Earlier this week we had the pleasure of stopping by FigLeaf Brewing Co., to talk about their big upcoming anniversary party. In between sampling tasty beers, we talked about their bridging the gap between Cincinnati and Dayton, how distribution is working out for them, their wealth of beer styles and so much more.
Don’t forget to bookmark their anniversary party, and we’ll see you there!
Plus you can check out all our shows at our Brew Minds page on YouTube.
In an almost-destined move, Quaff Bros. — the Cincinnati-based barrel-aged beer collaboration project — will merge with Quaff On Brewing in Indiana.
Brew Minds talked with Quaff Bros. founder/owner Danny Gold about the change on Thursday and what it means for his current projects. [For a little history, check out the first article Brew Minds wrote about Quaff Bros. here.]
RELATED: Official press release from Quaff On Brewing
“When I left The Party Source, it was on good terms and they gave me the rights to Quaff Bros.,” Gold said. “Given that Quaff On is so close in name, and that I came to work with them, it just seemed like a good fit.”
“Quaff Bros. has always stood for a couple things — it stands for collaboration and friendship, and pushing the envelope while creating the highest quality liquid we can,” — Danny Gold
The creator of storied barrel-aged collaborations such as Blue Melvin went on to say that it works from a business perspective too. Quaff On was looking to start a barrel-aging project as it opens a new, larger facility in Southern Indiana.
“We thought there was a lot of potential,” Gold said. “I’ll still be based in Cincinnati, but this will eventually cut down the 1,000 weekly miles of travel I do as we expand into Greater Cincinnati someday.”
The new facility outside Bloomington houses a brewery, barrel program, distillery, and restaurants. From a logistical standpoint, it means that Gold will be able to set a timeline on collaborations and more efficient source barrels and work with breweries besides Quaff On.
“Quaff Bros. has always stood for a couple things — it stands for collaboration and friendship, and pushing the envelope while creating the highest quality liquid we can,” Gold said. “By having a headquarters, it will allow me more time to control the timeline and production schedule. I can have my friends such as Fifty West Brewing, West Sixth Brewing, or Jackie O’s come out to my shop and we don’t have to wait on anything.”
He added, “The new facility will allow me to get the barrels as soon as the distillery is done with them and fill them with beer. Quaff Bros. originally begin as a collaboration and we have no plans to change that. If anything, it opens up more avenues.”
“This will allow us to restart Quaff Bros. with a clean slate so we can start fresh,” — Danny Gold
As for the current projects, Gold said he only has a few beers resting in barrels currently. Those projects haven’t maturated yet but information should be released once the beer is ready.
“This will allow us to restart Quaff Bros. with a clean slate so we can start fresh,” Gold said.
As for the awaited projects with the now-shuttered Blank Slate Brewing, Gold said they are deliberating what to do with those beers.
“Obviously we don’t want to have to dump the beer, but we have to figure out the smartest move for everyone. Those beers also include Against the Grain Brewing, so we have to figure out the logistics of making it work,” Gold said.
As for the merger, it will take effect almost immediately and will be “official” as of Saturday.
The first big release for the combined project will come at the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers, (FoBAB,) in Chicago this year. Gold said they are submitting a barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout called “Fools Russian” — get it? Fools-Rush-In — as well as variants. He said the beers should be released to the public sometime after the contest.
The change in business structure will also mean a change online, so fans should watch Quaff Bros. Facebook page and other social media for the latest updates.
It had to happen some time. Fresh on the heels of the release of fan-favorite Dreamsicle, MadTree Brewing announces they are canning “Pilgrim.”
Fans have been clamoring for Pilgrim Pale Ale to be canned since its initial release at the 1.0 facility. With the expansion at 2.0 in Oakley, MadTree now has the capacity to can the beer.
The brewery is also partnering with La Soupe and Busken bakery as part of the event.
Here are all the details on the release, straight from MadTree:
Continue reading “MadTree Brewing announces release of 'Pilgrim' in cans for Fall”
Jesse and I headed out to Fairfield to meet and talk to the folks from Swine City Brewing. We talked to owner Dan Ebben and his crew about opening a brewery and what to expect from Swine City when they open in the next month or two.
3-years ago Bryan Roth from This Is Why I’m Drunk reached out to local bloggers across the country to each build a 6-pack that represents their state. You can read that list here. About a year before that post I wrote another article on the Cincinnati Six-Pack.
Both of those lists are now hilariously out of date. The best example of this is that Rhinegeist isn’t on either list as they weren’t open yet. I initially sat down to write an update for Ohio’s part in the Six-Pack Project but remembered the difficulty in narrowing an entire state down into six beers. So, I decided to settle down to just a Cincinnati Six-pack, plus a few from Dayton. I also reached out to Pat at Pat’s Pints in Columbus and Rick Armon at The Ohio Beer Blog in Akron/Cleveland. They’ll both be doing similar posts covering their parts of Ohio in the next few weeks.
Continue reading “The Cincinnati Six-Pack Project (2016 Edition)”
One of the major highlights of the Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic this year was getting the chance to interview a spirits writer that I greatly admire, Esquire Drinks correspondent David Wondrich. Thanks to his books and articles, most notably Imbibe! and Punch, his name is closely associated with the classic cocktail movement and documenting the history of drinking culture in the Unites States. My partner Charlie and I sat down (more accurately, stood up in the corner of a tent in Washington Park) to talk with him about his writing and why he decided to attend the Food and Wine Classic in Cincinnati. You can listen to the full interview in Episode #195 of The Charlie Tonic Hour but here are the highlights.
Continue reading “David Wondrich on Cocktails, Cincinnati, and Surprises”
This year I was once again lucky enough to be asked to attend the Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic, held September 11-13 in Washington Park. This year’s event proved itself to be a significant increase over last year, with an additional day of tasting and events on Sunday as well as more things to seek out throughout the weekend. I was immensely satisfied with this year’s event. Last year felt like a wonderful local event with a lot of potential. This year they went a long way toward meeting that potential. The Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic felt much bigger and more vibrant this year, and I was thrilled to see our city producing something that seems destined to grow into a nationally recognized event.
Continue reading “Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic: A Foodie's Paradise”
Taft’s Ale House invited my fellow Cincinnati Beer Bloggers and I for a preview on Saturday afternoon. As of today, Taft’s is the newest brewery and brewpub in the city. I’m not going to go on too long here and cover the same ground as others, they’ve already done fantastic jobs. I do want to say that I have been eagerly anticipating Taft’s for months now. I enjoyed the beers Kevin Moreland (Taft’s head brewer) was making at Listermann/Triple Digit and knew he’d make great beer at Taft’s, which he has. I did not know it was a gorgeous building full of delicious beer and food. I have a new favorite spot in OTR. For more info read the following folks posts:
BeerMumbo’s 3 reasons to visit Taft’s Ale House. Plus bonus before & after pics of the amazing transformation of the building.
BeerQuest ABV shares his thoughts on the beer, the building, and a lot of beautiful photos
WCPO’s Jesse Folk with background the beers and the brewhouse
It’s been well known for some time that the Grayscale Cincinnati project had taken up residence in the former St. Pius Catholic Church on Blue Rock Road in Northside. We learned earlier this year the project was fully funded, the build out was underway and the brewery portion of the project is called Urban Artifact Brewing. Grayscale Cincinnati founders Scott Hand and Dominic Mariano have partnered up with brewers Bret Kollmann Baker and Scott Hunter. The partners were drawn together by similar ideas and complementary skill sets, as well as complementary personalities.
All four indicate they gravitated toward Northside because of its welcoming and engaging community, its special small town feel, with an eclectic urban city presence and the unique opportunity presented by the beautiful and historic St. Pius Church (known at one time as St Patrick’s Church). Bret relocated to Cincinnati from Albany, New York while Scott Hunter relocated from the closer proximity of Deer Park. Besides the church, this Northside property has a spacious, 3-story house that used to serve as the rectory for the priests and more recently the Queen City Cookies Cafe, and a huge gymnasium that will serve as the actual brewhouse. Construction was well underway in mid-February when I visited for my interview.
The brewery itself will start with an impressive 30 barrel capacity. The complex will include a both a theater and music venue plus a tap house in the church, a restaurant on the first floor of the rectory and a beer garden between the house and the church. Though there will be parking on and around the site, both Bret and Scott Hunter are avid cyclists, who plan on having plenty of bike racks for the cyclists and being very tied into the local bicycling community. Scott Hand is an architect who is charged with overseeing the design of the project. He and his wife Kelly relocated to Cincinnati from Chicago, where they became active in the local homebrewing community.
There will be plenty of entertainment as Dominic, a music professor & noted local musician will be booking diverse local and regional music acts, as well as providing live streaming online for performances. The church will also be home to a local theater group, who will be performing regularly in its spacious interior. But musicians and actors are just part of the entertainment value. Beer will also have a starring role. I sat down with Bret to talk to him about what is in store for thirsty craft beer lovers; Scott Hunter also took a break from construction to join part of the conversation.
Chris Nascimento: “So, Bret, construction looks like it is well underway. When will Urban Artifact Brewing be opening & how many beers will you have on tap?”
Bret Kollmann Baker: “We will be opening in mid-spring, start out with 10 beers on tap.”
CN: “What kind of beers will you be producing? American IPAs & such?”
BK: “Actually, what we will be making beers inspired by sour brewing traditions.”
CN: “So lots of Belgian beers?”
BK: “Not just Belgian beers, but beers with Belgian, German and Flemish influences. What we are producing is more microbiologically inspired. We have a love of microbiology and will be using old world techniques with modern scientific application to increase the consistency & quality of what we produce.”
CN: “So what made you choose Northside?”
BK: “Lots of things, it’s a great neighborhood! Both Scotty and I live here, my wife and I bought a house here. It’s all about the community. Everyone has been extremely supportive, stopping by to congratulate us and asking what they can do to help. People here get the idea of marrying beer & art together. What we are doing really fits the culture in Northside.”
CN: “So what are your backgrounds and how did you decide you wanted to become brewers?”
BK: “Scott & I met at Ohio University, where I also met my wife Stephanie. Scott and I were both chemical engineering majors and founded a homebrew club at the university. We both have degrees in chemical engineering, and I also have a degree in brewing science and technology. After college, I purposely worked in some related industries. I worked for a lactic acid manufacturer, Cargill, working with a special yeast strain. I also spent some time working professionally for a winery at the Farhmeir Family Vineyard and for a distiller, the Albany Distilling Co.” Plus, last year, I conducted a seminar at the AHA National Homebrew Conference a historic lager yeast. It was called “S. Eubayanus: The Father of Lager Yeast”.
Scott Hunter: “I worked in food production. I worked as an engineer for Graphite Electrodes, and I am also getting another degree, working on my MBA.”
CN (incredulously): “So, wait, Scott, you are opening a new brewery AND getting your MBA?”
SH (chuckling): “Yeah. I am getting my MBA at Indiana-Wesleyan, at their campus in West Chester.”
CN: “I love sours & my wife is a huge fan as well. But what will make you guys different and stand out in what you do?”
BK: “All our sour organisms will be caught from the local environment. We will capture them, and then pick our favorite barrels, then use these to start the new barrels. The lactobacillus we are using was collected in the bell tower of the church, and it is unbelievable! We are really excited about it.
CN: “So you will be doing open fermentations?”
BK: “Small scale stuff. We will be doing some spontaneous fermentations, and are installing a cool ship, probably above the brewhouse. It’s all flat, reinforced and that location will work out really well.”
SH: “The real skill is not just in producing the wort, the beer, but in blending it….”
BK: “and having the cojones to dump it if it’s not working. You can’t blend away suck….”
CN (laughing): “I heard Gordon Strong say the same thing about blending mead.”
SH: “We will be working with traditional sours, guezes. Beers with flavor & depth. Flavors from Pediococcus. Beers with flavor & depth. Flavors from Pediococcus and Brettanomyces take time to develop. We want sublime, complementary barrels.”
CN: “So, how big will be the barrel farm?”
BK: “We will be starting with about 10 barrels and will add 30 barrels a month. There will be different barrels consisting of spontaneous fermentations, local mixed cultures and various spirit and wine barrels imparting flavors as well. Our flagships will be done using some special techniques to ferment in the absence of oxygen. We will do this with most of our seasonal beers as well. Our flagships are all made using a modified sour mash technique.”
SH: “To give you an example of a beer of a beer that has inspired us, look at Orval. Orval doesn’t go bad. It starts fresh and hoppy and ages beautifully, becoming funky and wild. I prefer not to drink any Orval younger than 2 years of age.”
CN: “Will you use kegs, serving vessels or some combination of the two in your taproom? And how much beer will you be producing in your first year?”
BK: “We will be using all kegs in the taphouse and music lounge. We will produce 3,000 barrels in our first year (365 days of production).”
CN: “How big could you guys go with the production in this facility?”
BK: “The brewhouse has the capacity to do 45,000 barrels a year. As we grow, if we find we outgrow the present space, especially with the barrel farm, we hope to expand the barrel farm into a warehouse space within Northside.”
CN: “We have a great local brewing community, and many of our local brewers are doing collaborations with each other. Does Urban Artifact plan to do any collaborations with other local breweries?”
BK: “We have plans to do some collaborations with other breweries in the Cincinnati area; as well as elsewhere outside the Cincinnati area.”
CN: “This is all pretty amazing, what else are you doing that is interesting and different?”
BK: “We are working with some new, experimental yeasts with a major yeast manufacturer. We can’t really say what, (Bret reaches over to pull a specially labeled sample out of a nearby fridge and shows them) but here is an example.”
CN: “This is really exciting, guys, I can’t wait to try some of your beers. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me!”
I should note that Urban Artifact already has formed some community partnerships as they work on their build out. They have rented out the second floor of the old rectory house for use as office space by Groundwork Cincinnati, who has cleaned up the Millcreek, including developing the Greenway Trail. Jess of Madcap Puppets is renting space in the church, which is very evident by the huge dragon puppet that has taken up space in part of the church. Gaia’s Oasis is also partnering up with them to put in a showcase garden.
The brewhouse is now in place, and Urban Artifact has obtained both their federal and state permits. So far, as of March 13th, Urban Artifact has been through two production brews, with more coming in short order. While I was not given an exact opening date, my impression is that “mid-spring” will be happening sooner rather than later.
I have to admit that I was a little skeptical when I heard that there was another bourbon bar opening in Cincinnati. Most bars in the area already have a pretty good selection and I have been really hoping for someone to go in a crazy new direction and open a tiki bar. But when the Horse and Barrel opened on Walnut Street downtown, I immediately heard good things about it from my whiskey friends. Then, when I met one of the owners and much of the staff at the January meeting of the Greater Cincinnati Bourbon Society and learned more about the history behind the bar, I knew it was worth checking out.
The owners of the Horse and Barrel, who also own Nicholson’s Scottish Pub, have deep ties to Kentucky and used to own a bourbon bar called Horse and Barrel attached to their Lexington deSha’s restaurant before it closed. So this isn’t so much a brand new bourbon bar hopping on the whiskey bandwagon but more of an established bar opening for the first time in Cincinnati. I had such a great time talking to the group at the meeting that Charlie and I went down to check them out last Sunday at the opening party.
The presentation and selection of the bourbon was all very well done. Unfortunately after being open for only a few weeks most of the rare bottles they had started with were already sold out, but they still had a great mix of old favorites and lesser known whiskeys. The cocktails were mixed perfectly and they had a nice selection of classic and creative cocktails on the menu. I thought the beer selection was also great compared to most whiskey bars I have been to. The food was outstanding, and something that many bars downtown are missing. I am craving some more of the blue cheese dip with fried bread even as I write this. And I do think that having the Horse and Barrel, a bar known for its bourbon, attached to Nicholson’s, a bar known for its scotch, is a great combination for one-stop whiskey drinking in Cincinnati.
It is still hard to compete with bourbon bars in Kentucky based on selection but until Ohio changes its liquor laws it is nice to have a good bourbon bar downtown, especially for people who are visiting the area and want to try some local flavor without venturing over the river. Now if someone can just get on opening that tiki bar for me I will be really happy.
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