Ohio Brewery News
2.3.2022
A Trio of Thirds
A simple question with a simple answer: what’s better than a brewery anniversary party?
Three of them.
Back in 2019, three Ohio craft breweries opened to the public for the first time on the very same day: Alematic Artisan Ales in Huber Heights, Nocterra Brewing in Powell and Nostalgia Brewing in Gahanna.
The three breweries took varying paths toward getting their doors open. Nocterra owners Bryan Duncan and Bruce Vivian spent years homebrewing before setting their sights on an old rail freight depot that would become the home of their brewery. Nostalgia owner Shawn White and his partners took over the space that formerly housed Pigskin Brewing in downtown Gahanna’s Creekside development. Jerrod Fisher, Greg Cason and Mike Meholick spent close to five years trying to lock down a Dayton-area location before finally landing in the suburb of Huber Heights.
Though the three breweries are primarily linked by the circumstance of their opening date, they’ve solidified their bond by coming together to brew an anniversary beer each of the past three years.
We Made You a Mix Tape
The annual anniversary collaboration beer – We Made You a Mix Tape – draws inspiration from the breweries’ identities.
Alematic focuses a ton of their branding around music: beers named for famous songs or lyrics, paintings of musicians adorning the walls made by local artists, a 45 RPM record adapter embedded in their logo. Nocterra’s devotion to nature and the outdoors leads them to creating a lot of beers with fruit flavors, like their Swell Line series of heavily fruited gose ales. Nostalgia’s taproom feels like a pop culture museum – right down to the Lego block draft list and Tinkertoy flight boards – so invoking a mix tape fits the bill (“We Made You a Spotify Playlist” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
We Made You a Mixtape is a hazy IPA with a different fruit addition and hop combination every year. This year’s iteration packs a punch, literally and figuratively. Alongside a heavy drop of passion fruit and tangerine, the brewers added a healthy splash of fruit punch to amp up the tropical flavors. The resulting beer clocks in at 8% ABV, pushing this brew solidly into imperial territory.
All three breweries will have We Made You a Mix Tape Vol. 3 on draft and in cans at their individual third anniversary parties this Saturday, Feb. 5.
A Little Extra
In addition to the collaboration beer release this Saturday, all three breweries will offer a limited number of We Made You a Mixtape anniversary collectible glasses designed by artist Shane Craig. The glass art incorporates Alematic’s musical themes, Nocterra’s outdoor scenes and a pixel art vibe a la Nostalgia.
Nocterra is releasing a total of eight new beers (counting the collab) at their Powell taproom this Saturday, including two barrel-aged wild ales, two new takes on their flagship IPAs and more. Get all the details at facebook.com/nocterrabrewing
Once they’ve dug out from Winter Storm Landon, Nostalgia is planning to warm up downtown Gahanna with a “pool party” on Saturday (there’s not actually a pool, so don’t worry about getting splashed by a cannonball.) The brewery is giving away prizes on the threes of each hour (3:03, 4:03, 5:03, etc.) in celebration of three years of beers. Read more at facebook.com/nostalgiabrewing
Alematic is dropping the collab beer and two new brews this Saturday at their Huber Heights taproom. Party in the Dark is the latest in the brewery’s “in the Dark” series of imperial stouts, this one brewed with Oreo cookies for a creamy, malty sweetness. Also on tap will be The Big Balloons, a strawberry milkshake IPA. Find out more at facebook.com/alematicbrewing