CRe01: Eridanus Brewery and Tea House

Inside Eridanus Brewery and Tea House with a flight sampler of Eridanus Craft Beers

Eridanus Brewery in downtown Russell Kentucky is the realization of the dream of Justin and Kristen Matthews, who blend their excitement into every batch of specialty beer and fine teas. “I’ve been brewing at home for about twelve years now, and Kristen has been brewing her teas for about 8 years now,” Justin Matthews said. “This idea has been years in the making, but we finally decided to take the plunge and start a brewery and tea house.”

“We went back and forth looking at a lot of locations before we ended up in the City of Russell at the old train depot,” he said. Matthews said the road to where the pair ended was something of a saga, with a yearlong process of things such as getting approval from the state transportation cabinet (since the trains still run the tracks near the location), the Kentucky Heritage Association (since the building is historical), and of course the City of Russell itself. “When you are dealing with a historical building, it’s a process,” he said. “But everyone was all in and very supportive, but the levels you have to go through to turn a train depot into a brewery and tea house was a little more than we anticipated.”

“All in all, it’s went well, but we did have some fun with plumbing,” he added with a laugh. “When we did the Grand Opening, one of the City Council members said something to the effect that it was admirable that we didn’t stop when we hit some of these roadblocks. It was definitely a saga getting there.”

But before the pair were on the road to, and eventually, overcoming those roadblocks, a series of circumstances led to the final push to take the plunge. “A lot of people ask about what made us take the plunge,” Kristen Matthews said. “They say well, you had a dream, but what actually made you go for it?” she said. “We always preface this by saying that it might not be for everyone when we tell the story,” Justin said. “But it is a very cool story, and the payoff is worth it.”

“It’s always been my dream to start a brewery and it’s always been Kristen’s dream to start a tea house,” he said. “She had made a business plan when she was in college for a books store and tea house and coffee house, so our dreams kind of blended together.” And what gelled the combined plans was a seemingly unrelated dream of Justin’s to see the Los Angeles Dodgers spring training. “It was on my bucket list, and for my 40th birthday (right before COVID hit), Kristen planned a trip for us to go to Arizona. We were going to the spring training and hit some breweries,” he said. “Because that is a must when we go on vacation. And one of the things she wanted to do was go to Sedona.”

Kristen Matthews is also a practicing yoga teacher (yoga is also offered at Eridanus) and wanted to see the energy vortexes and explore the aura of Sedona. “So on a day there wasn’t training, we drove to the Grand Canyon and spent a few hours there then drove to Sedona and had lunch.” The pair walked around, he said, and visited what he described as a crystal store. “Justin calls it a “woo woo” store,” Kristen laughed. “I used to call it that,” he corrected her. The reason for his change of heart, he said, was part of the story.

Justin said that the shop owner was very nice and told her they were from Kentucky. But as he looked around, she came up to him and said that she needed to talk to him although she didn’t want to startle him. “I don’t want to scare you, but I need to tell you something,” she said. “You are in the process of planning something, and it’s going to be huge, and it’s going to change your life,” she continued. “But what you need to do is don’t let anyone talk you out of it. But more importantly, don’t talk yourself out of it. She apologized and said she wasn’t wanting to freak me out, but I began to think this was supposed to happen,” Justin said. “How often do you go states away . . .”

“I had been helping him make plans, but he was still on the fence,” Kristen interrupted with a laugh. “But all it took was one lady in Sedona for him to say, “We need to do this.” And I had been telling him for a year.”

The final encouragement came when Justin took a card from the store’s blessing box after making a purchase. The blessing box dispensed cards with the store’s information on one side and a random encouragement on the other. “The card said “Faith’, and “It is when you take that leap that you grow your wings.” So with the lady’s conversation and that card, I walked away and told Kristen I was all in and that we needed to do this.,” Justin said. “And that was when we hit the ground running, and Eridanus became a real thing.”

The dream had become a realization, and Kristen said, “We tell everyone we get to live what we love every single day,’ she said thankfully. But she also said that it took some effort to explain that dream. “We had to do a lot of education to show that breweries aren’t bars,” she said. “They are gathering places for community and connection, and it’s a place where we can share our passion and our craft with people. He is a beer brewer, and I am a tea crafter, and we get to do that together.”

Charcuterie and beer sampler at Eridanus

“We wanted to mix the two together,” Kristen said. “We have the coffee house vibe with the comfy couches, and we have the dining room. We also have the board game shelf and card games, and we really want it to be a gathering place where people come and meet their friends and hang out several hours.”

Currently, the brewery side offers a blonde ale called the Chessie Blonde after the CSX railroad and a Red Devil Ale. There is also a stout beer “on deck,” an IPA, and a cream ale. “And I love ciders and sours,” Kristen said. “So those are going into the mix as well.” On the tea side, Kristen is a master of herbal tea crafting. “I grow the herbs I can here in the region,” she said. “And the ones I can’t, I order from organic suppliers.” And the reason behind her love of crafting teas is a story itself.

“At first I delved into this tea crafting because I wanted to help my gran who had COPD,” she said. “And so I was researching all these herbs because the medications were so expensive. And I was able to find all these herbs that didn’t treat COPD, but help with the symptoms. Then my grandma would tell people, and they would ask if I had anything to help migraines,” she said. And from there a list of teas that helped with conditions and overall health was born. “Eventually I started selling my teas on Etsy, then in Ironton, Ohio at the Vault. So when Justin decided he was all in, I thought we were both brewers, so I could craft these teas there.”

Adding to the wonderful craft beers and teas, Eridanus also offers food. “We offer homemade smoked trout dip, handcrafted pretzels and homemade beer cheese,” Kristen said. “And we have a food truck that is permanently parked on-site, and they are our food component for meals. They are open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and from 11 to 9 on Friday and Saturday. It’s my mom,” Kristen said proudly. “They own Dragonfly Outdoor Café and Dragonfly Outdoor Adventures, and they do all handcrafted food,” Kristen said that they offer a wide variety of made from scratch items, including the very popular wild-caught cod fish tacos.

Eridanus is best described as a family business made for families and is poised to become an anchor destination in the area. “We can’t wait for summer to use our outdoor patio area,” she said. “And it’s going to be pet friendly so people will have a place to bring their dog. We are also going to have an outdoor beer garden, fire pits, Adirondack chairs, and outdoor games.”

Eridanus can be reached through Facebook, or online at eridanusbrewing.com, or by calling 606-388-2326.