The City Centric Podcast: An Interview with Youngstown’s Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki

Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki is the Co-Owner of Penguin City Brewing Company. She is the founder of Penguin City, the content creator and manager, and works in sales & distribution and taproom.

Penguin City Brewing Company was created in 2017 with her husband and head brewer, Richard Bernacki, in 2017. They released Penguin City Beer, their flagship, in August 2018 and quickly learned the ins and outs of distribution.

it was the fastest-growing local beer in their area getting the product in over 300 accounts in their first year,

Aspasia and her team bought a vacant 32K square foot warehouse on the city’s east side of town in 2020 and spent 2/12 years renovating it into a brewery, taproom, and event center.

She received the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber “Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2022 with her husband and Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s “Commercial Revitalization Award” for renovating the brewery. 

Her love for her community and the Ohio beer culture drives the company to keep growing and expanding into new markets.

Take a listen to a history of Youngstown and local area breweries and how the resurrection of local breweries is a major part of revitalizing Youngstown.