Frankfort native’s brewery wins best small brewpub in US

A brewpub in southern Indiana owned by a Ross County native and her husband has been named the country’s Small Brewpub and Small Brewer of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

ZwanzigZ pizzeria and brewpub in Columbus, Indiana, is known for its unique beers and beer mixtures. It also took home two individual beer medals, both silvers, for its chocolate beer and for its eisbock, a rare and difficult-to-brew malty beer.

“We’ve been very euphoric since we’ve learned about it,” said Lisa Zwanzig, who hails from Frankfort and owns the pub with her husband, Kurt. “This confirmed what we hoped and thought all along: that Mike was a really talented brewer.”

She is referring to ZwanzigZ’s brewmaster, Mike Rybinski. He’s the guy behind beers like a blueberry beer, a ghost pepper imperial stout and the now-award-winning chocolate beer. Rybinski also encourages customers to try combinations of two (or more) beers.

“I do like to kind of think outside the box and try to come up with unique different things,” Rybinski said. “We’ll mix the blueberry and chocolate, and customers call it ‘the muffin.’ ”

Lisa Zwanzig, an Adena High School and Ohio University graduate, said she never dreamed she would one day be part of an award-winning brewery and pizzeria. But ask her to pick her favorite beer made in the brewery, and she’s quick to answer.

“I like the more full bodied and barrel aged,” she said. “They pair well with food.”

The Great American Beer Festival, which took place Oct. 6 to 8, drew 60,000 people to taste more than 3,800 beers from 780 breweries. The final day of the festival was for the brewers themselves, when the awards were revealed in 96 beer categories, judged by 264 international beer experts. More than 7,200 beers were entered from 1,752 breweries nationwide.

“I couldn’t even believe it,” Kurt Zwanzig said. “I’m just standing there with tears in my eyes looking at Lisa. It’s just such a honor. It’s almost hard to even imagine how big it is.”

ZwanzigZ has entered beers in the Great American Beer Festival each year since opening but had not won an award until this year. It took judges’ feedback in years past seriously, though, and used it to improve upon the beers the brewery entered.

“It’s a very thoughtful and precise process,” Kurt Zwanzig said. “We don’t just grab the first brews we tend to be brewing at that time.”

Quality has always been a top priority for the couple and their service. The ingredients for their hand-tossed style pizzas come from an independent supplier and they make their own dough, Lisa Zwanzig said. One of their specialties is a seven-pound, 14-topping pie.

The business began in 2002 when Lisa and Kurt Zwanzig left their corporate jobs to pursue their dream of opening a pizza restaurant. In 2012, they expanded, added the brewery and brought on Rybinski, Kurt’s college roommate in the late ’80s. Both Kurt and Lisa Zwanzig expect their recent success will help expand the restaurant, brewpub and production.

“We’ve appealed to a broad spectrum of people that maybe weren’t craft beer drinkers in the first place, and I think that’s one of the more interesting parts of this,” Lisa Zwanzig said. “You can expect to see us grow and make room for more customers, but still keep the charm we’ve been holding onto. We still have the same people who come in on the same night each week and order the same pizza they did 14 years ago.”

The couple considered a franchise restaurant for a while, but realized they did not want to go from one corporate job to another. Eventually, the pair took on the small local pizza business. They decided to add their own craft beer to the menu.

Lisa Zwanzig said her parents, who still live in Ross County, and growing up on a horse farm in Frankfort instilled her with the values she has today.

“I learned you’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t have solid core values that you live by,” she said.

Gazette reporter Sara Nealeigh contributed to this article.

Call IndyStar reporter Amy Bartner at 317-444-6752 and follow her onFacebook,Twitter andInstagram.