A latte and a lager? The owners of Aveley Farms Coffee Roasters and Diamondback Brewing Company believe a double shot of dining innovation is just what Baltimore County needs.
The two businesses will team up in Timonium on an “all day and all night” concept that includes a roastery and cafe from Aveley Farms and a brewery, taproom and pizza kitchen by Diamondback Brewing Co.
The new location at 9490 Deereco Road will be just under 5,000 square feet, said Tom Foster, co-founder of Diamondback.
“We want this concept to be one seamless experience,” Foster said. “Where somebody can have a coffee, maybe a breakfast burrito, and if they want, they can stay and work and kind of transition over to us for the afternoon service, where you can get beer and pizza.”
“The unique aspect of it being one cohesive experience,” Foster said, rather than going from place to place. “It’s kind of just one area to do all that.”
Aveley Farms, which got its start in Harbor East before relocating to Baltimore County in 2022, roasts its own coffee and serves up pastries, bagels and lush toasts at its cafe in Towson at 42 W. Chesapeake Ave.
While that location will remain open, owner Corey Voelkel said Aveley will move the roasting operations to Timonium and open a second cafe that offers a full espresso bar, drip coffees, cold brew and other drinks alongside a breakfast menu, according to a news release Friday.
Diamondback Brewing also will continue to operate its original taproom, brewery and pizza kitchen at 1215 E. Fort Ave. in Locust Point. At the new location, the brewery will focus on small batch and barrel-aged options with a smaller brew system plus 10 rotating draft beers, beer-to-go and a full menu of pizzas.
Voelkel and the ownership team behind Diamondback, including Foster, Colin Marshall and Francis Smith, have been friends since they attended high school at Loyola Blakefield. The owners all have deep roots in Baltimore County.
“Tom and I started kicking this concept around about a year and a half ago as we were both looking to expand our manufacturing and retail footprints,” Voelkel said in a news release Friday.
The owners said construction will begin this spring with a plan to open before the end of the year, possibly as soon as fall. The branding and naming for the new concept is still being worked out.
“For now we are calling it Diamondback & Aveley Farms,” Foster said in a followup email.
“This is a natural collaboration for our two businesses,” he said, “and we feel really grateful to have found the right space to make this happen.”
Foster said Inky, the brewery’s working cat, will remain in Locust Point. But there’s a chance the Timonium location will get its own tabby.
“We’re still deciding whether or not we will have a full-time cat resident, but I would imagine we probably will,” Foster said.
![This stunning black cat arrived at Diamondback through the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter's (BARCS) "Working Cat" program. Co-founder and head brewer Tom Foster said that the brewery brought Inky in to fix some of the pest issues they faced early on."We're storing a lot of dry good, grain, which mice, in particular, really love to eat," he said. "We had grain bags ripped open, mice sightings here-and-there, and we were looking for an all-natural solution to that." Inky stayed on beyond his trial periodpurriod and now lives in the brew site full time. Foster noted that cross-publishing and popularity of The Baltimore Sun's 2017 story about the BARCS program spread Inky's image across the country, and children (including a school field trip from the Midwest) often swing by to say hello. Purrsonality: Despite his fame, Inky doesn't often venture up from the brew site to the taproom to visit customers. It's not for a lack of trying or familiarity with returning customers, and Foster noted that he's very friendly. "We have a food program now, so he's not technically supposed to be in the tap room, but we have a little gate [between the taproom and brewing area], and more times than not, he's sitting there, staring on the other side," Foster said. "I've seen him jump on top of a pallet stacker, eight feet high, but he won't jump over the gate!" Did we forget your favorite store cat? Let us know at srao@baltsun.com so we can possibly include them next time!](http://www.capitalgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KCFSTGQSNJB6LG2KLAYE22GUJE.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)