Popular Ky. brewery expands into Lexington with new taproom, wood-fired pizza
A popular Central Kentucky micro brewery is expanding into Lexington with more craft beers and a new addition to its menu, wood-fired pizza.
Sterling MicroBrew, which opened in 2021 in Mt. Sterling, recently opened Black-Type Brewing with 16 craft beers on tap and a menu of bar appetizers and handmade pizzas and calzones baked in a wood-fired oven.
The new Lexington craft beer taproom and pizza restaurant is located near the University of Kentucky campus at 373 Virginia Ave., across the street from the Gateway Lofts Lexington apartment building and Dairy Queen.
Sterling MicroBrew started as a father-daughter bonding experience and soon people kept telling them how good their beer was and that they needed to be in Lexington. But they wanted to keep that taproom tied to Mt. Sterling. So co-owners Robert Fedyna and Alberta Davies, who each have a past in the horse industry, partnered with equine veterinarian Victor J. Torres to expand with Black-Type Brewing, which is named for the coveted bold type on a horse’s name in a pedigree or auction catalog, signaling it has won or placed in more prestigious races.
What beers are on tap at Black-Type Brewing?
The brewery lineup includes a wide variety of IPAs, stouts, sours, ciders and ales. There are currently eight craft beers brewed at the taproom by Fedyna but he plans to double that to 16 made in-house in three months.
“We’ve never heard that it’s bad or it doesn’t taste well or that it could be a little bit better,” said Davies. “It’s always been, “it’s really good beer.” They (Robert and daughter Sofia Amburgey) perfected their recipes and everybody loves their beer.”
Fedyna and Davies say the sours and IPAs have been the most popular beers on tap. Until they brew enough to fill the other eight taps, they are rotating from other local breweries including Blue Stallion, Country Boy, Ethereal, Mirror Twin and Wise Bird.
The price for a pint averages around $7, Fedyna said, and you can get a growler jug filled for four times that price.
What’s on the menu at Black-Type Brewing?
Eight handmade pizzas are featured on the menu, each of which can be made with a cauliflower crust or as a calzone. The thin-crust pizzas are quickly baked in a wood-fired oven.
“We make the dough in house. So when you’re getting a fresh-made pizza, you are getting a fresh-made pizza,” said Davies, who has experience working in a pizza restaurant. “And we grow our own basil in the window, so it’s fresh basil that is being put on your pizza. So you are getting a fresh pizza.”
Pizzas come in 10 or 14 inch sizes and Davies says so far it has been positive reviews.
“Everybody says the sauce on the pizzas is great, and I make the sauce myself,” said Davies. “It’s not from a jar or from a can.”
Highlights of the pizza menu include the Meat Lover’s Mediterranean (10-inch $19; 14-inch $27; calzone $19) which comes with mozzarella, crumbled feta, chorizo, Italian sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers, black olives, minced garlic, red onions and finished with fresh basil.
The Green Goddess (10-inch $17; 14-inch $26; calzone $17) is the only pizza on the menu that does not feature the homemade red sauce. It has a pesto sauce base, mozzarella, crumbled feta, choice of meat, mushrooms, black olives, red onions and minced garlic.
Other pizzasinclude a Margherita (10-inch $15; 14-inch $24; calzone $15) and the Garden Harvest Delight (10-inch $15; 14-inch $24; calzone $15) with mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions, red peppers, black olives, banana peppers and minced garlic.
Black-Type Brewing uses the homemade dough in a number of its appetizers including garlic knots ($10) and spinach and artichoke dip ($11.)
But the beer cheese takes center stage for the Bavarian 10-inch pretzel ($14). The warm pretzel is served with cheese that has won the Winchester Beer Cheese Festival and made with from beer from the brewery. You can choose from two kinds, a German pilsner or Munich helles.
UK student discount restaurant
Black-Type Brewing has a pet-friendly taproom and is looking to take advantage of its proximity to UK. The pizza restaurant is offering 10% discount to UK students.
In addition to handcrafted beers, they also have a wine bar upstairs that serves as a private room that can be rented out.
Black-Type Brewing
Where: 373 Virginia Ave.
Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. every day
Carryout, to go orders, catering: 859-456-3081
Grand opening celebration: May 17
