John and Adriana Bikis opened Royal Docks Sept 5, 2015. Both natives of Romania, Adriana grew up in Chicago and John in the Canton area, graduating from a local high school. The idea to open a brew-pub came during the two years they spent in the neighborhood of Royal Docks on the River Thames in London. That’s also where the name came about and their wish to bring a bit of a British pub feel into Royal Docks.
Brewmaster Dave Sutula has been making beer professionally for 22 years and has worked for several Ohio breweries. Years ago he began working with wine barrels before it became popular and gained experience with the canning process. With the original equipment in the brewpub, Royal Docks could produce 750 barrels per year. Soon after opening they contracted to use a Columbus brewery to increase their output with an eye on making Royal Docks canned beer available all over Ohio. Their newest venture involves new equipment from Simatec, an Italian company that will give them capacity of 10,000 barrels a year. They hope to house the new brewery not far from the brewpub.
We arrived in the early evening on a weekday and they were quite busy. There was a dance party going on with several people taking part. As advertised, they have several long communal tables, a big red English style phone booth, a bar and a good sized outdoor patio. We sat on the patio and tried a few flights. We particularly enjoyed the Waggle Dance Royal One-Off a unique sweet smoky high ABV ale, Crime of Passionfruit IPA and the Savoir-Faire Framboise. We also enjoyed dinner from their quite diverse menu and found it to be quite good. No nearby lodging noted.
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