Ohio Brewery News
10.14.2021
CENTRAL
Cheers to four years of beers from Pretentious Barrel House! The sour-focused brewery plans to release several new beers this weekend at their taproom in Columbus. The traditional anniversary blend makes a much-anticipated return: this year’s version is composed of eight distinct beers, including last year’s anniversary blend, some Pretentious fan favorites and two new brews. Ambrosian (def: pleasing to the taste or smell; worthy of the gods) and Meretricious (def: based on pretense [get it?]; alluring, showy, flashy) are featured players in the anniversary blend and will get their own solo spotlight on draft this weekend. Two sour blonde ale collaborations with Combustion Brewery that began pre-pandemic will also make their debuts during the festivities: Before Times was aged 15 months in port wine barrels and finished with boysenberries and black currants, while Future So Bright slumbered 15 months in chardonnay barrels before being finished on peaches and apricots. Follow Pretentious on social media to get all the details for this weekend’s celebration: instagram.com/pretentiousbarrelhouse
GREATER CLEVELAND
Cleveland Beer Week returns this Saturday, Oct. 16, with events happening at breweries, bars and restaurants all over the city through Sunday, Oct. 24. The traditional citywide and regional collaboration beers –highlights of the annual event – have already started popping up at select locations, as have some of the individual beers made specifically for this year’s celebration. Last year, Cleveland Beer Week organizers were forced to cancel the signature Night at the Brewseum event due to the pandemic, replacing it with a curated box of beers that fans could have shipped directly to their homes. For 2021, Night at the Brewseum is back as an in-person event, but the beer box was popular enough to bring back this year as well. To find Cleveland Beer Week events around town, get tickets for signature events, order a beer box or learn more about this annual celebration of beer, head over to clevelandbeerweek.org
NORTHEAST
HiHO Brewing Co.’s newest can release serves as a tribute to a friend lost in 2020. Jake Nelson started working for the brewery in 2017, doing everything from bartending with his brother Zach to moving kegs and working in the kitchen. Every year, Jake and his friends would head out to Salt Fork State Park to a primitive camp site, where Jake played “camp pranks” on the rest of the group. When deciding how best to honor him with this beer name, Zach suggested the name Camp Pranks as a reminder of Jake’s fun, lighthearted nature. Jake was an accomplished artist, so the beer’s label – designed by his brother and brewery neighbors The Social Department – includes many subtle references to him, like his classic Hawaiian shirt and many other things he loved. HiHO went with a hefeweizen for this tribute beer as a nod to Jake’s affinity for German beer styles and his wife Michelle’s love of hefeweizens in particular. Stop by the taproom in Cuyahoga Falls to hoist a pint of Camp Pranks in Jake’s honor or take home a four-pack. Find out more and see the full can design at instagram.com/hihobrewingco
NORTHWEST
A one-year anniversary is a milestone, no doubt, but especially so for a business that opened just as last winter’s surge of COVID cases was on the rise. Despite the hardship of running a taproom during a global pandemic, Modcraft Brewing has endured in downtown Findlay and will celebrate a year of serving craft beer by taking over the parking lot behind the brewery on Saturday, Oct. 30. Modfest will run from noon until 10 p.m. with food trucks, a community Crossfit class, a Halloween costume contest and a flash mob performing the “Thriller” dance (learn the moves if you want to participate!) Of course, Modcraft will have plenty of beer on hand for the party as well, and is offering their fans an opportunity to taste them all at a private event in advance of the fest. Purchasers of the pre-order package will get a mixed four-pack of the new anniversary brews, an invite to the private tasting at the taproom on Thursday, Oct. 28, an anniversary t-shirt, poster, pint glass and sticker pack. To get details on the new beers and place your order, head over to the online shop at modcraftbrewing.com
SOUTHEAST
We’ve had a really great time over the past month or so sampling IPAs and pale ales made with fresh, Ohio-grown hops and highlighting many of those once-a-year brews on this blog, in our award-winning public newsletter and across our social media accounts (we’re @OhioCraftBeer on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter). While IPAs seem to be the most common showcases for newly harvested, whole cone hops, we can understand if some craft beer enthusiasts are looking to get the fresh hop experience from a beer that’s a little more sessionable. Never fear, DankHouse Brewing is here with Kolsch’r Than Kolsch, a light-bodied, easy drinking ale featuring locally-grown Chinook hops from Morris Family Hops in Granville. Chinook imparts a clean bitterness appropriate for a Kolsch, while also contributing aromatic notes of pine, spice and grapefruit. As with all fresh hop beers, Kolsch’r Than Kolsch will not be around for long. Grab a pint on draft at the DankHouse taproom in Newark. Find out more at instagram.com/dankhousebrews
SOUTHWEST
This past March, Urban Artifact introduced Astronaut Food, a 15% ABV fruit tart ale made with freeze-dried blackberries, as yet another experimental innovation from a brewery that has made its name by pushing the boundaries of what beer can be. By using this technique, Urban Artifact was able to squeeze more than 10,000 pounds worth of berry flavor out of just 1,000 pounds of dried fruit. The initial version of Astronaut Food was extremely well-received, so Urban Artifact went ahead and made a new iteration, this time swapping out the blackberries and raspberries for freeze-dried blueberries. The newest release also clocks in at a massive 15% ABV, packing a boozy wallop that’s complemented by the intense, concentrated blueberry flavor and refreshing tartness. Find a four pack at Urban Artifact’s Cincinnati taproom, order it online and have it shipped directly to your door, or look for it at select beer retailers around the state. Learn more at instagram.com/urbanartifactbeer
WEST CENTRAL
By our latest count, Ohio now has 392 operating craft breweries. If you’ve ever wondered how we got there, here are the three biggest reasons: small brewery permits which ease barriers to entry for entrepreneurial brewers, the ability to grow beer brands by self-distributing to bars, restaurants and retail stores, and the right to operate a tasting room at the brewery. That last point is also what allows very small breweries to thrive anywhere from bustling cities to rural communities, selling virtually every drop of beer they make by the glass in their own taproom. One such brewery, Versailles, Ohio’s Endless Pint Brewing, will re-open their taproom this week after a three-month remodeling project. The brewery performed some necessary building renovations to accommodate expanded brewing capabilities and also added a brand new outdoor patio for guests to enjoy. Drop by to check out the new look at Endless Pint, try some pours of their new fresh hop ales made with Ohio-grown hops from nearby Hopyard 29 and get your Ohio On Tap passport stamp! Find out more at instagram.com/endlesspintbrew