Photo by Alyse Horn
A look inside the old Workingmen’s Beneficiary Union building after the roof was torn out in September.

By Alyse Horn

The roof on the building of 1958 Varley St. has been ripped out and replaced, and now Spring Hill Brewing is ready to embark on the next steps that will take them closer to completion.

Greg Kamerdze, owner of the brewery with Mike Seamans, said taking care of electrical issues is what he is focusing on right now. Hopefully by spring, the two will be able to pour concrete on the current dirt floor and start installing equipment to be open by next summer.

“It has been taking longer than anticipated, but it always does,” Kamerdze said.

The brewery shares the building and property with Rescue Street Farms, owned by Bill Brittain and co-owned by Natasha Dean. Kamerdze said he was looking at other locations around the city, but when he met up with Travis Leivo, owner of Shadyside Worms, he said Leivo “told me Bill had gotten some big crazy building” so Kamerdze decided to check it out.

“I really enjoy working with Belgian farmhouse style ales and the history behind those kinds of beers and the approach in brewing them,” Kamerdze said. “When I started planning [the brewery] out I thought it would be great to be working alongside an urban agriculture business as well, and be able to source a lot of ingredients straight from the property.”

Kamerdze said Randall Hall, owner of BeeBoy hives and honey, will have his product on site at the farm and Kamerdze already uses his honey in some of the beers he brews. Kamerdze will also have Leivo compost the solid waste that is created during the brewing process.

Eventually Kamerdze said he would like to start growing his own hops on the property, but right now he is focused on getting things running. The brewery will be nano sized and produce about two barrels of beer per batch.