Believe in Bristol, Bristol Station brewery that is

BRISTOL, VA — Ken Monyak was an avid homebrewer for many years. He conducted regular brewing sessions with his next door neighbor, where they experimented and learned to brew scores of beer styles. They got pretty good at it.

The Pittsburgh native had moved with his parents to Bristol, Virginia, in 1984, attending both high school and college here. Since 1992, he worked in the construction industry, most recently serving as safety director for a regional construction and paving company. He wasn’t looking for a new career, but, you know, opportunities have a way of popping up if you’re willing to pounce on them.

“Every homebrewer says it would be awesome to own a brewery,” Monyak related in the context of most of the time it’s just a dream that you really don’t think will come true.

Taking a chance on your dream

Then in early 2013, Believe in Bristol, a downtown business development group, sponsored an entrepreneur’s contest for new business ideas. It got Monyak’s attention. To enter the contest, you had to submit a detailed plan for starting up a new downtown business. The group offered a nice cash prize for the winner.

Monyak got with his homebrewing neighbor, and they discussed their dream.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we entered this contest and maybe became one of the five finalists,” he and his friend posed. “Then maybe we could take this idea to a bank and see if someone would fund us.”

They entered the contest in August 2013. Then something unexpected happened.

“Not only were we a finalist, but we won.” he explained.

After receiving the cash prize in late January 2014, the reality of the situation set in.

“We won, so now we’ve got to do something,” he said of his realization.

Greyhound leaves space for a brewery

The story now jumps back to 1937. That’s when Greyhound Corporation built a sparkling new bus station in the heart of downtown Bristol. It used modern architectural style-cues of the Art Deco movement popular at the time. The attractive building was solid as a rock. It served the bus line well until the early 1980s, when a changing transportation environment made the building surplus. Recognizing the historic and architectural value of the building to downtown, the City of Bristol purchased the building about 20 years ago. It had been leased it out before, but the businesses didn’t last. Most recently, the city used it for its engineering department.

Now, we return to 2014, when Monyak heard that the City of Bristol was vacating its old Greyhound Station building. He and his now business-partner neighbor approached the city about buying the property. Those negotiations moved along, and in July 2014 they were the owners of the former bus station.

It takes money to start a brewery

“So now we won this contest, and we have a building; we’ve got to start a brewery,” Monyak remembered saying at the time. But to do that, they needed money.

The next step was finding a bank that would loan them funds to purchase the equipment and perform the renovations needed to install a brewery in the old bus station. They found the local branch of the Bank of Tennessee eager to work with them. The bank is experienced in small business lending and was impressed with the two men, their business credentials, and business plan. It helped that Monyak has an MBA and his partner is an accountant. So even though neither had worked in a brewery before, the bank made them a small business loan in August 2014.

In September 2014, with financing in hand, the men ordered their brewery equipment. The equipment arrived in January 2015, and the build-out began. Bristol Station Brews & Taproom opened its doors on July 17, 2015.

“I’m very fortunate to have turned my hobby into a profession,” Monyak said. “Not a lot of folks get to do that. I recognize that, and I’m very proud to get to say that we’ve pulled it off.”

What’s his brewing style?

Today, Monyak is just beginning to settle into his new career of brewer and co-owner of Bristol Station brewery. So, what does he like to brew?

“I brew a little bit of everything,” he said. “What we focused on for the opening were lighter beers that are drinkable, session beers.”

They started out with six beers at the grand  opening, and as they expand, they will get into others, like seasonals and more challenging styles.

On opening night the tap list included:

• Redneck Amber – a typical American amber ale, smooth and malty
• Piedmont Pilsner Ale – lighter blond style with noble hops
• BFW – American light lager
• Bristol Helle Raiser – a classic German-style Helles lager
• Double Loco – American Imperial IPA, organic hops from Asheville
• Sunset IPA – West Coast-style IPA

The day I visited, he was busy brewing a classic-styled Bearded Goat Bock. The following day he would brew a Vanilla Imperial Porter. He also promises a “real good Oktoberfest” using a recipe he has brewed many times before.

Bristol Station operates a 10-barrel brewing system and several same-size fermenters, plus other tanks. They are kegging everything they make, which they store in two cold rooms. Beer is dispensed at two tap stations, one of which was the original Greyhound ticket counter.

Still completing the funishings, they will have several high top tables and chairs in the taproom. A large outdoor seating area will be decorated to make it a welcoming option for good weather use.

“The building has worked out real well for what we have here,” Monyak said.

After he gets things squared away at the brewery taproom, he plans to supply some draft beer to local restaurant accounts and, within the next two to three years, to bottle and distribute his beer.

Bristol experiences craft brewing growth

Bristol sits literally on the border between Tennessee and Virginia. The state line runs right down State Street in the heart of downtown. For a long time there was only one brewery in the region, and that was Wolf Hills Brewing in Abington, VA, about 16 miles away. That was yesterday. Today, the region is seeing quite a craft brewing explosion.

There are now eight craft breweries on the Tennessee side of the Tri-Cities (Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City) and soon to be two more in Virginia. On the Tennessee side of Bristol, Holston River Brewing Company opened about a year ago out by the Bristol Speedway. On the Virginia side, Studio Brew—about three blocks from Bristol Station—is currently under construction and should open in a few months. [Update: Studio Brew is now open for business.]

“Downtown Bristol is starting to grow, and there’s a nice little change here downtown,” Monyak said.

“We don’t serve food (at the brewery), and that’s on purpose. We want to be part of the downtown experience. Come here and have a beer, go down to a restaurant and have something to eat, go on State Street and do some shopping, come back here for a nightcap and then go home.

“We could have done a brewpub and served food, but the laws in Virginia are such that, if you manufacture beer here, you can serve it on-site without having food.” — Ken Monyak

Believing in Bristol Station Brews

Through the whole process Monyak says he worked with and was encouraged by Believe in Bristol, which is a Main Street program covering historic downtown Bristol. Monyak feels that writing a good business plan was instrumental in them winning the contest, negotiating purchase of the building, and getting the bank loan for the brewing equipment. If not for the help from Believe in Bristol, Bristol Station Brews & Taproom may still have been nothing but a dream.

If you are driving along I-81 and nearing the Virginia-Tennessee line, try to make a stop at Bristol and visit Bristol Station. A dream can come true, if you only believe. Believe in Bristol Station Brews & Taproom, that is.

Contact Info

Bristol Station Brews & Taproom
41 Piedmont Avenue
Bristol, Virginia

Bristol Station Website Link
Phone: (276) 608-1220
Email: ken@bristolbrew.com
Facebook: Bristol Station Page

Hours
Wednesday: 3pm to 11pm
Thursday: 3pm to 11pm
Friday: Noon to 11pm
Saturday Noon to 11pm
Sunday: 2pm to 10pm