The
Christian Moerlein Lager House hosts its first Holiday Beer and Brewerania Extravaganza Saturday, Nov. 10, from noon to 4 p.m. During the event, beer lovers can get started on their holiday shopping, tour the brewery and sample 10 holiday beers.
Christian Moerlein started the Moerlein Brewing Company in 1853 in Over-the-Rhine. He was a Bavarian immigrant and blacksmith by trade who loved brewing beer. When Moerlein’s beer was exhibited, it always took home top honors.
After his death in 1897, the brewery continued to operate until Prohibition forced it to close; it reopened in 1981.
Moerlein’s beer has only four ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast, and is the first beer to certifiably pass the
Reinheitsgebot Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. In 2004, Greg Hardman, its current president and CEO, bought Moerlein Brewing Company. He continues to follow the same quality and taste guidelines set by Moerlein.
The Holiday Beer and Brewerania Extravaganza isn’t all beer tasting. It’s a bit like an antique show, too. There will be free informational appraisals of beer memorabilia; book signings by Mike Morgan and Dan Tolzmann; and souvenirs, such as steins designed by
Rookwood Pottery, beer memorabilia, a winter lineup of Moerlein Lager House merchandise, the "Brewopoly" beer game, Cincinnati retro beer shirts and local artist J
im Effler’s Bockfest and Moerlein beer label posters.
Plus, Moerlein Lager House’s beer tokens that feature the inaugural Moerlein Lager House design and beer barons Moerlein and John Hauck will be for sale for the true beer enthusiast.
Rookwood Pottery designed a series of four steins for Moerlein Lager House. In 2008, Rookwood Pottery created the
Christian Moerlein Barbarossa Stein. In 2007, Moerlein commissioned a stein for its
Northern Liberty Beer and one for its
OTR beer.
New for 2012 is the
first edition Christian Moerlein Lager House Stein. The stein pays tribute to Christian Moerlein's first beer brewing venture on Elm Street, and to the new Moerlein Lager House along the river. The two locations are connected by a cobblestone road that represents the return of Cincinnati's brewing heritage. All of the steins are currently available on Rookwood Pottery's website.
“Customers can walk around the facility and check out the artwork, and brewers will be on hand to discuss the brewing process or talk about beer,” says Hardman.
And of course, there will be beer. The event will feature 10 holiday beers from guest brewers:
Wittekerke Winter Wit,
Founder’s Harvest,
Petrus Winter #9,
Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest,
Sam Smith Winter Welcome,
Two Brothers Heavy Handed,
Sierra Nevada Celebration,
Ommegang Art of Darkness,
Hudepohl Classic Porter and a batch of Moerlein Lager Houses Christkindl Winter Warmer Ale. Richard Dube, Moerlein Lager House’s resident brewmaster, brewed the Christkindl ale especially for the event, says Hardman.
Admission is free; four-ounce samples of the seasonal beers will be $6 for a flight of four.
By Caitlin Koenig
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