A new, permanent counter has appeared on the first floor of Seek No Further Cidery in Granville – and it’s about to be a brand new café.
Seek No Further Café will open inside the cidery, with a fully stocked coffee bar complete with espresso drinks, tea, baked goods and more. Co-owners Garrett Huber and Trent Beers said they’re hoping to curate a space where anyone can come to work, meet and grow their community.
“We want there to be a relaxed place to meet with someone, without feeling rushed,” said Beers, who founded the cidery with Huber in 2021. Fresh off the heels of their 5th anniversary, the owners said they felt it was the perfect time to expand their business.
“The biggest thing is that we used to have our production here,” Beers said, motioning to the space where the café counter is now. “So this space was filled with tanks. We’re doing our production offsite now, and it freed up some room.”
“Due to the fact that we can’t be open in the middle of the day – one, because nobody’s drinking cider in the middle of the day – it’s just been a little bit underutilized time wise,” Huber said. “We have such a nice space outside and upstairs, we’re just thinking of ways we can utilize it more.”
To get more out of the space, and with addition of the café, Beers and Huber said that the cidery will now be open in the mornings and early afternoons seven days a week. They’re hoping to be ready with fresh drinks and pastries at 7 a.m. every day, with a “hard stop” on coffee around 2 p.m. In preparation, the co-owners have met with a local baker, hired all-new staff with barista experience and worked with Deeper Roots Coffee in Cincinnati to source their coffee beans.
This isn’t the first time Seek No Further has sought to strengthen their community, though.
Since the cidery opened in 2021, it’s been home to many local events and gatherings. They host Mountain Bike Mondays, Music Bingo Tuesdays and rent out the space to local organizations. Built out of an old garage, the cidery also sits on the same property as the Bancroft Cottage, a popular Airbnb destination for Granville visitors. The Airbnb opened in 2018, leaving Beers with an open garage and nothing to fill it with.
Even before it opened, though, the cidery built a connection between its owners. Both Ohio natives, Huber was living in Vermont working at a cidery when he saw an Instagram post from Beers about his idea for his own cidery in Granville. Intrigued, he messaged Beers – and almost didn’t get a response.
“I remember when he reached out, I almost didn’t reply,” said Beers, smiling. “He wanted to talk cider, but I’d had the idea and created the Instagram just as a placeholder. I didn’t really know anything, so it was like, ‘I don’t even know what to talk to this guy about.’”
Despite his hesitation, Beers responded to Huber’s message, and the two met up for the first time in 2019, two years before the cidery opened its doors. “I’m definitely glad I did [respond],” Beers said.
According to Beers, the thought process behind starting Seek No Further in Granville “just seemed to make sense.”
“Having visited cideries… we realized what we were lacking,” Beers said. “And the property just seemed perfect for it.”
Huber noted that the surrounding area makes the location even more ideal.
“This is the orchard region for central Ohio… and think about Granville. Granville’s a New England town, and that’s where colonial cider started. There’s so many orchards, cideries and farms up there. Vermont has at least 50, and Ohio hasn’t even scratched the surface,” Huber said.
They source their apples from all over, too – from central Ohio to Michigan, New York and New England.
“That leads to the name of the place, Seek No Further. That’s the name of an heirloom apple that originated five miles out of Granville, Massachusetts,” Beers said. “So the people that came here and started Granville were likely eating Seek No Further apples.”
With all the history and preparation that predates Seek No Further Cidery, the addition of the café is an exciting endeavor for Beers and Huber. The co-owners don’t intend to let people forget about their cider, either.
“Some of our specialty lattes and things will have an apple or maple twist to it,” Beers said. “I want to really tie in the cidery and make it as cohesive as possible. It’s not meant to be a completely separate unit. We’re Seek No Further Cidery, we’ve got great coffee and cider.”
Margo Ellis writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.