Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
NBC4 Columbus
Rockmill Brewery’s 12-acre Lancaster property for sale in foreclosure auction
By David Rees,
2024-03-22
LANCASTER, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A central Ohio brewery that was on the market for more than $6 million has failed to find a buyer, and is now facing foreclosure with an auction underway.
Rockmill Brewery at 5705 Lithopolis Road NW in Lancaster is currently up for auction through March 25 with a minimum asking price of $2.4 million, according to the 12-acre property’s listing on Auction Ohio’s site. The brewery, which the Fairfield County Common Pleas Court appraised for $3.6 million, is open during the ongoing auction.
The foreclosure includes the sale of two separate sites on Rockmill’s property, but does not feature the brewery’s furniture, fixtures or equipment. The first site makes up the brewery’s main operations with five buildings totaling more than 9,000 square feet home to a taproom, an event space, a chapel, a pond and picnic grounds.
The second site is a 5,080-square-foot, two-story home built in 1900 and remodeled in 1981, the residence of the brewery’s current operators, Austin Caulk and Taylor Scribner. The home includes three bedrooms, four full bathrooms, three half bathrooms, three fireplaces and a three-car detached garage.
Rockmill’s foreclosure comes after founder Matthew Barbee attempted to sell the brewery for $6.75 million in 2022, though a deal was never reached. Barbee, who now lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, bestowed the brewery’s day-to-day operations to Caulk and Scribner last year.
Barbee launched the brewery in 2010 on his mother’s more than 23-acre farm and expanded in 2016 with the opening of Rockmill Tavern in Columbus’ Brewery District. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled Barbee’s momentum, the tavern closed in 2022 and the Lancaster brewery’s patrons dwindled.
Caulk and Scribner were hiking last year in Lancaster when the couple stopped at Rockmill for a beer. Columbus Monthly reported the pair took a walk to the property’s chapel where Caulk proposed to Scribner, leading them to inquire with Barbee about getting married at the site.
Caulk and Scribner soon became interested in also purchasing Rockmill from Barbee, though a sale has yet to go through. Still, the couple is aiming to revive the brewery and told Columbus Business First they’ll be bidding on the property during the foreclosure auction.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0