Malt meets music at Craft & Vinyl, a new record store slash beer bar opening soon in the Grandview area. Click here for our 2017 article on Craft & Vinyl

“To me vinyl and craft beer go together like peanut butter and chocolate,” said owner Troy Stacy, who completely renovated the Fifth Avenue space which was formerly a thrift shop and shoe repair store.

“I built it with the purpose of making it look and feel like an art gallery,” said Stacy. “I feel like when you look at the covers of new vinyl, it is art, and I absolutely love it.”

Craft & Vinyl has a 14-foot bar with six barstools, a large table that seats 10, and a small lounge area with two sleek leather sofas. A few music-themed pinball machines are also on the way to offer additional entertainment.

Behind the bar are four taps and a selection of bottles and cans that currently includes craft selections from Great Lakes, Columbus Brewing, Four String, Rhinegeist, BrewDog, Lagunitas, Jackie O’s and New Belgium, along with PBR and Miller Lite. Troy says around 15 rotating packaged beers will always be available.

Several racks of used vinyl are laid out in the center of the space (with handy cup holders!) and new vinyl records are prominantly displayed on the eastern wall. The rest of the walls are adorned with concert posters designed by local artist Mike Martin of EngineHouse13.

“[Mike] is the preeminent designer of concert posters in this part of the country,” said Stacy. “He had never displayed anywhere and I gave him a call and said ‘Why don’t you bring your stuff in and pull it from the archives to let people see it and celebrate it?'”

The space also includes a small digital recording studio which is outfitted with electronic drums, guitars and mics and is designed to be easy for musicians to use on their own. The studio will be available for around $30 per hour.

“This is the part I absolutely love,” said Tracy. “My heart is in the creation of music and I wanted to empower people to make music, not just listen to music, whenever they’re inspired to do so.”

Craft & Vinyl will celebrate its official opening on August 15 with local beer reps and new vinyl releases. Stacy plans to coordinate unique beer tastings paired with particular records, and hopes to regularly have live musicians offer intimate performances in the space. He is also working on cutting an album in partnership with Great Lakes Brewing Company, which they hope to release in a few months.

“Great Lakes Brewing’s marketing guy hit me up about doing promotions together, so I came up with the idea of pressing a vinyl album called the Pour and Play Experience featuring 8-10 artists with each band paired with a beer from Great Lakes and the idea being that when you put on a particular band, you grab the beer it’s paired up with,” said Stacy.

Craft and Vinyl is located at 1806 W. 5th Ave in the Grandview area. Initial store hours will be Monday-Thursday 12pm-9pm; Friday and Saturday 12pm-10pm; and Sunday 12pm-5pm.