GROVE CITY, Pa, – Big Rail Brewing is a concert venue as much as an outdoor pub.
It thoughtfully selects original-music bands for most of the nights that it’s open, and the customers show up to listen.
The brewery at 2158 Mercer Butler Pike (Pa. Route 258) – about a mile from I-79 – also is known for its liquid products. A typical evening at Big Rail is a concert with high-quality beer.
The brewery has a taproom with a long bar and wood-lined walls. But what puts it over the top is its vast outdoor area at the rear of the property and the stage that anchors it.
The permanent rustic-looking structure sits at the bottom of a small slope, creating a natural amphitheater. It is nestled under a canopy of tall trees that keep the woodsy setting in the shade.
Customers on their first visit often describe the scene as magical.
Big Rail gets its unique flair from its three owners: Bill Smith, Sean Corbett and Curt Dunkerley.
Smith and his fellow Grove City native, Corbett, were both long-time home brewers and were also in a band together. Smith is the head brewer of Big Rail.
Today, they are the core of the Big Rail house band. At least once a week, they sit in with singer-songwriter Ben Gage and other guest artists that have been booked for the evening. Smith plays drums and Corbett is on pedal steel and guitar for their Americana act.
Smith and Corbett opened Big Rail in 2019 as strictly an outdoor “beer garden” on their wooded property. The taproom wasn’t built until 2024.
Because the brewery was strictly outdoors at first, it was allowed to remain open during the Covid shutdown of 2020.
“We could stay open because we were an outdoor-based venue,” Smith says. “We didn’t have a taproom. We didn’t have anything. We just had Port-a-Johns, a small stage and people setting up pop-up tents. It literally was just a group of people hanging out in the woods around campfires, and it slowly evolved as we became more popular.”
From the start, there was live music in the beer garden, at a small performance area. The permanent stage opened in the fall of 2024, adding weight to the property as a live music venue. The stage is now in its second full summer of use.
Creating a Culture
For its first five years, Big Rail was simply an outdoor gathering place with a beer stand, portable toilets, a food truck, and – on cold nights – campfires. The taproom and stage that were eventually built reflected its popularity and cemented the culture that the owners created.
“We wanted a top-notch venue, and we developed it from the ground up,” Smith says. “We don’t have investors.”
The property is a work in progress, he says. “What you’ll see now is part of an evolution,” Smith continues. “We have plans for other things.”
The stage and sound equipment are of a quality that’s high enough to lure touring artists. Guests can purchase tickets in advance for the shows at bigrailbrewing.com.
This summer’s schedule includes Americana artists Fruition (Aug. 1) and the Ghost Town Festival (Aug. 8), featuring Smilo & the Ghost and nine other bands. Alyssa Hankey & The North Woods, Clay Street Unit and John R. Miller played earlier this month.
Also scheduled are Pittsburgh rock acts Bill Toms and Hard Rain (July 25), Buzz Poets (Aug. 9), and The Clarks (Aug. 22 and Sept. 13). Jim Donovan and the Sun King Warriors played earlier this month and Youngstown-based rockers The Vindys played Big Rail last year.
In case of cold weather, bands are moved to the large shelter in the beer garden, which is kept warm with temporary side sheeting and space heaters.
If it gets too cold or windy, music is moved to the small stage in the taproom.
Big Rail is just a few minutes from Grove City and also the Grove City Outlets. Its clientele is a mix of locals and folks who travel from throughout the region.
“We’re a venue, but we’re also a brewery,” Smith says. “We have our local crowd. We have bingo and trivia nights, and a mug club. We have our regulars. Every small business needs the regulars.
“But we also have people driving great distances to see bands and to visit the place, just because they’ve heard about it,” he continues. “I’ve talked to people who have driven here from several states away, maybe not directly just to come here, but because they’re traveling through, and they wanted to see the place, which they’ve heard of.”
Folks who are visiting the Grove City Outlets and staying at the nearby Hampton Inn and its sister motels can take advantage of the lodgings’ free shuttle service to and from Big Rail.
Musical Voice
Gage, the singer-songwriter who frequently performs on the new stage with the brewery’s co-owners, says he fits right in at Big Rail.
“I travel around the U.S. to perform, and because I really enjoy the outdoors and parks, [between gigs] I visit national parks and places like that,” the Akron-based artist says. He lives in his van when he’s on the road.
“My ears and eyes are always open for places that kind of blend all the things that I like,” he says. “The first time I was at Big Rail, I was like, oh my gosh, it’s just all the things that I love distilled into one. The music is incredible.”
The brewery has three priorities that suit his tastes.
“It’s a community place where all are welcome,” Gage says. “It’s also a nature place, a brewery that’s set in the woods with the stage right up there against a swamp and all these trees and picnic tables.
“And then, with the music on top of it, it’s just a trifecta,” he concludes. “[The music is] just another reason for people to come together and see their friends in a beautiful place and hear fantastic music. And the cherry on top is that they brew fantastic beer.”
Smith and Corbett started brewing beer in 2004, back in the days when they were in a band together and shared an apartment.
“Me and Sean had a bachelor pad and were just home brewing on the stove, in five-gallon batches, and it just kind of grew out of control,” Smith says. “We kept making bigger batches. We basically didn’t know when to stop. We ended up brewing for a local restaurant in Harmony, called the Harmony Inn. We were kind of like their house brewery. And then we slowly grew out of that and decided we probably should do something on our own. We naturally wanted to have a lot of music involved, because we’re both musicians, but we both loved the beer as well.”
Big Rail Brewing is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 1-10 p.m.; and Sunday from 1-8 p.m. To learn more, go to BigRailBrewing.com.
Pictured at top: Ben Gage and the Big Rail house band, with the Young Sisters, on the stage at Big Rail Brewing.
