Elevate Your Degree

How much beer can you handle in a year?

Elevator Brewing Company already offers the most extensive handcrafted beer menu in Columbus, with 10 year-round selections complemented by multiple seasonal brews. Elevator is also home of the Masters of Beer Appreciation (MBA) program, featuring a unique limited beer release each month.

But seasons and months are simply no match for the creativity of Vic Schiltz and Mark Beery.

Schiltz, Elevator masterbrewer, and Beery, Elevator brewer, started kicking around a fresh idea earlier this year: What if they brewed a small single batch every couple of weeks?

“We make a single batch; when it’s out, it’s out. Sorry about your luck,” Schiltz said during an impromptu brainstorming session in November. If you’re doing the math at home, that adds up to 20+ distinctive brews in addition to the 10 always on tap at Elevator. Schiltz and Beery reasoned that with brewing capabilities at both the brewery and the nearby Elevator restaurant, where eight of the 12 MBA beers are created, why not cut loose and try some new recipes?

Dick Stevens, Elevator owner, didn’t need much convincing that this idea could fly. Not that he could protest; Schiltz and Beery were practically salivating at the prospect. Stevens proposed coining the program PHD, an advanced version of the MBA.

“I’m willing to try it,” he said. “It’s bold and in-your-face.”

So what did the boys decide? Check back and see…