A blustery day in March nudged two old friends into the Buckeye Lake Brewery for a "shot of Hennosy," St. Patrick's Day Plans, and a toast to The Glory Days. 

He was waiting for me around the corner near the popcorn machine – my former teaching colleague cum boss at Murphy’s Blue Moon Saloon, Papa Boo’s Key West Cookery, Muddy Miser’s and Jack Havana’s. John Starner and I don’t see each other very much any more, and that’s my loss.  For me, every time I sit down with Starner is like mainlining a shot of creative juices.

For a guy enchanted by history and tradition, Starner’s mind is always moving forward.  Plans, schemes, proposals, and now thoughts of a book on the thing he learned from below the ground floor on up – the glory, story, and gory pitfalls of opening a bar or restaurant.

When I sat down and saw the thick manila envelope on the bar, I smiled.  My old friend had been busy.

We’d chosen Buckeye Lake Brewery on Walnut Road there in Buckeye Lake for several reasons, but mostly because it was close to our old haunts during our Papa Boo run, we love funky little brewpubs, and we enjoy rooting on entrepreneurial people who are making their dreams work for them.

We met Rich Hennosy, owner of the Buckeye Lake Brewery, and I sat back and listened to Starner talk shop with this bright, thoughtful young guy.  It was obvious that Hennosy had a passion for what he was doing.   But unlike lots of folks who have strong initial successes – his little taproom is going strong and Buckeye Lake brews can now be found in bottles and cans all over the region – Hennosy spoke cautiously about expansion, a sentiment John echoed, harkening back to his Muddy Miser’s – Jack Havana’s juggling act.

So often, the thing that makes a spot like the Buckeye Lake Brewery is the personal stamp of ownership and what can’t possibly be overrated: sturdy, unfailingly honest, dependable management staff and management that totally buys in to the business model. Starner always says that his first lesson in the bar business came when he found that an employee had skimmed twenty cases of beer from the inventory. It’s all about maintaining that personal touch…without getting touched up!

While John and Rich kibitzed, I studied the long, “Pint It Forward!” blackboard, a record of customers leaving a brew or two for a friend.  On the top was the name of an infamous Papa Boo patron from the early days, the bane of Darlene “The Dream” Gorman and a staple, vexing figure planted in the middle of the bar. I questioned my server with a detailed (!) description of our old nemesis;  she said she didn’t know anyone by that name who fit that description…when, right on cue, a tall well-dressed gent who obviously wasn’t my guy and obviously knew most everybody at the bar walked in and snagged a stool.

“That’s him,” my server said.

I badly wanted my name up with the Cool Kids on the “Pint Forward” blackboard.  So even though this wasn’t our bogeyman, myth, and legend from across the lake, this unsuspecting brother had the same name.  What the heck. Close enough.

I channeled my inner Woody Hayes and “paid forward,” a pint for a stranger, albeit one who clearly thought it was a little weird that some crusty old dude over by the popcorn machine was posting him to a BLB delight. All things considered, he didn’t seem to mind.

I went back to sipping my beloved Shovelhead American-style Imperial IPA.  On the sage advice of my server, a beautiful bright pink scoop of grapefruit was bobbing in that beautiful gold beer like an early summer, sun-addled Lake Rat-wannabe riding an inflated tire off the East Sandbar.  I told Hennosy how much I enjoyed the art work on his bottles and cans. He smiled and admitted that graphic design was part of his business background and another signature touch to the Buckeye Lake Brewery line-up.

From nostalgic photo art on the BLB bottles and cans, the conversation turned to art on the wall. Hennosy and Starner shared information about the classic photography that resides in a retired photographer’s private collection, a treasure of sights and scenes from Buckeye Lake’s Big Band and Amusement park “Glory Days.”

Me? I savored my Shovelhead, thinking about the spring waters slowly rising again over The Big Buffalo Swamp. I thought about the taproom’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration coming up, featuring BLB’s “Irish Coffee Blonde Ale” and smoked corned beef sandwiches coming out of Smitty’s Real Pit BBQ, LLC. Even on a blustery, snow spitting March afternoon, Buckeye Lake Brewery and passionate entrepreneurs like Rich Hennosy and John Starner can make a guy believe that maybe another stretch of Glory Days on Buckeye Lake lies just around the bend!