When they opened their Westwood brewery Tap & Screw in the summer of 2014, Tom, Adam, and Jerry Lorenz brought Cincinnati’s brewing renaissance to the west side. Now, the family trio (brothers Tom and Jerry and Tom’s son Adam) are expanding into the east side with a location in Oakley Square in—of all places—an empty funeral parlor.
Photograph by Alexandra Taylor
Tap & Screw’s cheeky name was actually inspired by a piece of east side history: It was styled after Spear & Tap, the original moniker of the Oakley-based plastics factory Milacron. After signing the lease on the Madison Road building on February 9, the owners’ next step is working on the building’s design with architect Ed Boesing. According to Tom, the Oakley brewpub will combine the building’s traditional Tudor architecture of needled woodwork and leaded glass windows with industrial design accents like vintage tools and framed manuals (another nod to Spear & Tap).
Tap & Screw, projected to open in July, will brew beer in-house at the Oakley location in small, four-barrel sized batches. According to Tom Lorenzo, the focus is on malts and grains, and they are currently working on creating GMO-free varieties.
As for that funeral parlor pedigree? They’re rolling with it. Says Tom: “Who knows, we may just have to throw a great Halloween party.”
3026 Madison Rd., Oakley, (513) 451-1763 [Westwood location], tapandscrew.com
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