Summer travel is in full swing and I am back in the United States for the next two months. So that means time for an old-fashioned baseball road trip. After a full week working in Cincinnati, Ohio, I will embark on a Midwest baseball road trip. Trip plans are focused on visiting new baseball stadiums, but I will be doing some other sightseeing, too. Most importantly I will visit two new ballparks. Without further ado here are the plans for my Midwest baseball road trip. Baseball games The trip is built around visiting new ballparks close to Cincinnati. As I made a swing through Kentucky last summer, I am heading…
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A pint at Listermann Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio
The craft beer industry is full of stories of homebrewers who opened their own commercial brewery. Listermann Brewing Company in Cincinnati takes a unique twist on the homebrewer turned commercial brewer. The history of Listermann Brewing closely mirrors that of craft beer in Cincinnati with each growing year by year to reach their current stature. Brewery’s history In 1991, after several years of homebrewing Dan Listermann officially started a small manufacturing company that produced homebrewing equipment. Listermann continued his day job as a quality engineer, and with his wife Sue’s encouragement they rented out space at the Hamilton County Business Development Center. Fast forward four years, Dan had quit his…
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A pint at Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio, was once a city well-known for its beer. With a large German immigrant population, the city boasted over thirty breweries by 1860. However, Prohibition in the early-1900s led to several breweries closing. The explosion of craft beer in the United States since 2000 has led to the city boasting more breweries now. Rhinegeist Brewery was not the first craft brewery in town, but may be one of the city’s best known brands with its easily recognizable ghost skeleton logo. Brewery’s history The short version of Rhinegeist’s history is that the brewery opened in a former Christian Moerlein Brewing Company building in 2013. However, the tale is much longer…
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Reflecting on Flagship February
A month has come and gone since the start of a grassroots movement in the American craft beer industry. At the beginning of the new year, esteemed craft beer writers Stephen Beaumont and Jay Brooks plus others spawned the idea of Flagship February as a way for craft beer drinkers to support the beers that built the industry. As I read news articles about the declining sales of flagship beers, and Beaumont’s off-the-cuff remark about having a month to support these beers I contemplated how I could support this movement. As an American living in Japan, I decided to partake on a weekly basis by having a different flagship beer…
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Celebrating American craft beer with Flagship February
How and why do you start a movement? For some people it’s the desire to preserve something they care about and sharing that concern on social media. That’s not exactly how “Flagship February” began, but it’s a good synopsis about this brewing movement in American craft beer. The more detailed story starts with an article about the declining sales of flagship beers (the beers that helped establish a craft brewery). In response to the steady drop in sales of these beers, esteemed beer scribe Stephen Beaumont proposed a month to promote these brews. How about, in the spirit of alliteration, how about we make next month Flagship February!?! The focus would…
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A pint at Big Beach Brewing Co. in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Opening a brewery takes a lot of time, effort, and patience. However, Jim and Julie Shamburger navigated the process relatively quickly to open Big Beach Brewing Co. in Gulf Shores, Ala. Jim started homebrewing after his daughter bought him a Mr Beer kit, but he quickly advanced and in July 2015 petitioned the city to open a brewery. Construction of the building was completed and the brewery opened its doors in October 2016. The brewery sits on the corner of East 2nd Street and East 24th Avenue in the Waterway Village District, so it is easily accessible to locals or people coming for a beach vacation. During a recent visit…
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A pint at Serda Brewing Co. in Mobile, Ala.
Opening a brewery is a labor of love for a lot of reasons. One of the primary reasons is because of the long time it can take for a brewery to go from being someone’s idea to becoming a reality that craft beer lovers can visit. A great example of this process is Serda Brewing Company in Mobile, Ala. The idea started with John Serda and his father Ed in 2013, but did not come to fruition until late in 2017. The plan started to come together after the father-son duo found a vacant former Goodyear Tire Store in downtown, but even after identifying the building it took several months…
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A pint at Fairhope Brewing Co. in Fairhope, Ala.
A town of approximately 15,000 people may not seem like the ideal location for a brewery, but it was precisely the place Brian Kane and Jim Foley thought would be perfect for a brewery. Just over five years ago, the pair opened Fairhope Brewing Company in Fairhope, Ala. Not only has the brewery survived for five years, it has thrived and expanded about three years ago. The brewery consists of two buildings, one used exclusively for production and one that serves as a taproom. The production facility recently had a mural added to it while the taproom sits next door. Local artist Sarah Rutledge Fischer painted the mural, which covers…
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Alabama Memorial Day weekend road trip preview
As the summer travel season is almost upon us, my wife Katie and I will be making our first extended trip of the year over the Memorial Day weekend. The inspiration for our upcoming trip is baseball and craft beer, as we are setting out to see every Minor League Baseball team that plays in Alabama while also visiting more of the state’s craft breweries. Our schedule is built around attending MiLB games, but we will assuredly be visiting craft breweries and seeing other local sights. Here is our schedule… Saturday, May 26:Biloxi Shuckers at Mobile BayBears, 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, May 29:Jackson Generals at Montgomery Biscuits, 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, May…
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A pint at TrimTab Brewing Co. in Birmingham, Ala.
Someone who enrolls in law school and influenced by the philosophy of Buckminster Fuller is sure to create a unique brewery. That is without a doubt what people will find when they visit TrimTab Brewing Company in the Lakeview District of Birmingham. While enrolled at the University of Alabama School of Law Harris Stewart spent his spare time homebrewing and researching hop varieties before pursuing his calling of brewing craft beer full-time in 2012. Stewart won a contest to re-purpose a lot in downtown from George Barber as “TrimTab Brewhouse & Hot Chicken Kitchen,” but ultimately realized the brewery operation would need more space. Stewart convinced Barber to lease him…
