What’s on tap? Centre County’s newest brewery sets opening date after months of renovations
After nearly a year of work, Rod Stahl’s dream is coming true as Axemann Brewery prepares to open next week.
Starting Wednesday, the brewery will open its taproom, located at 2022 Axemann Road in Spring Township, just outside Bellefonte. Owned and operated by Stahl, the business will be open Wednesday-Saturday from 4-10 p.m., according to a Facebook post.
When Stahl was first introduced to the 104-year-old site, the 20,000-square-foot space needed hefty renovations. After replacing the factory windows, doors and flooring, Axemann now has a bar, tables, brewing equipment and a kitchen for the Blonde Bistro, which has been occupying the space for weeks.
“Crazy and naive are probably the two key elements of doing some of this stuff, but we are very excited ... to be part of what’s going on here at Titan (Energy Park) — the revitalization of this facility,” Stahl said told the CDT in February.
After moving from downtown Bellefonte to the former Cerro Metal Factory, the Blonde Bistro is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11-8 p.m.
Axemann and the Blonde Bistro have listed precautions both are taking to ensure customers’ safety online, including increased cleaning and sanitation, employee health screenings, mandatory masking and using disposable containers.
While COVID-19 has created slight delays, development at the park’s Plan 1 and Plant 4 buildings have continued amid the pandemic — following the announcement of $2.5 million in grant funding to help revitalize the industrial park.
The latest tenant, Angela Eliasz, Empire Cider Company’s chief cider maker, is working to open a new business — Witches’ Hollow Winery & Mad McIntosh Cidery. In May, Eliasz began adding a new roof and fixing the floors in her building.
Originally from New York, Eliasz worked in Hollywood as a special effects artists, but after a career change, wine- and cider-making became her next “adventure.” She has created award-winning ciders for ECC and has developed recipes and products for cider facilities across the country.
“It’s nice to know that soon I can walk to the other end of the factory and grab a beer,” she wrote on Facebook. “As one winemaker told me in the beginning of my adventure, ‘It takes a lot of beer to make good wine.’”
