From home-brewing to owning a brewpub, Ray Ballard turned his love of craft beer into a must-stop for craft beer hobbyists on the Southeastern Ohio ale trails.

A Nashport native, the brewpub owner lived in California and Connecticut while developing his passion for craft beers before moving back to Southeastern Ohio to become a nurse and eventually open Y Bridge Brewing.

“I wasn’t the most employable dude in the world at the time but just fell in love with home-brewing,” Ballard said of his time in San Diego. “I fell in love with the process. I mean, I started with the simple stuff, the sugar, the like syrupy-things that you boil … then it just grew in complexity, and I just fell in love with the science of fermentation and, you know, the ingredients and the flexibility of how many different beers you can make.”

As a guitarist in a rock band, Ballard left Nashport to “play The Sunset Strip” in California from the mid-80s into the 90s.

“Some made it, some didn’t,” Ballard said. “Eventually, I just got tired of being broke all the time out there.”

After being introduced to home-brewing in the early 90s, Ballard began to brew his own beers before moving to Connecticut and connecting with a man that was working to start a microbrewery. Out of an old ice house, Ballard managed the Olde Burnside Brewing Company in East Hartford.

In 2003 he returned to the Nashport area and attended nursing school at Ohio University. After graduation, Ballard worked for Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit and then moved to Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital in 2009 until he left the medical field in 2017 as Y Bridge Brewing was quickly becoming a full-time endeavor.

Aside from brewing his four original beers — Cherry at the Y, Y-Not, YPA and Double Y’d — Ballard has been busy since 2017 experimenting with different beers and flavoring. Fortunately, with the growing trend of craft beers, flavored beers are all the rage.

“Things really changed (from) when I was in it before,” Ballard said. “Back then, you could think outside the box. Now, they don’t know there is a box.”

Since his start on Linden Avenue, Ballard has released about 15 beers total and keeps seven on tap in his taproom. His brews can also be found on tap at The Barn, Russo’s, Olde Falls Inn and The Bear’s Den Steakhouse in Cambridge. Additionally, cans of Y Bridge beers are available at the Winerak Market, the Angry Bull Saloon and Y Bridge Brewing’s taproom.

While brewing beer is Ballard’s passion, he said it’s not a hobby or business for those looking to make some quick cash.

Six months to a year before the brewing equipment actually arrived on Linden Avenue, Ballard said he paid for half of the system and then the other half just before it arrived.

Brewing other companies’ beers has helped to offset the steep costs of the equipment for Ballard to brew his own beers. Last summer, the brewpub owner brewed some batches for Buckeye Lake and is currently working on root beer for Frostop.

Although a significant endeavor, Ballard said the reactions to his craft beers make it all worth it. The best part for him is hearing feedback from beer-lovers.

“People coming in and complimenting me on my beers,” Ballard said. “Seeing that my on-tap scores are right there with the big dogs, right there with the guys that have the best reputation.”

Saturdays at Y Bridge Brewing are often filled with out-of-towners on ale trails that are checking breweries and brewpubs off their ale lists.

Sprinkled in amongst the visitors are Ballard’s regulars that have formed a special liking to his laid back environment and unique brews.

“I’ve got a nurse that comes in that I talk to, and she allows herself two alcoholic beverages a week, and they’re both cherry stouts,” Ballard said. “Jim (Watson) keeps me on, the cherry (stout) on at The Barn because if he doesn’t, he’s got two little old ladies who come in there every Friday and they want their cherry stout and their Barn pizza and if they don’t get both, he’s like, ‘I catch hell if I don’t have that beer on tap, man.’”

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One of Ballard’s latest creations is a canned favorite at the Winerak — variety pack of his Black Hand Stout. The pack of stouts, which Ballard calls a “massive tsunami of body and flavor,” includes one unflavored stout and three specials flavors ranging from fruits to coffee to french toast.

As with many local businesses, Ballard represents the community through his brand as his mascot, Otis, is a fish that lives under the Y-Bridge.

Cans of Ballard’s original five beers, designed by cartoonist Larry Badgley, feature the green fish in different costumes and scenes, but he’s always representing the “Y.”

Recently, Ballard moved away from the cartoon cans with his release of Y City Wheat, Joey Bitchin’s Bourbon Barrel Stash and Black Hand Stout that was designed by local artist Nathan Zangmeister.

All of Ballard’s brews can be found in his taproom located at 1417 Linden Ave. in Zanesville.

Y Bridge Brewing is open on Fridays from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Y Bridge Brewing is Y-City New’s business spotlight for the month of Fe-brew-ary.