Anyone who knows the difference between American and European hops probably realizes there have been two craft beer movements.
Maumee Brewing Co., which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, has been around long enough to see them both. While the first craft beer wave crashed at the end of the 20th Century, the current phase is growing stronger each year and appears to be here for good.
“What we’ve seen in the last five or six years now is a do-over and the second time around we’re seeing a much different environment,” said Craig Kerr, brewery manager at Maumee Bay Brewing Co., located at 27 Broadway St. “Beers are better. Breweries are better.
“The customers are looking for a much wider variety of product than they were before. So as a brewery it allows us to make stuff that’s more fun and crazy. It’s a mature market, the beer drinkers are still looking for new flavors vs. an entry-level product, which is what it was back 20 years ago.”
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Craft beer aficionados will be able to taste Maumee Bay’s beers, along with craft beers from more than 40 other breweries, Friday at the Glass City Beer Festival being held at the Lucas County Recreation Center in Maumee. The annual event is in its ninth year and is the biggest fund-raiser for the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation and Camp Courageous & The Arc of NW Ohio, Inc.
More than 2,000 people attended last year’s event, and close to 2,500 are expected to attend Friday.
The festival wasn’t a hit in the beginning, but has mirrored craft beer’s growth with its burgeoning popularity.
“I went to the first Glass City Beer Fest and I think there were more people working the show than there were in attendance,” Mr. Kerr said. “It was pretty sparse, but now we’re seeing great participation. There are breweries from all over that come.”
In addition to Maumee Bay, other local breweries will be at the show, including Toledo’s Great Black Swamp and Black Cloister brewing companies, Black Frog Brewery of Holland, Sugar Ridge Brewery of Bowling Green, Flatrock Brewing Co. of Napoleon, and Catawba Island Brewing Co. of Port Clinton.
Other notable breweries from Ohio: Great Lakes (Cleveland), Thirsty Dog (Akron), Elevator (Columbus), Cellar Rats (Madison), Rockmill (Lancaster), Rivertown (Cincinnati), and Jackie O’s (Athens). And Michigan: Atwater (Detroit), Saugatuck (Douglas), Frankenmuth (near Saginaw), Arbor (Ann Arbor), Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter), and B. Nektar (Ferndale).
Now, not only does the festival draw a big crowd, a lot of the patrons are more akin to wine connoisseurs.
“My first year was the [festival’s] second year,” said Shannon Mohr, Maumee Bay’s sales and marketing manager. “It was all home brewers who were coming to the table and they were all there just to get drunk.
“And now we have a very informed consumer who — don’t get me wrong, there are people there strictly for the drinking aspect of it — but you also have people who are asking questions about the beer like what grains did we use. Those questions weren’t asked nine years ago.
“They want to know that if we did a Belgian, did we actually use a Belgian yeast strain or did we extrapolate that from somewhere else. Those kind of questions are becoming more and more the norm for these kind of events.”
Mr. Kerr said Maumee Bay, which recently has pushed into the Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton markets, will have its regular lineup of beers at the festival, including Amarillo Brillo Double IPA, Glasshopper IPA, Glass City Pale Ale, and Total Eclipse Breakfast Stout.
Two custom-made “one-offs,” however, also will be on hand: a white chocolate stout and a galaxy double IPA, beers that aren’t available at Maumee Bay’s brewpub or in grocery stores.
“If you go to a craft beer show, you're there for this kind of stuff or breweries like us,” Mr. Kerr said. “The big guys [macro brewers] make great beer but it’s not in short supply. Ideally, you want to have draft beer that you can't get anywhere else.
“We’ve stuck around all these years and we’ve had highs and lows like everybody else. I think we’re making the best beer we’ve ever made right now.”
Tickets for the Glass City Beer Festival, from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday at the Lucas County Recreation Center, Hall 2, in Maumee, are $30 (12 tasting tickets) and can be purchased at The Andersons. A limited amount of VIP tickets for $50 (18 tasting tickets and access to food catered by Swig) are also available. Tickets cost $5 more at the door. Additional tickets can be purchased at the show. Doors open at 6 p.m. for VIP ticket holders. The band 56Daze will provide the entertainment and food can be purchased from Granite City and PizzAroma. For more information, call 419-724-2739 or go to glasscitybeerfest.com.
Contact Bob Cunningham at bcunningham@theblade.com or 419-724-6506.
First Published March 4, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
