CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The tale of Old Capital Brewing began two-and-a-half years ago when Seth Blewitt moved back into town after several years of living on the east coast.

He reconnected with his good buddy from middle school, Justin Park, and the two began developing recipes and brewing beer in Blewitt's garage and basement.

“The fact that we were able to come back together, reunite in order to do this, is amazing," said Park.

Blewitt said he was inspired after listening to Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney speak at the Democratic National Convention and felt like his hometown was on the right track moving forward.

So, after pitching the idea to Park, the two would get together just about every weekend to work on recipes and try out new hops and grains.

And with the blessing of their wives and families, they were full steam ahead on Old Capital Brewing.

“One of our reasons for doing this is trying to be somewhat educational and help people explore what different kind of hop varieties, grains, ryes are out there, teaching people what goes into beer,” said Blewitt.

Brewing beer is like a fine art, a creative process from beginning to end.

Both said you get out what you put into it.

“So if you're meticulous, you pay attention to your numbers, you pay attention to the ingredients; you get a better product in the end. I mean, sure, you can be lazy and throw in whatever whenever. You’ll probably get something drinkable, but then that's going to be really difficult to reproduce,” Park said. “And that's what we're all about, reproducibility.”

As Blewitt and Park take a peek inside their new brewery, which is slated to open before the end of the year, both said they're proud to be part of the renaissance that's happening in downtown Chillicothe.

“People have been adding in shops, really have filled in a lot of offerings for downtown. Yeah, when we were growing up you know it didn't look like this,” said Blewitt.

For Blewitt, he's proud that he and his family made the decision to move back his hometown three years ago.

He said he values his friendship with Park, and the two will continue to reach out to local partners, such as in this case with Chillicothe's Rōst Coffee on a new coffee-infused beer.

“Growing up, a lot of people would just leave town. They always wanted to get out of town. And there's really a lot of rich town and people here in town that are making things happen,” said Blewitt.

For more information on Old Capital Brewing, click here.