Nocterra's Depot Street Taproom Returns for a Christmas Season Before Its Planned Rebuild

Nocterra Brewing Company closed its Powell taproom on Sunday, August 30. By Monday morning, a "for lease" sign was already posted on the building at 41 Depot St., according to Delaware Source.

Ten weeks later, the taproom has a new operator and a short first assignment. Land-Grant Brewing Company acquired the Nocterra brand and is taking over the Powell taproom. It is targeting a late-November reopening as an immersive Christmas pop-up, and it expects to close the taproom again in January for an extensive renovation. So the version of 41 Depot St. that Powell gets this winter has a planned end date. And it lands in the same weeks as nearly everything else on downtown's holiday calendar.

Ten Weeks With One Brewery Downtown

When Nocterra closed, Delaware Source noted it was one of two breweries in the city of Powell. Ill Mannered Brewing Company was the other, and it stayed open. That left the Depot Street beer garden empty through the fall, with the building listed for lease and its future unclear.

The November 5 announcement settled who will run the taproom. Land-Grant has run its production facility in Franklinton for twelve years. It will keep brewing Nocterra's beers there and plans to put fresh batches back on taps and retail shelves around Columbus.

Land-Grant's name is not going on the Powell taproom. On the FAQ on Nocterra's website, Land-Grant says Nocterra will keep operating under its own name and brand identity, and they have no plans to rebrand it as Land-Grant. The two breweries share ownership but keep separate brands, experiences and marketing channels. The same FAQ says Nocterra's Audubon location is not part of the deal. The focus is the Powell taproom.

Walt Keys, Land-Grant's creative director and co-founder, described the approach to Delaware Source: "We aren't looking at this as replacing Nocterra. We see it as continuing what they started."

A Pop-Up Built for the Holidays

Land-Grant's release, as reported by Delaware Source and 614NOW, describes the reopened taproom this way:

• Festive decorations throughout the taproom
• Specialty holiday cocktails served in themed glassware guests can take home
• Christmas Ale on tap
• Rentable heated igloos in the beer garden

Land-Grant is pointing everyone to Nocterra's Instagram account, @nocterrabrewing, for the reopening date, food plans, dog and family policies, and private event bookings. For anyone hoping to plan a holiday gathering in the beer garden, that account is the place to watch.

The pop-up has a planned end. Adam Benner, Land-Grant's president and co-founder, said he expects the taproom to close temporarily in January for a renovation that will make better use of the existing footprint and add usable taproom space. He laid out the order of things to Delaware Source:

"Our immediate priority is getting the doors back open, getting fresh Nocterra beer into people's hands and giving this community a place to gather again. From there, we're excited to invest in the space and help build its next chapter."

So the taproom that reopens this season is the old room in holiday decorations. The rebuilt version comes later.

What a Land-Grant Igloo Looks Like Today

The igloos are the part of the plan with a working model. Land-Grant already runs a winter program called Wintergarden at its Franklinton beer garden, and the Nocterra FAQ says bringing elements of it to Powell is "the plan." Here is how the Franklinton igloos are set up on Land-Grant's Wintergarden page. Each seats up to eight, and drinks are ordered by QR code.

These are Franklinton prices. Powell's igloo rates and booking terms will come from Nocterra once reservations open. Franklinton's Wintergarden also includes brewery curling and ice bumper cars. Land-Grant says it is still exploring which of those experiences fit the Powell property.

In Franklinton, Friday and Saturday igloos cost twice the weeknight rate for the same length, so a four-hour Thursday reservation at $45 costs less than a two-hour Saturday one at $50.

The Calendar Around Depot Street

The pop-up opens into a downtown calendar that is already busy. Here is what's scheduled from publish day through the City's main holiday event, drawn from Visit Powell's events listings and the City of Powell:

1. Friday, Nov. 20, 4–7 p.m.: Pink Friday Sip and Shop in downtown Powell.
2. Friday, Nov. 27, noon–9 p.m.: Ill Mannered Brewing Co. releases Chimney Lube, its Christmas Ale, in cans and on draft, with special glassware and merch.
3. Thursday, Dec. 3: Ill Mannered hosts a free, 21-and-over dinner and movie night. Pizza runs 5–8 p.m., and Christmas Vacation starts at 7 p.m.
4. Saturday, Dec. 5, 4–7 p.m.: The City's free Holidays in Powell at Village Green Park, with an iceless ice rink, a bonfire with free s'mores, performances, roaming entertainment, Santa photos and a tree lighting at 6 p.m. Santa photos require registration.

Holidays in Powell is sponsored by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Newman Roofing and the Powell Development Corporation. The downtown shops around Liberty and Olentangy streets also keep their own calendars on the Visit Powell listings. They include Annie's Wine Cottage at 30 W. Olentangy St., Kimberly's Diamond Corner at 1 N. Liberty St. and Escape Into Fiction at 50 S. Liberty St.

The overlap is the point. Two Christmas Ale programs, Ill Mannered's Chimney Lube and Nocterra's pop-up, plus the City's tree lighting all fall within the same few weeks, and all within downtown Powell. Once Nocterra's renovation starts in January, that lineup will be one taproom shorter until the work is done.

What Comes After January

The renovation is one of several downtown changes in progress, and it is the furthest along. Land-Grant says the work will build on the property's existing character, and future plans include bringing Wintergarden elements to the site for seasonal and year-round use. The other downtown projects are on longer timelines:

• 147 W. Olentangy St. A two-story restaurant and event-space building is under construction. Powell Development Corporation Director Sean Hughes told Delaware Source he expected construction to finish by March or April 2027, with a hoped-for public opening in summer 2027 after the tenant build-out.
• 110 S. Liberty St. Preliminary plans, reported by Delaware Source, show a possible mixed-use building with an arcade, space for a restaurant or similar business, possible event or office space upstairs, and eight more parking spaces. It still needs a final development plan and approval.
• Village Green. The Village Green Master Plan is a planning framework, not a construction project. The City says the concepts are preliminary and no development has been approved. The City is working with Pizzuti Solutions, and Phase II of the process is expected to wrap up in December 2026.
• Depot and Scioto streets. The City Manager's September 2026 report says the North Depot Street reconstruction had final plans but still needed utility work, easements and bidding. The Scioto Street extension and northeast parking project was still in design and right-of-way acquisition.

Taken together, nearly every new gathering place on downtown Powell's horizon is a 2027 prospect or later. The Christmas pop-up at 41 Depot St. is the one coming this season, in the building people already know, for the weeks before Land-Grant closes it to rebuild.

If you own near Depot Street and want to know how downtown Powell's pipeline might shape your home's value over the next few years, Debbie Parris can walk you through it in plain terms. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll start with your address and what's changing around it.