BUSINESS

Jackie O's beer store opens in Columbus

The Columbus Dispatch

Employees Rachael Bitzer, center, and John Sweeney, left, stock a refrigerator with beer at Jackie O's Beer Store on North 4th Street Downtown.

Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery plans to open a taproom in Columbus, but the coronavirus pandemic has put those arrangements on hold, owner Art Oestrike said this week.

The Athens-based brewery is still expanding into central Ohio, but will begin with a beer store that sells the brewery’s popular concoctions for curbside pickup.

“Having the ability to do some commerce out Columbus at this time is something that we really want to do,” Oestrike said.

The store opened Tuesday in the space that was once home to the Elevator Brewing Company warehouse and taproom at 165 N. 4th St. in Downtown Columbus. That space went up for sale over the summer when Elevator announced that it would close. Elevator owner Dick Stevens, 81, cited his age and low taproom sales when asked about his decision to shutter the venerable brewery.

Jackie O's Beer Store will sell beer and other merchandise in the former Elevator Brewing Company taproom at 165 N. 4th St.

Jackie O’s has long had plans to open in central Ohio, Oestrike said.

“Columbus has been our best market since day one,” he said.

The brewery jumped at the chance to move into the building that once housed Elevator’s taproom, but with coronavirus cases on the rise, Oestrike said it was best to take a piecemeal approach toward opening a taproom.

“We have pretty grand plans for this location," he said.

Jackie O's is selling beer and other items at its beer store on N. 4th Street Downtown in anticipation of opening up a taproom and beer garden at the location.

Oestrike expects to have a Columbus operation similar to the Athens pub and brewery within two years.

But the brewery has no desire to contribute to the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, he added.

“We don't want to make the pandemic any worse than it already is,” Oestrike said. “Doing a curbside pickup beer store in November of 2020 seems a lot better than the alternative.”

Jackie O's beer, including half-growler cans, is available at the Athens' brewery's new Columbus store.

Most of the beers that Jackie O’s makes in Athens will be available at the Columbus store, along with some merchandise. And the brewery, which sells baked goods in Athens, hopes to eventually sell baked goods in Columbus.

The Athens brewery’s two Athens locations are offering limited service. One is closed to dine-in customers, the other is seating patrons by reservation only.

pcooley@dispatch.com

@PatrickACooley