Jackass Brewery celebrates Williamsport location
Williamsport, Pa. — Friday afternoon was a gorgeous, sunny day to celebrate Williamsport's newest brewery and restaurant. The owners of Jackass Brewery expressed gratitude during a ribbon cutting outside of the building at 301 West Third Street.
"This means so much to us as we try to become an integral part of the Williamsport community. Our mission is to bring people together and make them smile, and this is what we're going to do for Williamsport and central Pennsylvania," said Larry Winans, co-owner of Jackass Brewery.
Winans, along with co-owner Skip Kratzer, real estate partner Chris Baylor, and Winans' wife, Xana Winans, stood at the front steps of the building along with staff to cut the ribbon and celebrate what turned out to be more than a year of hard work to make the opening a reality.
"I'm incredibly thankful, grateful, and excited about being in this city," Kratzer said. "I'm incredibly grateful and thankful for this man right here," Kratzer said referring to Baylor. "He believed in us when no one else did."
The owners purchased the building in July 2023 for $1.05 million. Winans and Kratzer held a ceremonial brick smashing earlier this year, where they discussed renovation plans for the 24,000-square foot, four-story building. The building had been vacant for a long period of time, and needed to be completely renovated. "We put in all new HVAC and plumbing," Xana said. T. Ross Brothers Construction handled the work. Todd Ross of T. Ross Brothers is a real estate partner, but he could not make the ribbon cutting on Friday.
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Xana, who handles marketing for Jackass, led a tour after the ribbon cutting and showed the renovations made to the third and fourth floors. The event space, called "The Lofts at 301 West Third," can accommodate between 160 and 200 people. The fourth floor features a reception room with wood tables and panoramic window views of the city. The building is from the 1800s, Xana explained. "The posts are from 125 years ago," Xana said, as she pointed out one of the wooden support posts in the room.
The third floor is set up for wedding ceremonies. "We actually had a wedding here two weeks ago." The event spaces on the third and fourth floor also may be booked for Christmas parties and any event in general. After Thanksgiving, there will be a holiday market on the third floor which will be a sip and shop-type event, Xana said.
The second floor is currently the restaurant, with full bar service. The long wooden bar was made by local artisan Raffaele Colone, who owns Woodrich Trees for Life. At the landing to the steps to the first floor is an original brick from the building that was found by a construction worker when renovations first began. It's in a case with a brick that says "Lewisburg," noting the origins of Jackass Brewery's first location. "The building was originally F.B Thrall & Co. grocery store," Xana said. "The railroad tracks ran behind it."
The first floor is the taproom and tasting room. The first floor currently serves appetizers only, but eventually will have the full menu, Xana said. The menu is similar to Jackass Brewery's Lewisburg location, with sandwiches, appetizers, tacos, and signature cocktails in addition to around a dozen beers.
The brewing equipment is located behind the taproom. At the side of a the taproom is a large scale back from when the building was a grocery store. The owners decided to keep it there. "We truly want to preserve as much of the building as possible," Xana said. The beer made in the Williamsport brew deck will eventually be distributed in kegs to local bars and eventually to grocery stores.
On tap for next year is the opening of a rooftop bar. Work on that will begin in March and it should be open by late spring or early summer, according to Xana.
The original Jackass location is at 2268 Old Turnpike Road in Lewisburg. Winans and Kratzer opened it in 2020 after they mastered the art of home brewing. The name Jackass came out of this home brewing venture, as Xana explained four couples used to get together to hang out and they jokingly called themselves the "four jackasses."
"One night, they decided to try home brewing at Skip's house. They tried a bourbon porter," Xana said. But, that first batch was missing a few ingredients.
However, it didn't take long for him, along with Winans, to try again and eventually they made good-tasting beer. Kratzer and Winans began brewing beer as a hobby on weekends. Xana decided to make tasting glasses for the fledging brewing pursuits and came up with the name Jackass, a take off what the group referred to themselves as. A jackass is a male donkey, and the brewery's logo features a donkey head. The name is in line with the brewery's light-hearted atmosphere.
Winans said they chose to open a Williamsport location due to its thriving downtown scene and its close proximity to Lewisburg, which is half an hour down Route 15. "The community has been unbelievably supportive, both Jason Fink of the Chamber and Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter," Winans said.
