Fifth Street Brewpub: Built by Neighbors, Powered by Pints, The Origin Story
The Oldest Cooperatively Owned and Operated Brewery in the United States
From the Desk of JT, the Beer Logger (B-Logger)
Mission: Tell the story of how a neighborhood built a coop brewery
Location: Dayton, Ohio – St. Anne’s Hill Historic District
Vibe: Community hustle meets beer-fueled innovation
Mood: Proud, reflective, and still impressed it worked
🎉 Beer #1… and the App That Changed Everything
A social app called Untappd, beta launched in 2011, had started becoming popular in late 2011 and early 2012. I loaded it and started using it in early 2012. My first beer check-in was on February 12, 2012.
- Alaskan Amber
- Location: Kenosha, Wisconsin
- Mood: Completely unaware of what was about to unfold
That was Beer #1.
The next four came just days later in Austin, Texas — when I was building a mobile sports app with a local development team. And that’s where things started to get interesting.
I wanted to start using the app, and was hungry/thirsty, so that week included many stops — at NXNW Brewing Company, Lovejoys Taproom & Brewery, Uncle Billy’s Brewery, and Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery.
At the time, Austin was an emerging beer city. This was before the 2015–2019 explosion when breweries started popping up everywhere. Back then, you could feel the energy. The creativity. Just enough breweries to explore without needing a spreadsheet.
But one stop didn’t just stand out — it changed the lives of many.
Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery.
🛢️ “A Co-op? Huh.” — The Moment Everything Shifted
I still remember seeing the sign outside:
Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery
And thinking:
“A co-op? Huh?”
What does a co-op have to do with a brewery? As a serial entrepreneur and business model nerd, I needed to learn more.
I grabbed a brochure. Learned the basics about the membership model. And started asking a lot of questions. One of the best early answers was that this was a cooperatively owned and operated brewery.
I ordered food and a beer at the counter, tried to tip, and they wouldn’t take it.
Because the staff were also owners.
This wasn’t just a brewery. It was a completely different way of structuring ownership, incentives, and community.
And right there, mid-beer, mid-brainstorm…
…it clicked.
I had to make a call, before leaving the counter. This was big.
📞 The Phone Call That Started Fifth Street Brewpub
I called my good buddy, Brian Young. He and I played football and basketball against each other in Middle School and met at Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Brian and I became good friends and kept in touch over the years. Worked together. Enjoyed rooting for the Chicago Cubs and Wisconsin Badgers, and traveled and partied together in Wisconsin, Chicago, Las Vegas, Cancun, Denver, and Baltimore. I’m sure I’m forgetting other epic trips.
When we talked in 2010 and 2011, Brian told me about a situation back in his then hometown of Dayton, Ohio. He and a group of 10–15 neighbors had purchased a deteriorating building in the St. Anne’s Hill Historic District, because it was attracting the wrong kind of crowd to the neighborhood.
After making the purchase, they were looking for someone to lease or buy the building and had been accepting proposals.
The business plans submitted were… not attractive. To say the least. None of them felt right.
Meanwhile, the ownership group was still paying property taxes and other building expenses.
So when I walked into Black Star and saw a co-op brewery in action, it didn’t feel random.
The lights went on.
A Perfect Solution
I pitched it to Brian right there on the phone:
- Low-cost membership model
- Community ownership
- Built-in capital
- Neighborhood buy-in
- All members can run for the Board of Directors
- All members vote on the Board of Directors
Brian’s initial reaction, as he reminded me again this weekend, was not instant blind faith. He had questions. Fair questions. Wasn’t this kind of model more for feed companies and farm-related operations? Which, honestly, is a very reasonable response when your tipsy friend calls you from a brewery in Austin and says, “Hear me out, we should create a co-op brewery!”
Still, we talked it through.
Brian was cautiously curious and willing to do some research.
💻 The Build: $100, a Website, and a Big Swing
From my side in Wisconsin, I volunteered to:
- Buy the domain names, design and build the website
- Add a PayPal link to automate collection of fees
- Create and file the official coop paperwork and create the operating agreement
- Serve on the Board and contribute my business experience
That was nothing. From Dayton, Brian and his then-fiancée (now wife), Maureen “Mo” Barry, would handle everything else.
Which… was a lot. A LOT.
Meanwhile, back in Austin, I talked to Jeff Young, one of the founders and brewers at Black Star.
And yes — I remember his name because it’s my first name and Brian’s last name. Some things just hit you over the head. And reinforce that this was meant to be.
Jeff had lived the co-op model. Built it. Operated it. Understood it.
After a quick call with JY, Brian and Mo had the confidence to take the next step.
They flew to Austin, on their dime.
Met Jeff.
Came back energized.
And decided to test the idea.
🚀 300 Members Was the Goal…
The initial plan was simple:
If we could get 300 members in the first month, the idea had legs.
That was the benchmark.
That was the “okay, maybe this works” number.
We hit 300…
…in the first couple of weeks.
And then things escalated.
Mo led the charge to get the word out to potential members in the community. Brian also recruited member-owners and started pitching the concept to local professionals that we could add to the initial operating committee (and eventually our founding Board of Directors). Tony Clark, Joe Dierkers, Tobin Denney, and others said yes and started to help. By the end of the first month, we had:
- 800 member-owners
- $80,000 in startup capital
That’s when the idea officially stopped being an experiment.
🎉 “Drinks All Around. I Own a Brewpub.”
Those first 300 charter members?
They’re still part of the story.
Their names are on the walls inside Fifth Street Brewpub today.
And they received one of the greatest t-shirts ever created. On the back, it proudly states:
“DRINKS ALL AROUND! I can say that because I’m a Brewpub Owner.”
That line says everything.
This wasn’t about investors.
This was about ownership.
Community ownership.
And people showed up in a big way — largely because of Brian and Mo. And the team of locals they brought in to help. Their combined network, their reputation, and relationships from events like Santa Pub Crawl and Porchfest helped turn a good idea into real momentum.
Because ideas don’t build 800+ member communities.
People do.
Editorial note: Fifth Street Brewpub now has almost 4,000 members.
🧱 June 2012: Officially a Co-op (And Officially Real)
By June 2012, Fifth Street Brewpub became a legal cooperative.
And that’s when things got serious.
Here’s how the structure works:
- Each member-owner gets one share
- No one person controls the business
- Profits aren’t funneled to a single owner
- The brewery belongs to the community
And here’s the part that really matters:
When you walk into Fifth Street Brewpub, you’re not just supporting a business.
You’re supporting your brewery.
That’s powerful.
⚖️ The Reality: Beautiful Model, Heavy Lifting
Let’s not romanticize this too much.
The co-op model is incredible.
It’s also hard to execute.
Because when something needed to get done locally, and nobody else would do it…
It usually fell on Brian.
Or Mo.
And they each owned exactly one share.
They’ll both tell you it was a labor of love. It brought a ton of joy. But, it wasn’t easy.
Not even close.
Fifth Street Brewpub does not exist without them. At the same time, Fifth Street Brewpub does not exist today without the Board Members and management team that followed. This model survives, because one group hits it out of the park, and then another group comes up to bat. A new brewer, Jon Nagshki, was hired about five years ago. He’s now also the General Manager. After meeting with Jon, and enjoying his beers, I can tell you Fifth Street Brewpub is in good hands.
In the first 14 years, I don’t know how many Board Members have served — maybe 25 to 30, or more? Each has made a significant impact. And helped us survive and prosper for going on 15 years.
🏆 Today: The Oldest Co-op Brewery in the Country
With the closure of Black Star Co-op in January 2025, Fifth Street Brewpub now stands as:
The oldest cooperatively owned and operated brewery in the United States.
Let that sink in for a second.
What started as a phone call from a bar in Austin…
…is now a living, breathing, community-owned national institution… in Dayton. With almost 4,000 member-owners! That’s a huge number. And one of the reasons Fifth Street is doing so well.
🎥 You Need Good PR Along the Way
There’s even a documented chapter of this story through an NPR/WYSO piece featuring Brian and Mo, highlighting how they helped transform a struggling property into a thriving community hub.
This was never just about beer.
It was about:
- Neighborhood belief
- A creative business model
- People choosing to build something together
🍻 What Else Started in Early 2012?
The real reason for writing this story is because I started a beer blog, for fun. And to learn more about blogging technology and current trends.
My first 20 beers were logged on Untappd in February of 2012. And I steadily continued to log over the years. The majority were enjoyed after moving to Colorado in late 2012. I researched the brewery community, popular beer styles, successful taproom and beer garden designs, and launched FanDraught Sports Brewery in Parker, Colorado. That was fun research, to say the least!
We sold FanDraught to a local Mexican restaurant chain, and they still use the 10-barrel brewery to help create craft beer for all of their locations.
I stopped using Untappd several times over the years. Started. Stopped. And always found my way back. There are some beer drinkers out there with 15,000 to 25,000 or more beers logged in the same amount of time. Could you imagine? I’m good with 5,000. Beer geek level still achieved.
About ten months ago – I decided to slowly log beer numbers 4951 to 5000 while “having a blast with beer” and telling the stories as my wife Lori and I traveled to England, Scotland, and across the United States. Checkout some of the related links below. We did have a blast.
My full circle moment was tasting and logging my 5000th from the brewery we started in early 2012. Cheers! Read more…
Related Links
Beer Tunes! Checkout your new favorite playlist HERE.
