Guests and Members in Attendance
| Peter | DeMott |
| Gary | Poeppelman |
| Frank | Weikel |
| Marcia | Tarkany |
| Nancy | Anderson |
| Pat | Arehart |
| Patrick | Arehart |
| Tim | Clemmer |
| Joan | Cordonnier |
| Mike | Cordonnier |
| Judy | DeMarco |
| Emily | Duke |
| Greg | Fay |
| Stan | Fronzaglia |
| Cindy | Gaboury |
| Jesse | Gaither |
| Jerry | Gerhards |
| Karin | Gilstrap |
| Cindy | Harris |
| Kevin | Jackson |
| Martha | Jackson |
| Bryan | Miller |
| Tom | Novak |
| Laurie | Poeppelman |
| Jack | Quinlan |
| Ruth | Quinlan |
| Ashley | Simeone |
| Chris | Smith |
| Michelle | Tagliamonte |
| Nick | Tarkany |
| Ron | Tinnerman |
| Jayne | Weikel |
| Jon | Werts |
CNO 2.0 Venue and Details
The venue for tonight’s CNO 2.0 meeting was Heavier than Air Brewing Company. Thank you to CNO Member Nick Tarkany and his team for allowing us to take over their bar tonight.
There was a 50/50 drawing won by Stan Fronzaglia.
We had 28 members and 4 guests in attendance.
CNO 2.0 Introduction
Greg Fay said that CNO 2.0 is a club within a club of the Centerville Noon Optimist club. We are a world class service organization. Being a member of either club allows their members all the same opportunities to participate in fundraising and club activities. CNO 2.0 was created nearly 3 years ago and is very much a part of the 51-year-old Centerville Optimist Club. CNO has given away over $2 million during its history. CNO is a group of like-minded members that are passionate about help youth and having fun in the process.
The speaker at each 2.0 meeting is someone with a local business success story.
Future meetings will be at Old Scratch pizza in October or November and at Zinks again soon.
Annual Fundraisers
- Christmas Tree Lot
- Avenue of Flags
- Golf Outing
Major Activities for the youth in our community
- Build-a-Bear at Children’s Hospital, 3 times a year
- Fishing Derby in June
- Kid’s day in the park in August
- Easter Egg hunt
Announcements
Tom Novak, chair of the Avenue of Flags, said that we now have over 2300 flags to deliver. They are broken up into 62 routes.
Greg Fay announced that CNO 2.0 will be providing the food for the Centerville Quarterback club at the first CHS home game on 9/13/2019. All members and their guests are welcome to attend.
Greg Fay said that Wasfi Saaman, the owner of J.D. Legends, will again be providing a special link for tickets to a concert for CNO members. The “Prince Experience” will be on September 14, 2019. Proceeds from the tickets will be donated back to the CNO club.
Nick Tarkany – Owner, Heavier than Air Brewing Company
Greg Fay introduced tonight’s speaker, Nick Tarkany, the owner of Heavier than Air Brewing Company.
Nick told us the story of his journey to open his beer brewing company and tap room.
Opening a brewery is not for the faint of heart. He got into it by accident when his college age son wanted to brew beer. The process made a complete mess of the household stove, but they kept trying. Friends and local business owners like Doubledays wanted him to brew larger quantities and sell it.
About five years ago, he took his stout to a wedding. They told him the only the gift they wanted from him was beer. Most of the female guests at the reception were drinking wine. A couple tried the stout beer he brought, and the word spread until everyone was drinking beer instead of wine. He started thinking people really do like his beer.
His background is in the machine tool and die industry, but Nick has an affinity for aviation history. He is also a pilot and an aviation geek. The theme for the endeavor was easy to come by living in Dayton with all the Wright Brothers history. The Wright Brothers claim to fame is that they created a “Heavier than Air” flying machine.
The first step he took was to scope out locations for the company. He looked at about 16 different locations. There were several location candidates considered along the way, but they were taken before he chose to go with the candidate. The ultimate location is where they still are today, at 497 Miamisburg-Centerville Rd in Centerville Ohio.
During his presentation, he had a slide show of before and after pictures of the construction of the space.
He had no idea how much effort and different companies and government inspections were involved in starting a brewing company. It took a year to do the build out in the existing location. It involved planning and construction of electric systems, drains, gas lines, audio/video systems and more. The numerous inspection processes were especially grueling. There were 24 permits and over 35 inspections. He found out the hard way that you have to schedule the first and second rough inspections before the inspector will sign off on the final inspection even if the system is already complete.
Getting a final approval to sell beer never came with any guarantees. You must go through all the effort and expense and you might not get approved. He described the process as a real leap of faith.
After leasing and remodeling the space for a year, Ohio finally gave him his license and he could finally start making beer and open the tap room. Then other struggles occurred like getting the point of sale system set up.
Until their license was approved, they were not allowed to use or even fully setup the large-scale brewing systems. Once their license was approved, they then had to figure out how to scale from brewing 5 gallons to 65 gallons. The ingredients are not proportional. This was another adventure in and of itself.
His brother and two sons are involved. One son lives in Portland and the other in New York. They handle the marketing and product development.
Today was his 38th wedding anniversary. He thanked his wife Marcia for all her support and patience. They both still remember the first words he said to her when they met 39 years ago. They were at a party and he said to her, “Throw me a beer.”
He thanked Centerville Noon Optimist member Tom Novak for being an inspiration. He was his history teacher and track coach. At tonight’s meeting, he still called Tom, “Mr. Novak”.
He said that service is paramount. He knows for customers it is about the experience and quality of the beer that keep them coming back.
He thanked us for coming and listening to his story.
After Nick’s presentation, CNO member Cindy Gaboury thanked him for all the other nonprofit work Nick does. He hosts numerous events and gives back to the community.
Thank you, Nick, for sharing your story and tap room.
Beer Competition Awards
- Gold Medal at the 2019 US Open Beer Championship in the English Ales category for their “Balloon Factory ESB”. This is one of the largest international beer competitions.
- Gold Medals at the 2018 Ohio Craft Brewers Cup for their “McCook Bound American Stout” and “Balloon Factory ESB”.
Next CNO 2.0 Meeting
The next meeting will be September 19, 2019 at JD Legends in Franklin, OH. The speaker will be University of Dayton Men’s Basketball coach Anthony Grant. Remember, CNO 2.0 meetings are always the third Thursday of the month at 5:30 PM at a local bar or restaurant.
CNO Donations 2013 through June 2019
Click this link to see a summary of the donations our club has made.
Over 50 years, we have donated close to $2,000,000 to our youth community. In the past 6 years, we have donated nearly $700,000.