Justin Kohnen | Dayton937

Owner Justin Kohnen

Star City Brewing opened in 2013, with a focus on serving the Miamisburg community. According to owner Justin Kohnen the goal was “to bring new life to the historic Peerless Mill building, which had been closed for five years. The brewery started as a passion project to create a local gathering place where friends, neighbors, and visitors could enjoy high-quality craft beers in a welcoming environment. From the beginning, the goal has been to celebrate the local community while offering a unique, memorable experience that goes beyond the typical brewery.”

Kohnen says “I’ve loved owning Star City Brewing, but I’ve been considering stepping back for some time to focus on new opportunities and let someone else take the reins. The decision wasn’t made lightly — it’s about finding the right person who can continue running the business, maintain the community relationships we’ve built, and keep the brewery thriving. My goal is for the business to continue without disruption, with the same great experience for our guests and partners.

We’re looking for a buyer who values the community, the culture, and the relationships we’ve built at Star City Brewing. Ideally, the new owner will maintain the welcoming atmosphere, continue working with local nonprofits, and preserve the core offerings that make the brewery special. At the same time, we hope they consider other opportunities to grow the business, including adding food service or kitchen operations, expanding distribution in kegs and packaged products, and scaling private events, and memberships. This is a chance for the next owner to make Star City Brewing even bigger while keeping its community-focused spirit. Our goal is a seamless transition to a new owner who shares our vision and values. Guests can continue enjoying their favorite beers, ciders, cocktails, and events just as before. Our partnerships will continue, and the community-focused spirit of the brewery will remain unchanged. We’re committed to making sure that Star City Brewing continues to be a welcoming place for everyone in Miamisburg and the Dayton area.”

The sale includes the building (“The Old Peerless Mill”) and the Star City Brewing business. The sale also includes all Star City Brewing branded intellectual property (such as the logo, website, menu designs, and social media), beer recipes, and customer relationships. Interested buyers should contact Michelle Collins at Collins Real Estate for more information.

The brewery typically has 10–15 beers on tap, ranging from traditional ales to experimental small-batch brews, and we also offer a selection of hard seltzers and ciders. In addition they have specialty cocktails, a curated wine selection, and non-alcoholic options.

Bricky’s Comedy Club is a partner of Star City Brewing, and was founded in August 2022 by Dayton comedian Kevin Ruppert with some help from Midwest Comedy Tour. Our goal is for that partnership to continue seamlessly under new ownership. Shows will continue as usual, with the same schedule and the same mix of local and touring comedians. Guests can expect the same high-quality entertainment experience they’ve come to enjoy. Bricky’s also has an exciting upcoming event — they will be making another world record attempt February 11–15, 2026. Shows typically run Thursday through Saturday nights, find their full show schedule at www.brickyscomedy.com

Justin shared, “It’s hard to put into words exactly what I’m most proud of, but looking back, the events and moments we’ve hosted always bring a smile to my face. Star City Brewing offers a relaxing, English pub–like atmosphere that’s hard to find anywhere else, where guests can unwind, socialize, and enjoy quality craft beers and ciders. We’ve hosted weddings, helped plan proposals, and countless occasions where people have met and fallen in love — some now married. We’ve helped local nonprofits raise thousands of dollars, been home to Bricky’s Comedy Club and other organizations to bring live entertainment and community events to Miamisburg and the Dayton area. These moments, big and small, are what I’ll remember most and make me proud of what we’ve built.

Justin explained what he see’s in his future: “While I plan to step back from day-to-day operations at Star City Brewing, I’ll remain deeply connected to the Miamisburg and Dayton community and continue supporting the organizations and people that make this region special. Drawing on my degree and 20 years of software experience, along with the knowledge I gained building and managing the technical infrastructure of Star City Brewing, I plan to focus on the technical field, providing custom software solutions and consulting to local nonprofits and small businesses in need of this technical support.

Star City Brewing will remain fully open during the search for a new owner. Guests can continue enjoying the same beers, ciders, cocktails, and events without interruption. Current hours of operation are:

Monday–Thursday: 4 PM – 10 PM
Friday–Saturday: 4 PM – 11 PM
Sunday: 1 PM – 6 PM

319 S 2nd St, Miamisburg, OH 45342

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.

Miamisburg Brewery For Sale

Star City Brewing Company Opens Tonight in Miamisburg!