Introducing Warped Wing Brewing Company

Dayton has slowly been birthing new craft breweries for 2 years now. So far all the breweries have been small affairs with 7 barrel systems, or less,  and focusing on on-premise consumption . That trend is changing with the opening of Warped Wing Brewing Company.

Warped Wing is coming out of the gates with a 30 barrel brew house and 3 60 barrel ferments, with plenty of room to expand as well. They’re opening the doors with draft only around Dayton but will expand those keg sales to Cincinnati and Columbus as soon as possible. Selling kegs isn’t that exciting or revolutionary, what is is that Warped Wing hopes to kick their canning line into gear soon!

As soon as the TTB (learn about that here) approves their labels Warped Wing will be running 16 ounce cans through the machine above and selling them in 4 packs. The TTB is still back logged on approvals and even once approved Warped Wing will have to order the cans. Which is to say cans are 1 – 3 months away at best.

The brewery is in an old foundry and maintains much of that old industrial atmosphere. The walls are lined with exposed brick, concrete, and sections of glass blocks. The building is on the small side of cavernous where they will not be cramped for space allowing them to grow into this space for years to come. Warped Wing sits 2 1/2 blocks north of the Oregon District and I got down to Toxic after a quick 10 minute walk. Now, I wouldn’t really recommend doing that today as I arrived at toxic half-frozen. Come spring and summer however Warped Wing might as well be part of the Oregon District.

What’s in the name?

They’re opening with 3 beers each with a name throwing back to Dayton’s history. Before we get to the beers though let’s talk about the breweries name. The Wright Brothers developed warped wings which played a major role in their first flight. In case anyone reading this from outside the area was not aware the Wright Brothers grew up and made their airplane innovations in Dayton. The wing warping thing is pretty cool but beyond the scope of the blog, here is a YouTube video about it if you’re curious.

The beers are Ermal’s, Flyin’ Rye, and 10 Ton. Flyin’ Rye is a tribute to the Wright Brothers. Ermal’s is named for Ermal Fraze who lived and worked in Dayton in the 50’s and invited the beverage can as we know it today. Prior to Ermal’s invention you had to have a “church key” with you to get a can open. At a picnic and lacking a church key Ermal came up with our modern pull-tab can. Finally, 10 Ton is in honor of the 10 ton overhead box crane in the brewery.

What’s in the beer?

Ermal’s is a Belgian style cream ale, which is the first I’ve heard of any such style. This beer is a curious blend that pulls in a nice balance of both styles. Great clove and banana aromas from the Belgian witbier half blended with sweet corn on the cream ale side. An easy drinking and sessionable beer that needs to be fine tuned a bit more before being great. Also not really a winter beer, I look forward to trying it again in May or June.

Flyin Rye is your standard IPA but with rye malt in place of some of the barley. Rye pale ales or IPAs are not too new of a thing. Cincinnati’s Rivertown brewery has made their Hop Bomber rye pale ale for a few years now. If you’re not familiar with rye it gives this beer a solid spice quality that meets the hops rather well.

Compared to Ermal’s and Flyin’ Rye 10 Ton is like an old friend. 10 Ton is a straight up Oatmeal Stout with nothing special or crazy going on. It’s nothing to get excited about but is an acceptable Oatmeal Stout.

Not every brewery is lucky enough to launch with an amazing lineup of brews and that seems to be the case here. That said I fully expect all 3 beers to be fine tuned and improved upon as time goes by.  If you’re anxious to try Warped Wing now you can head to the brewery and taproom (hours) at 26 Wyandot St, Dayton, Ohio or check out better beer bars around Dayton where they should be showing up soon.