour and enjoy The Barrel House (and to give us a chance to practice on live guests and get your feedback before we officially open)! They will be holding soft open events the evenings of Jan 26-28!

Tickets are $5 per person (max two people) and include light appetizer fare, a chance to hear and talk with the staff and owners, and to experience the space first!! Each session is 1-1/2 hours and limited to 30 attendees, so that we can take the time to thank each of you personally and get your feedback! Please bring your ticket, photo I.D., cash or credit cards for drink purchases, as we need to practice using our system (and we can’t give alcohol away for free!). You can reserve your preview night tickets online.

The Barrel House

The Barrel House is an independently owned and operated, beer & wine bar and carry out, located at 417 East Third Street in Dayton, Ohio. It’s kind of like a coffee shop for beer & wine providing:

growler fills from our 18 beer taps AND beer & wine bottle sales for carry out!
draft beer and wine, with light food offerings and a comfortable lounge area, with free wifi to enjoy onsite!
you can even carry in food from Olive, an urban dive, right across the street from us!

Come on in, have a drink, sit with us for awhile, meet some friends, wait for a table at Olive, an urban dive across the street or pick up some wine and beer to go. We’d love to be your favorite spot and your favorite shop! Join us downtown! www.barrelhousetap.com 937.222.GRWL (4795).

**Parking for The Barrel House is behind the building!! Please use the back entrance for this event!

The Barrel House – Coming Soon To Third And Wayne

January 20, 2013 By Lisa Grigsby 5 Comments

The future home of The Barrel House

There’s been a bit of a buzz starting downtown about what’s going on behind the stark exterior wall at 417 E. Third Street. It’s a building you barely take note of, being attached to the long beige, stucco expanse of the KK building. A storefront that once existed, has been completely stucco’d over and painted gray, just sitting there waiting, right across the street from the old Wympee Diner on Third… another building that just a couple years ago, looked just as abandoned and neglected.

Kimberly Collett had a vision for what that old greasy, empty diner could be and we followed her through eight months of gutting and remodeling before she finally opened Olive, an urban dive, inside it, leaving the exterior exactly as it’s been since 1938. Olive is just over a year and a half into their stride and it just keeps getting better… from the quality of the dishes, to the size of their following. And one day, in a flash of inspiration, while standing in a shop in South Carolina, Kimberly had an idea for the building just across the street, that has stood empty, for the last ten years. For the last seven months she’s been honing the concept, working with the city and the building’s owner, Mike Wenzler, to pave the way for The Barrel House. But knowing she had her hands full with Olive and her construction company, Dayton Tradesource, she had to bring in someone else to partner and manage this new idea and asked her cousin, Jeff Heater, a craft beer enthusiast, to come home from Maine and lead the charge.

Jeff signing the lease for the space.

They describe The Barrel House as, “a coffee shop for beer, no coffee… just beer”, though it’s really much more. Once complete, you’ll enter the new storefront and be immediately greeted by a ‘coffee shop feeling’ lounge, with deep couches and vintage furniture. As you move further in, the space transitions into a retail shop filled with shelves and custom displays of bottled beer and wine, there’s also space for local art, beer and wine related locally made gifts, party supplies, chips, salsas, and hot sauces. Then there’s the centerpiece on the back wall, 15-20 taps for popular and eclectic, craft micro-brews from around the world, that you can carry-out in growlers.

Originally, The Barrel House was just going to be a carry-out and community area, but with no carry-out beer licenses left downtown, The Barrel House will be applying for a full restaurant liquor license, marrying the two businesses together in a symbiotic relationship, where Olive will supply the food portion of light fare and desserts and The Barrel House will be an overflow and waiting space for Olive guests, as well as an old world style, community pub, where you can meet friends for a carry-out lunch from Olive, hold a client meeting over a pint of beer, or just sit in the sunbeams streaming through the windows with a good book and a glass of wine. There will be tastings, gathering events, and collaborations, with as many local vendors as possible

Early demolition stage of the space

If all goes well, Heater hopes to open The Barrel House in sync with patio season, but having just been through this two years ago, Kimberly smiles as she looks at Jeff and says, ‘I’ve learned not to say when and Jeff watched everything I went through with Olive, so…” and Jeff finishes the sentence with, “we’ll see!”

In talking with Jeff, it’s easy to hear the enthusiasm in his voice. He’s been working on site, doing the demolition, tearing down drywall and plaster down to reveal brick. He’s found three different electrical panels that reveal some of the history of the building, i.e. labels for a jukebox and bar in one and in another bar lights and a back bar. While tearing out some old shelving he even found a phone number for Heidelberg Distributing written on the wall. So while not the first bar that will inhabit this space, this rendition won’t be your average neighborhood bar either. Heater is looking forward to sharing his love of craft beer and expand the palate of his guests.

The most up-to-date picture of the building of The Barrel House

Jeff’s excitement when talking about Ohio beers is contagious. His knowledge of the Ohio beer scene was honed while spending 9 years living in Columbus and he is looking forward to being able to showcase some of the specialty brews from places like the Columbus Brewing Company and even some Cleveland breweries. There are still a lot of hoops to jump through, but soon enough, Jeff will be inviting us to grab a seat on the couch, dial up the wifi, sample a Saison (his favorite beer style) and become part of the casual, comfy community he and Kimberly hope to create on their little corner of Third and Wayne.

While you’re waiting for them to open be sure and like their Facebook page so you can watch the progress of the construction and be in the know for their opening plans.