A new start up brewery is taking shape in Kensington, last week winning neighborhood approval to sell growlers to go, merchandise, and pub grub from its future home at 5th & Cecil B. Moore.

Tim Patton, owner and sole proprietor of St. Benjamin Brewing Company, has been searching for more than two years for a place to turn his home brewing hobby into a full fledged business. The 14K square foot industrial building at 1710 N. 5th St. turned out to be the perfect fit, and Patton picked up the building for $395K in February.

Future brewery

As it turns out, the building was home to the Theo Finkenauer Lager Brewery a hundred years ago. It also happens to be just a couple of blocks away from the abandoned and possibly endangered Gretz Brewery building on Germantown…