Olive oil and vinegar tap room to open in State College

Home chefs and connoisseurs of cooking oils rejoice — a tap room, featuring exotic vinegars and olive oils, is coming to State College.

Set to open at 246 E. Calder Way by October, The Branch and The Vine will offer a sundry range of olive oils and balsamic vinegars. A few of the flavors include black truffle, blood orange and lemongrass mint.

The oils are imported from Italy.

“I paired a house blend olive oil with the lemongrass mint balsamic vinegar,” said Tom Tate, the general manager. “It goes great on pork chops.”

The tap room will have about 10 tanks, Tate added, for olive oil and will have the paired vinegars in front of each.

“There’s going to be cards that tell you what olive oils and vinegars you can pair together,” he said, “and what recipes you can use.”

Located in the former home of custom jewelry shop The Crystal Cave, The Branch and The Vine will also offer several other products. Tate plans on offering organic candies, sparkling bitters and goat milk soap from Whitetail Lane Farm. The shop’s pastiche extends to candles and artwork, too; watercolor prints from local artists, such as Todd Raymond Krout, will be displayed.

As for The Crystal Cave, according to a Facebook post, the jewelry store will remain open until Wednesday. The business plans on moving to a location near Port Matilda.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Olive oil and vinegar tap room to open in State College."