Vandalia brewery celebrates 11 years with new beer, cider releases

Brewery also known for its smoked chicken wings and pizza.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

Hairless Hare Brewery will celebrate its 11th anniversary of serving the Vandalia region on Saturday.

Customers can expect the release of its Barrel Aged Cold War Ezra Brooks and its 11th Anniversary Double Hazy IPA. The brewery will also have deconstructed flights that includes a shot of 113 Proof Single Barrel Ezra Brooks, a 5 oz. pour of Cold War Russian Imperial Stout and a 5 oz. pour of BA Ezra Brooks Cold War.

The celebration begins at 2 p.m.

Matt Harris of Butler Twp. and Mike Legg of Medway opened the brewery in 2013 after working together for about 15 years in the machining-related manufacturing field. Harris had been homebrewing for a few years before pitching the idea to start a brewery.

When they first started, they only had about half the space and a third of the taps they have today.

The small-batch brewery is known for having a wide variety of beers from Lagers and Sours to Hazy IPAs and Porters — there’s something for everyone.

In addition to 13 beer taps, the Hairless Hare Brewery has eight hard cider taps with a wide variety of flavors including Rainbow Sherbet, Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Cream Pie and Key Lime Pie. The brewery plans to release an Orange Creamsicle cider on Saturday.

In addition to drinks, the brewery is known for its smoked chicken wings and pizza. This month’s specialty pizza is the Brewhouse Reuben Pie made with a house made thousand island dressing base, a blend of mozzarella-provolone cheese, hand shredded Swiss cheese, chopped corned beef and sauerkraut. It’s then topped with a spicy thousand island cream sauce and caraway seeds.

The brewery is casual, laid back and has a diverse audience with people of all ages. It thrives off of being community driven.

In 2016, they started a mug club that has grown to 667 mugs. The mug club is currently sold out, but twice a year they “purge” the mugs that are not used. Mug club members receive special discounts like half-priced pizzas on Wednesdays and Thursdays, in addition to having a unique mug made by local potter Sally Watson that’s housed at the brewery. During the celebration, 11 $50 gift cards will be randomly placed throughout the mug club.

Where does the name originate? Harris said “hairless” was his older brother’s nickname in high school. He said his brother had really short hair in the 1980s when his friends had long ponytails. The nickname was derived from that and their last name. Harris always thought it was a “neat nickname” and it ended up being the perfect brewery name, he said.


MORE DETAILS

The brewery is located at 738 W. National Road. For more information, visit the brewery’s Facebook or Instagram pages.

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