ohio craft beer Archives – PorchDrinking.com
Ohio Breweries Continue Their Awards Success at WBC
May 11, 2023 | David Nilsen 1
Ohio craft breweries earned 10 medals at this week’s World Beer Cup (WBC) in Nashville, Tennessee. Continuing the Buckeye state’s run of success at the Brewers Association’s largest events — WBC and the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) — seven Ohio breweries earned medals, including six golds for beers deemed the best in their style against breweries around the world. 10,213 beers from 2,375 breweries in 51 countries competed for medals in 103 categories.
PorchDrinking’s Year in Ohio Beer 2022
December 16, 2022 | David Nilsen
Ohio is much more than the butt of TikTok jokes. We’re perenially hovering around the top five craft beer-producing states by volume, and bring in a healthy haul of medals at every World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, and Festival of Barrel-Aged Beer. With numerous mid-sized big cities, Ohio has countless beercation destinations for the beer savvy traveler. Here are my picks for the noteworthy beers, breweries, and stories of 2022 in Ohio beer.
Seventh Son Reborn | One Brewery’s Unusual Strategy for Expansion
December 14, 2022 | David Nilsen
Seventh Son Brewing opened in the historic Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, OH, in April 2013. Their beer was good and their taproom was friendly and inviting—obvious prerequisites for success—and they set about doing what many other breweries around the country had done before them and have done since: offering classic American craft styles in a communal, social atmosphere.
Great American Beer Festival Pouring Guide | Ohio Breweries
September 22, 2022 | David Nilsen
Ohio craft beer is booming, with over 400 craft breweries pumping out enough great beer to rank the state fifth in the country in craft beer production. The Great American Beer Festival is the perfect opportunity to taste some of the best beers from the Buckeye State. Here’s our guide to the Ohio breweries at GABF and the beers you don’t want to miss.
Graft | The Haunting Artwork of Branch & Bone’s Autumn Zephyr
October 7, 2021 | David Nilsen
The bare shoulder and neck of what we assume is a human woman is sketched in pencil. The lines vary in shade and weight like they’re drawn from shadows. Where the neck meets the face, a skeletal jaw emerges, the teeth all wrong like they were ripped from something that hunts the dark forest. The upper teeth are human, and above them, the hollow eye sockets of a skull that nonetheless seem to stare straight into us.
And it’s here the nightmare really begins. Massive branches of a great tree split from the top of the skull like an antler rack, too heavy for the neck but held up by a hidden, infernal strength, stretching their limbs and fingers into the fog. Looking closer, the creature’s own arms bear a faint pattern of bark, the entire thing some alchemy of primeval nature and inchoate humanity stalking the landscape of our dreams.
Fifth Street Brewpub Hires Former Goose Island Brewer
July 12, 2021 | David Nilsen
Fifth Street Brewpub in Dayton, Ohio, found their new head brewer in a way perfectly befitting the small, neighborhood establishment’s community focus: through a hometown connection and a pint at the pub.
GABF 2020 | Lock 27 Brings Medal Home to the Gem City
October 22, 2020 | David Nilsen
Last week, Lock 27 Brewing in Dayton, Ohio, won their first ever medal from the Great American Beer Festival for their Wolk (pronounced “Volk”) Witbier. But that wasn’t really the plan. They’d submitted the refreshing wheat beer and a handful of others mostly to get constructive feedback from the world-class beer experts who judge at GABF. Soon enough, an opportunity for growth turned into a chance to celebrate.
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Wins Big at GABF
October 21, 2020 | David Nilsen
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing head brewer Chris Davison found out his brewery had won two medals at the Great American Beer Festival in the most 2020 way possible: over Zoom while getting his daughter ready for bed. The Columbus, Ohio, brewery’s team had a company Zoom call going while the awards were announced virtually from Denver. Chris had bedtime duties, and parenting supersedes brewing.
Oktoberfest Beer Showcase | Great Lakes Oktoberfest
September 23, 2020 | David Nilsen
Oktoberfest started as a wedding celebration in Bavaria in 1810. Two centuries later in 2009, Great Lakes Brewing Company brewmaster Mark Hunger tied the knot and poured his brewery’s Oktoberfest lager at his own autumn wedding reception.
“Picking the beer for the wedding was a no-brainer. From what I can remember, it was a hit,” he says with a laugh. “We went through a keg.”
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing | Heartlandia American Lager
July 28, 2020 | David Nilsen
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing in Columbus, OH has claimed many an Ohio beer drinker’s heart since opening in 2013 and their new core beer celebrates the agriculture of this state that calls itself “The Heart of It All.”
Eudora Brewing | Le Cheval Magique
March 23, 2020 | David Nilsen
Amid the familiar IPAs, stouts, and lagers on the tap list at Eudora Brewing Company in Dayton, Ohio, sits an outlier, a Belgian charmer full of muscular grace. Le Cheval Magique is a Belgian Golden Strong Ale that balances expressive yeast character and formidable strength with deceptive drinkability. This “magic horse” is light on its hooves, but at 8.5% ABV, you’d best treat it with respect if you don’t want to get thrown from the saddle.
David Nilsen’s Best Beer of 2019: Ohio & Midwest
December 23, 2019 | David Nilsen
2019 was a fun year for me in the beer world. I attended the Great American Beer Festival for the first time, published a lot of articles and drank a lot of great beer.
Here are my thoughts on the best beer of 2019, and the many happenings that occurred this past year in the world of craft beer.
Market Garden Brewery | Prosperity Wheat
November 4, 2019 | David Nilsen
Market Garden Brewery in the historic Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, has made a name for itself on the success of an unlikely flagship beer for a modern craft brewery. Prosperity Wheat is a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen, and it won the gold medal for the style at the Great American Beer Festival last month.
Event Preview | A Comprehensive Guide to Ohio’s Ale-O-Ween
October 15, 2019 | David Nilsen
Leaves are falling, Ohio evenings are getting crisp and jack o’ lanterns are smiling from porches across the Buckeye state. It’s time for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association’s Ale-O-Ween in downtown Dayton!
2019 Great American Beer Festival | Brink Brewing’s Incredible Success
October 10, 2019 | David Nilsen
Brink Brewing in the College Hill neighborhood of northern Cincinnati just opened in 2017, but they already have seven medals and awards from the Great American Beer Festival. In fact, they’ve never failed to medal in the three GABFs since their founding. Last week they brought home gold medals for their Hold the Reins English Mild and Moozie Milk Stout, as well as top honors for Very Small Brewing Company of the Year, which is awarded to a brewery producing fewer than 1,000 barrels of beer annually.
Book Review & Interview: 50 Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio
February 22, 2018 | David Nilsen
50 Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio by Rick Armon (Ohio University Press, 2017)
I sincerely believe Ohio is among the most exciting beer states in the country right now, though I am undoubtedly biased. I’ve lived in the Buckeye state for all fifteen years of my legal drinking life, and I’ve watched Ohio’s craft scene explode along with the rest of the country’s. While many of our breweries have gained national recognition, many more truly excellent breweries remain largely unheralded outside of our state borders. To be honest, it’s one of the things I love about our beer scene here; visitors don’t expect the incredible Belgian beers of Rockmill Brewery, or the farmhouse prowess of Little Fish, or the world-class lambics of Rivertown, or the all-around brilliance of Jackie O’s.
The Weekly Buzz | August 26th – September 1st
September 2, 2016 | Dan Bortz
There has been lots of news to comb through this week. Tax breaks were enacted, archaic beer laws were scrapped, and possible brewing industry job cuts loom on the horizon. You’ll find all that (plus other announcements and silliness) right here in this weeks’ edition of The Weekly Buzz!
MadTree Brewing | Galaxy High Imperial IPA
April 29, 2016 | Kristen Ballinger
ABV: 10.2% | IBU:120
‘Tis the season for Imperial IPAs! MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio is kicking off their High series this year with Galaxy High in cans. It was released … Read More
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