If you are a true beer lover, Columbus is a great town to live in right now. Over the past year, we’ve seen the emergence of several craft breweries, especially in the Grandview Heights and 5xNW areas, and there’s no sign that this trend will end soon.

Land Grant Brewing has recently leased the 20,000 square-foot property at 945 Burrell Avenue (adjacent to Tacocat Cooperative), and are poised to launch a brewery and tap room in Winter 2014. The space is large enough to accommodate the brewing production, as well as serve as a canning, kegging, and distribution facility, and a 3,000 square-foot taproom with a full-service bar and growler-fill station.

Originally called Oval Brewing, owners Adam Benner and Walt Keys changed the name to avoid trademark conflict, and settled on an even better one in Land Grant. The name speaks to the Act established by the federal government that allows for public universities, thereby making higher education available to everyone.

It’s very much like what craft breweries are all about – making high-quality beer available to the masses. Land Grant’s signature offering will be the 1862 Ale, their version of a German Kölsch that’s dry hopped with American hops. It’s named after the year the Land Act was signed, making it, appropriately, the brewery’s calling card.

They will also carry their Greenskeeper Pale Ale, Stiff-Arm Imperial IPA, and Son of a Mudder Brown Ale, a hopped-up interpretation of a traditional Brown, when they open. They chose these styles to match as many tastes as possible, especially given their anticipated opening date and its matching up with key sporting events.

Benner and Keys want Land Grant to be the kind of place the neighborhood comes to to watch the game, meet-and-greet, and enjoy a cold beer. They will not be serving food when they launch, instead partnering with local food producers to provide grub to hungry visitors.

Till then, work continues. Architecture and construction teams are putting final touches on the site plan, equipment purchases are being finalized, and, most importantly, test batches are being constantly brewed and refined to ensure perfection upon release.

“Grandview is developing into a really great beer destination — a new Brewery District if you will,” shares Benner. “We are really looking forward to joining Zauber and Four String in putting Grandview on the beer map.”

For more on Land Grant’s progress and opening events, follow them at www.landgrantbrewing.com.

Photo via Land Grant Brewing.