Beers are on tap

It took longer than they’d hoped, but the beers are now flying in the building alongside the long-abandoned Penn Central Railroad tracks in Portland.

Good-Rich Brewery, a venture led by siblings Wil and Emily Goodrich, opened its doors to the public for the first time last weekend.

“It was pretty steady both Friday and Saturday,” said Emily. “Saturday it was a little nicer. …

“We had a lot more people outside on the patio (Saturday),” interjected Wil.

“It went really well,” Emily added.

After being closed for Good Friday, the brewery is open again from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight. Its regular hours, for now, will be 5 to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. As the weather gets warmer and there’s more opportunity to use the patio and outdoor area, they plan to extend their hours.

Wil, a 2005 Jay County High School graduate, had done some brewing with friends as a student at Wabash College and had long thought about the possibility of starting a brewery. He also thought it would partner well with his game business, Red Dragon, which along with Country Creek Primitives occupies the same building on McNeil Street, about a half-block east of Meridian Street, in Portland. He talked to Emily about the idea, they talked to their father John, and then they toured a brewery in Michigan.

“We just fell in love with it,” said Wil. “It was like, ‘This is what we want to do. How do we go about it?’”

They got a special use exception from Portland Board of Zoning Appeals in February 2020 to establish a micro-brewery on the property and have been working on it ever since. (The ongoing coronavirus pandemic caused some delays in the process that pushed the opening date.) Emily handled the bulk of the design work with help from Angie Clark of Altered Style, Kayla Darby, Devin Moser and Holly Johnson. H And M Builders of Portland was in charge of most of the construction, including building the bar out of beams from the building.

Emily and Wil kicked around several names and logo ideas for their new business, but ultimately settled on tradition. They borrowed the logo from Good-Rich Feed — a Randolph County-based business operated by John’s family — while adding their own spin.

“I thought, you know what, let’s try to reiterate our version of this,” Wil said, pointing to the Good-Rich Feeds sign embedded in the bar.

Good-Rich currently has 11 beers on tap with an IPA on the way. The list includes its named brews — Castor’s 3-legged Squirrel IPA, Goose Factory Pale Ale and Blood-Rich Ale — as well as others ranging from an American lager to a blackberry ale.

Another IPA is currently brewing — the process takes about two weeks — and there are plans to add a 13th beer to the list. The entire menu is available via the DigitalPour cell phone app.

Wil said he generally likes everything except darker beers. But, “we have a dark cream soda brew and it tastes like cream soda,” he added. “That made me change a little bit how I feel about darker beers.”

Emily tends to like the more fruity beers and said the raspberry wheat has been popular so far. She added that she’s excited about seasonal beers, such as offering an Oktoberfest and holiday-themed beers.

Good-Rich — it has six tanks that each brew 10 to 12 half-barrel kegs at a time — plans to keep an ever-changing rotation on its 16 taps. Some may be regulars, while others make occasional appearances.

“Blackberry, it will be a while,” said Emily, a 1993 JCHS graduate. “When that one's out, it’s going to be a while before we do that one again. Not because we can’t, but because there’s some ingredients that are hard to get. … But we also think that will create a demand.”

Prices range from $6 for a pint and $7 for a flight of four 5-ounce beers to $25 for a growler and $30 for a four-pack of crowlers.

Emily explained that while there is no food being served on the premises, except for items like popcorn, patrons are welcome to bring food and/or have it delivered to Good-Rich. They’re also hoping to work with food trucks. And they’ve considered having games like cornhole and volleyball available outside.

They’re also open to hosting meetings and events.

But ultimately, it’s about the beer.

“I’m relieved that everyone that came in, no one had a bad thing to say about our beer,” said Wil, adding that he pushed patrons for honest feedback. “That was really good to hear. Because I think that’s the most important thing.

“If you have good beer, that’s probably 90% of a microbrewery is having good beer that people want.”