Biker BrewHouse marks 9 years in unique location (photos)

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – If there were a moment that validated Biker BrewHouse, it came a few years ago for owner Larry Wilson.
He and his wife were in Las Vegas, checking out a Harley-Davidson dealership. They approached a staffer to buy t-shirts.
“My wife mentioned something about owning a brewery in a Harley dealership,” Wilson said.
“She (the cashier) stopped. ‘You’re the one they talk about.’”
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’”
“You’re from Youngstown, right? Biker BrewHouse? All our patrons want to know why they can’t have that here.”
That kind of fame follows a person, and Biker BrewHouse remains the only brewery within a dealership.
“We pretty much paved the way,” Wilson said.
He incorporated the brewery in 2015. That led to a bureaucratic maze, since he was creating a business within a business and one that would make and serve alcohol. But he mustered through the “red tape and hurdles,” opening the brewery nine years ago this month in a nook of the dealership.
Wilson, from Hartsgrove in the northeast corner of the state, didn’t travel a traditional road in the brewery world. He was a home builder before 2008, but the economy forced a career shift, and by 2011 he started selling Harleys. In 2012, he went into management with the motorcycle company and started brewing beer.
“A door opened,” he said, “and I walked through it.”
When he finally got the OK to start the brewery, the dealership was in the middle of rebranding. He had 45 days to get the doors open and beer flowing.
Then Covid hit, forcing him to ask a serious product question: “How do we get all this beer out of kegs? Because we were serving only draft at that point. We taught ourselves how to build our own bottling machine. When everybody was at home, my crew was in here, and we were working, hauling kegs back upstairs, (getting beer) out of kegs and into bottles.”
They were open six hours a week, cases of beer filling the taproom.
“We actually grew,” he said.
The dust of Covid settled some, but the demand for Biker BrewHouse beer rose – so much so Wilson had to decide: Move or expand on site.
They got the go-ahead for on-site expansion, and now the brewery-taproom is a cool, comfortable space, with bar as a centerpiece and transparent brewhouse.
“To me it was a blank canvas,” he said.
He opened with a 2.5-barrel system and two beers on tap. Now, he has 16 on tap and brews on a five-barrel system. And Wilson has his hand in everything.
“My attitude was, ‘I’m going to build it because when it breaks – and it’s going to break – I know how to fix it, and I’m not down for the count.’ If something breaks we fix it in a matter of hours.”
A light beer called Ball Bearing – “a beer that mimics the macros” – is the flagship.
“At the end of the day there are people on the planet who don’t want to step out of their comfort zone,” Wilson said.
Biker is the only brewery in its region producing beer in skinny 12-ounce cans, said Wilson, who added that distribution sales were up 14.25 percent last year over 2024. Taproom sales increased more than 8 percent in the same period as well. And the brewery is drawing a higher percentage of non-motorcycle riders from across the country.
Distribution is “pretty much the state line,” he said. Biker Brewhouse beers are in 285 locations including six counties in Pennsylvania – from Lake Erie in Conneaut and Geneva-on-the-Lake up north to the Ohio River in East Liverpool to the south.
And he’s not shying from crazy flavors, either.
Blue Balls Blueberry Blonde – “beer with a hint of blueberries” – is an all-year seller. Apple Pie Ale won a gold medal in a competition in 2023. For the holidays, they produced an intriguing variety six-pack: Two beers each of Gingerbread Man Pilsner, Frosted Oatmeal Cookie Brown Ale and Christmas Ale. They produced 100 cases figuring it would last throughout the season.
“Lasted one month,” he said.
Wilson makes sure the staff is educated.
“All my girls know our beers. They are required to taste them, know what they taste like, because patrons are going to ask about them,” he said. And while the brewery’s location in a dealership is unique, he strives to maintain that uniqueness to set the beers apart.
“We all make beer the same way,” Wilson said. “It’s water, hops and yeast and barley so what separates a beer on a store shelf? If you’ve never had it, you can’t try it. Your label is the face; it’s got to catch you. That’s why every one of our labels are very unique and distinct. They are not just a cookie-cutter design that just changed the name.”
Six-pack of facts about Biker BrewHouse
Location: 5700 Patriot Blvd., Unit B, Youngstown. Designated parking lot.
Miles from Cleveland: 68.
Nearest breweries: Paladin is three miles to the south. Penguin City is 10 miles to the east. Birdfish (19 miles) and Ill Will (21 miles) are to the south in Columbiana.
DORA in place: The brewery enjoys a Downtown Outdoor Refreshment Area with next-door neighbor Quaker Steak & Lube. In warm weather, they hold Bike Night Thursdays, which features two live bands.
Mug club: More than 150 people are part of a mug club, which allows 20-ounce beers at 16-ounce prices.