Brewery Makes Itself at Home in Cortland

CORTLAND, Ohio – Craft breweries might be overflowing in some areas, but a new one near Cortland fits right into the market.

The 1547 Project, which opened in September at 3290 State Route 5, has gotten a warm welcome, say co-owners Tony DiProfio and Ryan Machuzak.

The name is derived from the street address of DiProfio’s home in Girard. That’s where he and Machuzak started making beer in an outbuilding on his property.

The two have been distributing kegs of their beer to area restaurants and bars since 2022. They have cut back on the distribution to focus on their brewpub. But the 1547 Project beer can still be found on tap in four restaurants in Girard and Howland.

The owners offer 10 fresh brews on tap at the pub, plus a hard seltzer.

The beers range from Midnight on Mosquito (4.6% ABV) – a porter with chocolate, caramel and coffee notes – to Phantom of the Opera House (9% ABV), a pumpkin ale.

There are plenty of more traditional offerings as well, including Zest Quest IPA, 1400 Miles from Home key lime ale, a blonde ale, a white stout, an Oktoberfest brew, a gose and a farmhouse ale.

Some more daring brews will be made in the future.

“Since we only did distribution until now, and we were sold in restaurants, we didn’t make anything strange,” DiProfio says. “We had an IPA and a porter. We couldn’t do anything real crazy. But now that we have a taproom, we will play around with recipes and do some one-offs.”

All of their beer is sold only on draft because the company has no canning line. Customers can bring in their own growlers for fills and the pub will also soon sell fresh beer in crowlers.

With more than 400 brewpubs in Ohio, the craft brewing industry is getting tapped out. But The 1547 Project is the only one in the Cortland-Bazetta Township area.

The comfy taproom has the relaxed atmosphere of a clubhouse and already has built a following of regulars.

With a small bar and surrounding tables and chairs, there is indoor seating for 50.

A garage door opens onto a leafy backyard where long tables and benches – and the pub’s signature pickup truck-bed booths – can be found. Propane heating towers provide warmth in cold weather.

“It’s our take on a German biergarten,” DiProfio says.

The booths were removed from full-size pickups and fitted with wooden bench seating and propane heat tables.

Machuzak says he considers the business to be a neighborhood brewery.

“Local people are in here all the time,” he says. “The community has been very supportive. When we opened, the Bazetta trustees came in to see us. The zoning guys came in. Everyone came in to check it out.”

DiProfio says the cozy taproom and the biergarten make a visit “like going to your friends’ house. You can hang out in the backyard and play cornhole.”

The owners say they’ll keep that community vibe.

DiProfio’s background is in construction while Machuzak is an aircraft mechanic. The two did most of the construction work on the pub. It’s the first hospitality business for the co-owners, who run it with their wives.

They’re looking to keep the business small. “We still have day jobs,” Machuzak says.

A small brewery is a nimble one that can stay ahead of trends and not get bogged down with inventory when consumer tastes change, the owners say.

“We don’t have a lot of overhead,” DiProfio adds. “We put the money we made [from distribution] back into the business. So, we have zero debt. And being smaller means we have the ability to change with the market. We can easily adapt and not have a large stockpile of beer. We’re not brewing on a [large capacity] system. So if something isn’t selling, we won’t be stuck with it.”

The co-owners brew on-site on a small 1.5-barrel system.

The pub is open three days a week for now: Thursday from 4-9 p.m.; Friday from 2-10 p.m.; and Saturday from noon-10 p.m.

Pictured at top: Co-owners Tony DiProfio and Ryan Machuzak stand behind the bar at The 1547 Project Brewery near Cortland.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.