It’s always uplifting when a small, home-grown business thrives, grows and experiences overall success.

That’s all part of the American dream, after all.

Founded in 2018, the locally run brewery, Penguin City Beer, started out, according to its website, in an effort to celebrate life, love of Youngstown and, yes, good beer.

Words emblazoned on the website are simple, but meaningful: “Tough times don’t last. Tough cities do.”

Perhaps it was the connection to the strength and grittiness of our city, or maybe it’s just home-brewed good beer that has caught on.

Penguin City has become so successful that it recently closed on a $2.2 million loan the company will use to renovate the former Republic warehouse downtown to relocate its production line and open a taproom / restaurant.

As Penguin City Beer co-owner Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki aptly said recently, this is huge for the company. Indeed, it’s huge for the city.

Investing in Youngstown, being part of creating a new corridor and making a change in the landscape of downtown were overwhelming to Bernacki, because she points out, it’s what the company hoped to do from day one.

Penguin City Brewing bought the more than 32,000-square-foot warehouse in December for $575,000 with plans to invest $3.7 million to relocate its production line and open a taproom / restaurant, event center and rental space.

Phase one of the project will be a 10,000-square-foot taproom and a 10,000-square-foot brewhouse. Penguin City also is remodeling a 5,000-square-foot office and 1,000 square feet into a production space and taproom for a cider house and winery owned by Youngstown resident Hannah Ferguson.

“It still hasn’t quite settled in that this is ours. We have been working nonstop since August of 2018 looking for our forever home,” Lyras-Bernacki said. “And we knew Penguin City had to be in the heart of the city.”

That attitude is refreshing and uplifting for everyone who loves Youngstown.

We wish Penguin City Beer the best as they move forward in this growing venture.

Undoubtedly, the loss of steel making in Youngstown has been gut-wrenching for those who were raised on the industry.

But now we believe few will be disappointed to see the vacant steel warehouse building about to be put back into use by folks who love the city and call it their home.

editorial@vindy.com