JAFB Wooster plans to open second site

Most craft breweries think big when they look to expand.

JAFB Wooster Brewery is thinking small.

The award-winning brewery in Wooster plans to open a smaller brewery later this year in a renovated, three-bedroom house in West Salem, a town of less than 1,500 people in rural Wayne County.

JAFB West Salem, as it will be called, will attempt to recreate the feel of a small-town European brewery, with a pub, beer garden and family atmosphere.

JAFB founder and brewer Paul Fryman and his father Jerry Fryman, who are partnering on the project, didn’t just pick the small village randomly.

“It’s where we’re from,” Paul Fryman said last week over a beer at JAFB Wooster, which opened three years ago. “It’s our hometown. We know everybody and everybody knows us.”

The Frymans hope to bring excitement and pride to the community, located along Interstate 71 in Northeast Ohio. In turn, they are excited about the investments being made to improve the Dragway 42 racetrack and the anticipated growth in tourism because of it.

“That’s a big reason for us not being afraid to invest money,” said Jerry Fryman, who created the artwork and carved the wooden picnic tables inside the JAFB Wooster tasting room.

He also isn’t worried about making money at the new place.

“You’re not going to West Salem to make your fortune,” he said. “It’s the journey.”

The new brewery will serve almost as a pilot operation for JAFB Wooster, with Paul Fryman doing the brewing there, too. There’s also enough property to build a production facility in the future if they want. JAFB Wooster, which employs a seven-barrel brewhouse, doesn’t package or distribute its beer outside of Wooster now.

The Frymans hope to have the West Salem location on state Route 539 open in the fall.

The expansion certainly is made easier because of Paul Fryman’s reputation as a brewer. Last fall, he won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival for his Wooster New Stout. He’s also twice won the Fat Head’s Celebration of the Hop competition, which focuses on India pale ales and double IPAs.

“I’m not worried about it at all,” Paul Fryman said about opening in West Salem. “I know that we can go in there and make good beer.”