Wooden Cask Brewing Company
629 York St, Newport
1 Levee Way, Newport (Newport on the Levee – Gallery Building)
Wooden Cask Brewing Company was started by brewing veteran Randy Schiltz and his wife, and opened in Newport in late 2016. The taproom itself is a decent size, with three unique areas: a large bar as the feature, an open party room, and high top and picnic tables. Its location near Newport on the Levee makes it a popular stop for shoppers and locals alike. Their building was originally built in 1887 and had a long history as a bowling alley. It eventually became a casino and club before becoming a brewery.
Wooden Cask has lots of great beers, but they really excel with their barrel-aging program (as their name would suggest). They have done a wine barrel-aged cider a couple of times that literally almost make me go gluten-free.
The brewery is also known for their expansive bourbon and liquor selection, and they feature discounted pours of high-end whiskeys every Wednesday.
In 2024 they expanded the second floor of their taproom, named The Alley. The space is 3,000 square feet and features their extensive bourbon selection with more than 300 bottles. They also restored four of six original bowling lanes in the space
Wooden Cask also has an internal kitchen, operated by Beards and Bellies BBQ.
Newport on the Levee
In 2020, Wooden Cask operated a pop-up location at the Bridgeview Box Park at Newport on the Levee, and in 2021 they moved to a more permanent location inside the Gallery Building on the Levee for their second location. Lexington’s West Sixth Brewing also opened in the Box Park for the 2021 season.
Must-try beer: Redrum Rum Barrel Aged Ruby – With a name like Wooden Cask you definitely expect a brewery to have a hefty barrel-aging program, and after a little over a year in business they have just that. What I like most about their program is they’re going out of the box a little with beers that aren’t regularly barrel aged, like their Ruby red ale, and they aged it in rum barrels for an even more unique flavor.
Other great beers: Citrannati, 7th Street Runoff