Cincinnati Beer Week put the focus on local flavor

Last week, more than 70 venues throughout the Cincinnati, Ohio, area celebrated Cincinnati Beer Week, with a slew of awesome events showcasing the area’s greatest brews. The event was billed as a “grassroots movement aiming to educate, inspire and celebrate well-crafted beer in a welcoming environment.” It’s a sentiment that local brewery Rivertown Brewing Co. hopes to continue through the year.

In his blog “For the Love of Local,” Rivertown Brewing Co. general manager Tom Hull called out the importance for craft beer drinkers’ support of local beers. While many bars are now focusing on providing high-quality craft beers to their customers, it’s a process that has taken a lot of hard work from the brewers who spend time on the road and on their phones always pushing their crafted beers. As Hull explained, even a lunch outing to a new restaurant is a chance to chat up a potential new client. But there’s a growing advocate for every craft brewer — the craft beer drinker.

Rivertown Brewing Collaboration — To celebrate Cincinnati Beer Week, Cincy brewers collaborated on a beer and signed bottles at Jungle Jim’s specialty grocery store. (From left to right: Bobby Slattery, Fifty West Brewing; Scott LaFollette, Blank Slate Brewing Co.; Jason Roeper, Rivertown Brewing Co.; Virgil Roesel Mt. Carmel Brewing Co.; Jason Brewer, Triple Digit Brewing Co.)

“The biggest part of making local beer huge, however, is all of you,” Hull wrote in the Rivertown Brewing Co. blog. “We can sell all day, but in the end it does no good without your support. Bars will always sell what people want to buy, and every time one of you says, ‘I want to buy local, and I want to buy it here.’ it does more than any salesman could.”

Hull stressed the importance of talking about craft beer with your favorite watering holes and eateries. Putting the emphasis on local beers helps grow the community and instill a sense of pride. The customer is always right, and with craft beer, you can rarely go wrong.

“So, the next time you go out to dinner or stop for a brew on the way home from a long day, remember that you decide what you drink, not anybody else,” Hull wrote. “Sit down, ask what local beer is available. If there isn’t any, ask ‘Why not?’ … If we all take the two minutes to do this, then local beer won’t have any limit to how much we can grow, and our community will be more interesting and vibrant for it.”

For all of Hull’s insights, be sure to check out the Rivertown Brewing Co. blog for the full story.