Ohio Weekly Roundup
12.2.2021
CENTRAL
Henmick Farm & Brewery is celebrating the holidays in a big way. Starting this Friday and running through the next two weekends, the brewery in rural Delaware County will host a Holiday Market featuring more than two dozen local artists, artisans, crafters and more. Stroll through the brewery and find some locally-crafted gifts while you sip on some locally-crafted beers. Perhaps one of those beers will be Henmick’s new Holiday Ale, a Belgian-style quadruple ale clocking in at an intensely warming 11.4% ABV. The malty, caramel-like sweetness and fruity yeast esters in the base beer are complemented by the traditional seasonal addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and orange peel. To find out more about the upcoming Holiday Market or the new Henmick Holiday Ale, give them a follow at instagram.com/henmickfarmbrewery
GREATER CLEVELAND
One of the newer craft beer trends we’re really excited to follow is the rise of IPAs brewed with yeast that releases thiol compounds from hops. Before you skip over this entry because it sounds too nerdy, let’s get to brass tacks: these beers are *delicious* and absolutely bursting with enticing fruit and floral aromas. This week, Market Garden Brewery announced a new brew made with this specially cultivated yeast that will be coming to cans and draft in the very near future. Cosmic Haze is a hazy double IPA that takes Citra, Azacca and Trident hops and amplifies them with Omega Yeast’s Cosmic Punch strain to produce intense waves of citrus and tropical fruit aromas. The strong hop thiol-derived flavors are backed with a soft mouthfeel and an assertive 8.5% ABV. To find out when Cosmic Haze will land on retail shelves near you, give Market Garden a follow at instagram.com/marketgardenbrewery
NORTHEAST
If you’re the kind of person who likes to compare a beer side-by-side with its barrel-aged version, you’re in luck this week. Two Stark County breweries are showing off their spiced winter warmers alongside their boozy cousins. Both Aeonian Brewing Company in Alliance and Codex Brewing in North Canton brewed batches of holiday ales for their Christmas in July celebrations, stashing away a small amount in barrels for a brief slumber to pick up some oaky, bourbon-y character. This week, Aeonian’s Replacement Santa and Codex’s Unparalleled Glory are available on draft in both their original and barrel-aged forms. Stop into the brewery taprooms this weekend and try them both to compare and contrast. Don’t forget to get your Ohio On Tap brewery passport stamp while you’re at it! Find out more at instagram.com/aeonianbrewingco and instagram.com/codexbrewing
NORTHWEST
Cheers to five years of beers from Earnest Brew Works! 2021 has been a big year for the brewery: in February, Earnest announced plans to open a new production brewery and taproom in 2022 in south Toledo, just a couple miles from their original location. The brewery maxed out its production capacity in summer of 2019 and their popular taproom is regularly packed on weekends, the latter issue addressed in part with the opening of a new downtown Toledo taproom this past August. To commemorate this momentous milestone year, Earnest is releasing Anniversary IPA on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. at both taproom locations. The hazy IPA, brewed with the popular combo of Strata, Amarillo and El Dorado hops, will be available on draft and in attractive 16 ounce cans featuring a stylized map of Greater Toledo. Find out more at facebook.com/earnestbeer
SOUTHEAST
Just because an Ohio-style holiday beer doesn’t conform to the Reinheitsgebot – the 16th century Bavarian beer purity law that was as much about economics as brewing ingredients – doesn’t mean a good German-inspired holiday beer can’t exist. Enter Wooly Pig Farm Brewery, itself styled after the small breweries that dot the Bavarian countryside, with a fruitful attempt to meld Ohio craft beer culture and German brewing tradition. Wooly Pig’s Holiday lager is a rothbier – literally “red beer” – amplified for the season with cinnamon, nutmeg and ripe persimmons that impart a honey-like sweetness to the brew. At just 5.5% ABV, you can enjoy a full liter of this unique winter beer while taking in the sights at the farm in one of their salettls, one of the private, heated wooden sheds in the meadow just outside the taproom. Find out more at instagram.com/woolypigfarmbrewery
SOUTHWEST
Looking for that perfect stocking stuffer for the craft beer fanatic on your holiday shopping list? Rhinegeist is offering an opportunity to dig into their cellar next week and unearth some gems from one of the state’s largest and most heralded barrel aging programs. The Rhinegeist Cellar Sale kicks off on Monday, Dec. 6 at the brewery taproom in Over-the-Rhine with a wide variety of bottled beers, including selections from the Outer Reaches sour and wild series, barrel aged stouts and barleywines, and many other vintage varieties. For a more immersive cellar experience, Rhinegeist is offering a guided sampling tour of their cellar as part of the Ohio Craft ExBEERience auction fundraiser for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. Rhinegeist’s generous donation is one of three dozen items available for bid between now and Saturday, Dec. 11. Check out all of this year’s ExBEERiences at ohiocraftbeer.org/auction
WEST CENTRAL
What we know as a Christmas ale or winter warmer has roots that go back centuries to gruit, wassail, mulling and any variation on the process of adding spice and fruit to fermented beverages. So it should come as no surprise that Carillon Brewing Company, a period-accurate 1850s brewery and the only American brewery of its kind housed in a working museum, would have a take on a beer with such historical lineage. Carillon’s annual holiday brew is a spiced dunkelweizen, a dark wheat beer flavored with Ceylon cinnamon, star anise, fresh ginger root and citrus peel. In keeping with mid-19th century practices, the beer is fermented in white oak barrels with weizen yeast that produces familiar banana and clove flavors. Try a pint at Carillon’s brewpub in Dayton for a taste of Christmas past. Read more at instagram.com/carillonbrewingco