Ohio Brew week is still hopping.
Court Street is currently a backdrop to some of Brew Week’s festivities, including walking historic tours of the various bars and pubs, samplings of unique craft beers and several other events hosted by local breweries in the area.
About 40 different breweries are represented in the nine-day celebration with more than 200 craft brews available for sampling, according to Ohio Brew Week’s website.
Chris Roach, general manager of The Pigskin, said the celebrations are enjoyable and that the bar is receiving a lot of good business during Brew Week.
“It’s going very well, we had good attendance,” Roach said. “We had a lot of people who come to town for the event.”
Roach said that different craft brews were sampled and his personal favorite was the Peanut Butter Cup Porter from Willoughby Brewing Co., a craft beer that he said tasted like peanut butter and coffee.
Brewing company representatives are in town from throughout the state. One of them was Garin Wright, who co-owns Buckeye Brewing, a brewery located in Cleveland, with his father Robert.
“We’ve been to Brew Week ever since it first started,” Wright said. “We try to keep things interesting. We don’t like to brew the same beers every day.”
Among the “interesting” beers Wright showcased was the “Pawpaw”— a beer that is made with the fragile fruit’s pulp that is grown in Athens. The brewery buys frozen pawpaw from the county and transports them to Cleveland.
“I like the challenge of making beers,” Wright said. “I like focusing on the subtleties that are drinkable or more flavorful like the Spice Bush and the Wheat Cloud. I don’t like to make beer were one flavor is aggressive.”
Ohio University students also took advantage of the different events.
Natalie Cruz, a senior studying communication science and disorders, and Caitlin Yount, a senior studying education, tried a couple of the brews offered by Buckeye Brewing at Sol Restaurant, 33 N. Court St.
“We started at The Pigskin and had a couple of beers,” Cruz said. “We wanted to meet the brewers and try some samples of different drinks. I want to try every India Pale Ale that I can.”
Wright said it’s a good time for the brewers, too. He plans to return to Brew Week every year because of the atmosphere in the city and the opportunity to share with others in the craft.
“I look forward to bumping into other brewers, the impressive campus and great restaurants,” he said. “I call this my second home.”
hy135010@ohiou.edu
