3922 Farnam Street, Blackstone District
Scripton Brewing Company opened its doors on December 1, 2014 in the heart of the Blackstone District at 3924 Farnam St. As a small production brewery, they are focused on their Tap Room. They sublet some of their space to Lazy Buffalo BBQ, which operates a small food/catering operation from within the confines of our Tap Room. Scriptown also runs an event venue, The Kaufmann Room, where they host corporate events, graduation parties, rehearsal dinners, bridal and baby showers, and any other type of event to increase their on-premise sales. Scriptown has also offered its venue to non-profits such as the Epilepsy Foundation
Retrofest.
Why did you decide to open a brewery in Omaha?
One of our owners, John Fahrer, was a successful homebrewer and had been pursuing the possibility of opening a brewery since 1996. Since winning National Homebrewer of the Year in 1996, John started developing a business plan but for a variety of reasons the time wasn’t right until 2012. The awareness of craft beer in Omaha and Nebraska had grown exponentially and the time felt right. Being a lifelong Omahan, there was no better place than home.
What makes your brewery different from others in the Omaha area?
Scriptown focuses on brewing classic examples of traditional beer styles that our customer base likes. It’s what we do best: brew to style. Fad beers such as kettle sours, pastry stouts, lactose beers are not in our wheelhouse. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy them, but our demographic is not a “beer geek” spot. In the business of beer, you must brew what your demographic wants. Our historic space differentiates us from the cookie-cutter strip malls with an inviting warm space and a great staff of people who are focused on “Being the Best in the Blackstone.”
Do you have any special events (either occurring on a regular basis or one-time, seasonally, etc.)?
We have GoatFest in March annually when we tap our seasonal bock beer and Tacoberfest is our multi-cultural take on Octoberfest every September. In between we host trivia twice weekly, and book live music generally once a quarter. We also participate monthly in the Blackstone District 2nd Saturday events.
What is your personal favorite beer that you brew and why?
That’s like picking your favorite child when you have 16 different beers on tap. If we had to, St Meinrad is probably our favorite to brew. It’s brewed as a strong Belgian-style ale but It’s different every time. St Meinrad (in real life) was a Benedictine martyr known as “the martyr of hospitality.” John’s father had studied at St Meinrad Benedictine Abbey in southern Indiana before he discerned that the Catholic priesthood wasn’t for him. It’s an homage to his Dad every time he brews a batch of St Meinrad.
What are your future goals/plans for your brewery?
We are comfortable with our niche at the present time. As small as we are, we’d like to get into some more packaging (we do a small amount of canning). We distribute our beer via kegs to other bars and restaurants in Nebraska, but our bread-and-butter is our tap room. We are on the streetcar route being on Farnam Street, so we continue to nurture our relationships with our neighbors, UNMC, for events and opportunities.
This is part of our ongoing Omaha Brewery Spotlight series. Please check out our other brewery spotlights and stay tuned for a wrap-up article that will list all breweries along with our publisher’s favorite beer at each!
Related Articles
Nov. 16th, 2023
Need Disaster Restoration Services? Consider These 5 Factors First
Nov. 4th, 2024