Cincinnati Winter Beerfest 2012

Beerfest, my friends! Let's get this out of the way right up front, it was a blast. I got to try great beers from breweries big and small, many of which are not distributed here in Cincinnati. Many that I'd never even heard of let alone tried. I think the thing that I liked most though, my biggest takeaway from the evening, was how cool it was to see thousands upon thousands of people in Cincinnati excited about craft beer.

OK. here is the master list of beers I tried.

• Great Divide - Belgian Style Yeti Imperial Stout
• Three Floyds - Arctic Panzer Wolf Imperial IPA
• The Bruery / Elysian / Stone - La Citrueille Celeste De Citracado
• Columbus Brewing - Creeper Triple IPA
• Ohio Brewing - Cardinal Red
• Listermann's - Imperial Bourbon Barrel Smoked Porter (cask)
• Blank Slate - Oktoberfest Brett Stout
• Bluegrass Brewing - Pale ALe
• Bluegrass Brewing - Barrel Aged Hell For Certain
• Fat Head's - Coffee Cream Stout
• Elevator Brewing - Espresso Doppelbock (cask)
• Hudepohl - Festival Bock
• Lost Coast - Indicia IPA
• Thirsty Dog - Old Leghumper Porter
• Avery Brewing - Joe's Pilsner
• Southern Tier - 2X Stout
• North Peak - Furry Black IPA
• Great Lakes - Commodore Perry IPA
• Columbus Brewing - Bock Bier
• Christian Moerlein - OTR

Not one of these beers disappointed but there were four that really stood out as something special. The Bruery/ Stone/ Elesyian collaboration ale was this really tasty ale brewed with pumpkin, yam and birch. It was a very smooth creamy ale with a pretty amazing flavor profile. I'm a huge fan of flavorful pumpkin beers and it was nice to get one in February when all of the pumpkin ales have been off of the shelves since some time in November.

The second standout was the Columbus Creeper. At the fest they had it on their sign as an imperial IPA but I've seen it labeled online as both a barleywine and a triple IPA. Anyway you slice it this beer was a damn hop nuke. Amazing hop presence in both the aroma and flavor. Similar to Avery's Maharaja (one of my all time favorite beers) in flavor. I went over to the Columbus booth at the end of the evening to thank them for coming and to tell them that Creeper was one of my favorite beers of the night. I asked if they had plans to extend distribution to Cincinnati. The woman I spoke to told me that they were still a very small operation and that their plans were to move into Cleveland first, then Cincinnati. Let's hope it happens sooner rather than later!

Another of my favorites was Bluegrass Brewing Company's Barrel Aged Hell For Certain, a bourbon barrell aged Belgian Dark Ale. I love barrel aged beers, especially of the bourbon variety. The bourbon was very evident in the aromas and mingled really well with the already complex flavors of the Belgian Dark Ale. My friend Alex and I were roaming around the convention center during the VIP hour, before the beer service began, and walked by the BBC booth and Talked to the guy there who explained that they would be tapping this beer at 8:00 and that it would go fast. I'm very glad we heeded his advice.

The last beer that stood above the rest was Elevator Brewing's Espresso Doppelbock on cask. This one was a real surprise. I had never even heard of Elevator. We just got in the line to try an Ohio beer. I had to try it when I saw it. A beer has to be pretty big to stand up to espresso. Most of the time you find it in stouts and porters, almost never in a lager. A bock and especially a doppelbock definitely has the flavor profile to stand up. And stand up it does. This beer was pretty amazing, big coffee flavor mixed with the malt sweetness. Really really tasty.

I broke down the data a bit. Of the beers I had 11 were from Ohio breweries, 2 from Kentucky, Colorado, and California, and one from Indiana, Michigan, and New York. It was really cool to see so many breweries from Ohio and the midwest creating great flavorful beers and standing up to the best from traditional craft beer states like Colorado and California.

One tip. If you plan on going next year, definitely spring for the VIP ticket. The extra hour to get the lay of the land and get a few beers without massive lines was really nice. Also the 8oz actual glass tasting glass is a definite upgrade from the plastic 5oz glass you get with the general admission.

The Cincinnati Beerfest was awesome. It was so much fun drinking great beers and seeing so many people excited about craft beer. I am already excited to see what they come up with for next year!

HD

Three amigos enjoying Hudepohl's Festival Bock.

Anybody who stood in this line with amzing craft beer all around is dead to me.