HOW TO GO
What: Sixth annual Winter Cincy Beerfest
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, and Saturday, Feb. 16
Where: Duke Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Cincinnati
Cost: $36-$46
More info: (513) 419-7300 or www.cincybeerfest.com
This Friday and Saturday, people will have the opportunity to sincerely say they are drinking beer for a noble cause.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Winter Cincy Beerfest will be raising money for the Big Joe Duskin Music Education Foundation, which pays professional jazz and blues bands to perform in elementary and junior high schools.
“Big Joe was a boogie-woogie piano player from Cincinnati who used to (play in schools) for free,” said Craig Johnson, Beerfest festival director. “The foundation carries on his legacy. It exposes kids to the music and lets them see that you can make a living playing music.”
Johnson said that the Foundation reached 47 schools and more than 15,000 kids last year. Johnson said that gaining traction with the schools was difficult initially, but now the program is getting bigger every year.
The 2013 Beerfest will feature 80 breweries and 350 beers. Alongside draft favorites such as Leinenkugel, Yuengling, Sam Adams and Blue Moon, the Beerfest will offer a high amount of specialty beers. Johnson said that even some of the local brewer offerings, like that of Christian Moerlein, will be somewhat esoteric.
“Moerlein will have 10 beers there, but most aren’t the regular Moerlein,” he said. “Eight of them are brewed at Lager House, which are more specialty beers that you can only find at the Brew House.”
Johnson said the festival is always tweaking the festival to make it a more enjoyable experience. One example is the introduction this year of 10 “quickee” beer booths, where beer is pre-poured into 12-ounce cups. Johnson said long lines at previous festivals led to the change.
“Last year was the first year we had the entire (Duke) Convention Center,” he said. “And we made a mistake in putting popular breweries too close together. So we spread them out. The quickee stations aren’t for extravagant or rare beers. They’re basically for guys who just want a beer in their hand, clearing it up for the beer geeks who really want the specialty beers. We tried it at our Columbus event, and it worked fantastically.”
Other amenities include the Connoisseur Reception, which will import 15 chef-driven restaurants to pair high-end appetizers with rare beers. Johnson said the reception attracts 300-400 of the 10,000-plus total attendees.
“It’s a cocktail party atmosphere, a VIP best-way-to-go kind of thing,” he said. “There’s a jazz band playing, and people can come and go whenever they want to escape the chaos of the main hall.”
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