DankHouse Brewing Company is an independent, family-run brewery based in Newark, Ohio, founded by husband-and-wife team Josh and Heather Lange. The brewery grew out of their shared interest in craft beer and homebrewing, which developed through travelling to breweries and beer destinations across the United States. Rather than beginning with a large investment or an established brewing background, the Langes taught themselves the craft and gradually turned their homebrewing hobby into a commercial brewery. DankHouse officially opened in November 2017, initially operating on a tiny 2.5-barrel system before steadily expanding its production. The brewery's first years were marked by rapid local support, helping it establish itself as one of the leading small breweries in central Ohio.
From the beginning, DankHouse has been built around small-batch brewing and experimentation. The brewery currently operates a 10-barrel system and describes its philosophy as cultivating its brewing ideas one small batch at a time. Its range is particularly associated with IPA, fruited kettle sours and stouts, although the brewery has never limited itself to those styles. Early on, Josh Lange was already experimenting with saisons, barrel ageing and beers incorporating unusual ingredients, alongside the hop-forward beers that would eventually become a major part of the DankHouse identity. That willingness to move between very different styles is still evident in the brewery's constantly changing lineup, where big, hazy IPAs can sit alongside pastry-inspired stouts, tart fruit beers and more restrained traditional styles.
Hops are nevertheless central to DankHouse's reputation. One of its earliest recipes, Super Fantastic, remains the brewery's longest-running beer and was originally the second recipe Josh created while homebrewing. It is a 7% IPA dry-hopped with Amarillo, Mosaic and Simcoe, bringing together the citrus, tropical and resinous qualities that have become characteristic of the brewery's hop-forward beers. DankHouse has continued to explore modern American hop varieties and techniques, producing beers that emphasise saturated hop flavour and aroma rather than relying purely on bitterness. Its reputation for this style of brewing also led to collaborations with other respected American breweries, including Melvin Brewing, which created a West Coast IPA with DankHouse using Mosaic, Ekuanot and Southern Star hops.
The brewery's experimental side is equally important. Fruited kettle sours became one of its specialities, allowing the brewers to combine bright acidity with large quantities of fruit and create intensely aromatic, refreshing beers. DankHouse has also spent considerable time exploring darker styles, particularly rich stouts, while barrel ageing has provided another avenue for experimentation. When the brewery was still operating on its original tiny system, it was already ageing beers in French oak Cabernet barrels and experimenting with delicate saisons alongside its IPAs and sour beers. That willingness to try things simply because they sound interesting is very much rooted in the brewery's homebrewing origins, where there was never a requirement to make the same beer twice.
DankHouse has grown considerably since those early days, expanding its footprint well beyond its original Newark taproom and now distributing into markets including Ohio, the UK and Europe. Despite that growth, the brewery continues to emphasise the small-batch mentality that defined it from the start. The brewery has been recognised outside Ohio too, being named one of Hop Culture's top 12 new breweries in the United States in 2018, only a year after opening. Today, DankHouse remains particularly appealing for drinkers who enjoy breweries that refuse to sit still: its identity is built around juicy hop-driven beers, big stouts and fruit-forward sours, but its underlying philosophy is simply to keep experimenting and make flavour-packed beer that the brewers themselves want to drink.
