Aaron Schickel and Howard Ross of Franklin Brewing Company met in 2003, when both were in a band known as Hydra.
The hard rock group saw decent success throughout the region, but eventually would disband.
The two kept mostly close, however.
Schickel had developed a hobby for brewing his own beers using a Mr. Beer do-it-yourself kit, Ross said, and urged Ross to try his creations.
“If it hadn’t been for our love of music, there might not be a Franklin Brewing Company,” Ross said. “Years go by … (Aaron) had me come over to his place in Avon Lake, and try a few beers that he was brewing.”
Even in its infancy, the product was a hit, and the hobby quickly became an obsession, Ross said.
Since 2013, Schickel and Ross have operated Franklin Brewing Company in Grafton.
Originally run out of a two-car garage, the two business partners signed a lease in 2022 to move to 516 Main St.
“When we had the band going, I was the guy that set up the shows, designed the flyers … basically the sales and marketing for the band,” Ross said. “(Schickel’s) thought was, that’s your end of things. I can brew a mean beer, and you can help me sell it.”
Inspired by Schickel’s admiration of Benjamin Franklin, the brewery has survived for a decade on carry-out products and selling wholesale to local bars.
“When we first started, we packed up some beer, hit the streets and started hitting up the bars that we knew had craft beer,” Ross said. “Our primary business model when we started, was selling wholesale to bars and restaurants in six-barrel kegs.”
When the coronavirus epidemic started, the partners took to putting their beer in cans, Ross said.
“We pivoted and we started canning,” he said. “We would do 16-ounce cans in four packs and growler fills.”
While the canning business model was sustainable, the two wanted to make something more out of their brewery, Ross said.
Through the help of a crowdfunding system known as Honeycomb Credit, Franklin fans from around the Grafton area helped to get Schickel, Ross and their variety of beers out of the garage.
“The intent, ever since the inception of the company, was to open a tap room,” Ross said. “Ten years later, people were like, ‘Why are you still in the garage?'”
Beyond cosmetics, they wanted to make the brewery into an accessible space for beer lovers, almost akin to a coffee house.
Ross highlighted the fact that the tap room also is a music venue, calling back to the owners’ musical roots.
Additionally, there will be other amenities for visitors.
“We have two electronic dartboards. We’re going to have dart leagues,” Ross said. “We’ve got a bunch of little tabletop games. We’ve got a little library section.”
Although Franklin Brewing Company only supplies light offerings when it comes to food, Ross said that multiple places around Grafton are willing to deliver, including Lu’s Pizza just down the road at 945 Main St.
“Right now, we’re just a tap room,” he said. “We’ve got snacks, we don’t have full-blown food.
“We might expand into the future; there’s a space next to us that, if that’s still open, we may investigate going into that space and putting in a small kitchen.”
Franklin Brewing Company is open for business, and the owners hope to hold a grand opening in the coming weeks.
For more information, call 440-308-5769.
