Twin Oast Brewing is sometimes credited with putting its hometown of Catawba Island, Ohio, on the map. What was once a gas-station-stop town on visitors’ way to the boat parties of nearby Put-In-Bay—nicknamed “Key West of the North” among locals—has become a destination in its own right.
Much of that is thanks to the work of the Smith family. Parents Donna and Quin own the 63-acre farm and orchard on which Twin Oast is situated; their son Cory operates the brewery.
Mike Bassett, a family friend of the Smiths whose son operates the small chain of Bassett’s Markets in Ottawa County, Ohio, says the brewery’s effects on the small town can’t be overstated.