Rod J BeerVentures

Video Beer Review - Moerlein Handlebar Double Stout ( 8.2% ABV )

Give Me Five with Urban Artifact

Following up on this series, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Scott Hunter who is Chief of Strategic Development for Urban Artifact, one of Cincinnati's newer breweries. For those not familiar with this series, I ask a brewery five questions and they provide five answers, in other words, give me five. Nice, crisp, clean and simple...just like some of the best beers. So let's get to it.

But first of all, many may not be familiar with Urban Artifact so here is there website link: http://www.artifactbeer.com/. They are located within an old Northside church in Cincinnati, which for whatever reason, sounds pretty cool to me. And it seems that there initial offerings seem to be quite sessionable which is also cool as I can imagine that you can sit and enjoy and not get too sloshed. But enough about my initial take, let's hear from Scott.

Scott Hunter

Question 1

What makes the brewery unique?

"We focus solely on wild and tart beers. Tart beers are beers that are produced using our modified sour mash technique and have varying levels of acidity. Wild beers are beers that are fermented with the wild yeast Brettanomyces. On top of all that we will have a robust traditionally soured beer program which has begun with collecting wild yeast from the air on our property and surrounding area."

Question 2

How did you come about starting the brewery?

" It all started back in college when we found home brewing and it has really blossomed from there. We have engineering degrees and extensive experience in food and beverage manufacturing."

Question 3

How many beer offerings does the brewery provide?

"Currently there are two flagships; Harrow a Gose and Finn a Berliner Pale Ale. We also have our first two seasonal beers coming out which are Keypunch a key lime Gose and Clothesline which is a farmhouse rye. Our taproom has 12 total taps so we rotate through those with stuff brewed on our 1 barrel pilot system."

Question 4

Where do you envision the brewery heading in the future?

"In the very near future we will start to come out with more wild beers and our third flagship Maize which is a Kentucky Common. Past that packaged product in retail stores and further expanding our traditional sour program will be on the agenda."

Question 5

When did the brewery become established?

"We purchased our property in August of 2014 and opened our doors on April 24^th of 2015. The idea and concept goes back years prior however."

Well, there you have it, five questions and five answers. So venture out to Urban Artifact and check out one of the new breweries in town and get funky with some of their beers. Here is also a link to the rest of the team so that you can get to know them as well: http://www.artifactbeer.com/team/. Cheers and hope to see you there!

Blue Moon - Rounder Belgian-Style Pale

Sitting back drinking one of the Blue Moon's left in the fridge. Going with the Expressionist collection and the Rounder Belgian-Style Pale Ale. Not a bad one at all, good Belgian like aroma, clear appearance, and light body texture with some average length on mouthfeel. The head does disappear quite quickly and no lacing to really speak about, but with many macro beers, that is often the case.

ABV - 5.6%
IBU - 22

Would I drink it again? Sure, if I had one handy, but I wouldn't seek it out.

Give Me Five with Rhinegeist Brewery

Rhinegeist - Cincinnati, OH (5/16/15)

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with one of the owners of the Rhinegeist Brewery here in Cincinnati, Bob Bonder. The purpose of the conversation was to discuss some of the highlights of the brewery an to introduce the "Give Me Five" segment of my blog and website. Five questions that allow us to learn a little bit more about the brewery. It is just that simple and easy, but how did it go. Read for yourself here and let me know your thoughts.

Question #1 - What makes the brewery unique?

Answer: "The right combination of great liquid, clean branding, a unique historic location, and an incredible team of hard-working, creative badasses in every part of the business - from brewing, cellaring, packaging, and distribution to the tap room, accounting, sales, and marketing!"

Question #2 - How did you come about starting the brewery?

Answer: "I’m a huge fan of craft beverages and entrepreneurial culture. My business partner, Bryant, and I both come from a consulting background and jumped ship to pursue our passions. I started a coffee roasting business, while Bryant took on beer and ran the west coast sales for Dogfish Head. Six years later, when I started to ponder the idea of opening a craft brewery in Cincinnati, I reached out to Bryant. He made a trip out to Cincy and once we stepped foot into our historic facility at 1910 Elm St, we both immediately knew that we had to pursue this dream."

Question #3 - How many beer offerings does the brewery provide?

Answer: "We’ll brew upwards of 35 different styles this year. We have 3 core beers in cans year-round (Truth, Cougar, Zen), along with other various seasonal cans (Franz, Panther, Hustle, Dad, Fiction, Puma, Pure Fury), some specialties in 22oz bomber bottles, and a wide range of experimental beers that are only available on draft."

Question #4 - Where do you envision the brewery heading in the future?

Answer: "To the roof! Literally. We’re in the middle of building a 7,000sqft roof deck that will hold 200+ people. We also just finished building a new 60bbl brewhouse which will allow us to expand distribution to Columbus and Louisville. In addition, we are building out a private event space for weddings, etc. "

Question #5 - When did the brewery become established?

Answer: "We opened in June of 2013."

And what an impact Rhinegeist has already made to Cincinnati and the beer scene. If you have not tried them yet, then let me recommend that you should. Take a visit to the brewery in OTR and I am sure that you will find something that you like on tap!

For more details visit the Rhinegeist site here: http://www.rhinegeist.com

Thank you to Bob Bonderman for your time and to Katie Alsip for providing the logo and sneak peek at the upcoming deck. It will be nice to sit up top and enjoy a beer overlooking the city.