COLUMBIANA, Ohio – Ohio ranked third in the nation for beer production in 2022, crafting an estimated 17.5 million barrels of beer or about 543 million gallons.

That many gallons of beer may conjure up images of industrial breweries churning out the typical six-packs seen at the store. But nestled in the small town of Columbiana, Birdfish Brewing Co. brings local heart and local ingredients to every batch of beer they brew, centering their craft around farmers. Birdfish offers 12 fresh rotating craft beers on tap, live music, and local food trucks at its location in Columbiana.

Josh Dunn, co-owner of Birdfish, began homebrewing with his brother, brother-in-law, and cousin in 2010. The group opened their first brewery and taproom in 2015, producing about 250 barrels a year. Almost a decade later, Birdfish produces 1,300 barrels of beer per year, with an intense focus on using locally grown crops.

“We worked with local farms on using different fruit in the beer, different locally grown hops,” Dunn said. “We got to a point where we said, it would be great if we could use more local stuff and if we could find locally grown barley.”

Just a few miles down the road from Birdfish is Sam Yarian’s farm. Yarian began growing barley in 2016 and connected with Birdfish to use his barley malted at a local malt house. Dunn and his co-owners brewed small batches of beer with Yarian’s malted barley and compared the quality and flavor to that of barley from bigger, industrial growers and Yarian’s barley came out on top.

“The price (of Yarian’s barley) is a little bit more, but we wanted to move forward with him and support who supports us,” Dunn said.

Dunn said that 70-8 percent of the brewery’s overall malted barley usage comes directly from Yarian’s farm with the fermentable making up the majority of the ingredients in the beer. When the brewery is crafting an IPA, Dunn said that the ingredients used in one batch include 450 pounds of malted barley grown by Yarian, 40 pounds of hops, water, and yeast. The only malts that don’t come to the brewery locally are specialty malts, like chocolate malt.

“We have a commitment to local, and we’re not afraid to say it,” Dunn said. “We’re not doing just one batch a year – we are brewing every single batch of beer using locally grown barley from Yarian Quality Malts.”

Not only that, but the spent grain from the production of beer stays within the community. Dunn said the brewery works with local farms to pick up the spent grain to feed their livestock.

Birdfish also incorporates locally grown hops into their beer. Every year, the brewery hosts Fresh Hop Week, an event where the brewery works with five or six local hop farms where hops are harvested and brewed into a beer same day. Hops are harvested worldwide with the intent to be kept shelf-stable and stored long-term. Dunn said that a visit to the Pacific Northwest, where beers can be brewed with fresh hops, inspired the Birdfish team to bring fresh hops beer to Ohio. Using fresh hops rather than shelf-stable ones can create unique flavors in beer.

When asked why Birdfish is so dedicated to producing locally grown beer, Dunn simply said it’s “the right thing to do.”

“Our customers are growers and farmers, and we know the quality of the ingredients is going to be better when we’re ordering it from somewhere we know,” he said. “(Local ingredients) cost more, but we haven’t seen an adverse effect by paying more. We’re willing to sacrifice sales margins for building relationships and the quality product locally.”