Carillon Porter
Carillon Brewing Co. | www.carillonbrewingco.org
Carillon Brewing Co.
1000 Carillon Blvd.
Dayton, Ohio 45409
(937) 910-0722
First brewed: 2014
Style: Porter
Alcohol content: 6.1 percent
IBUs: Unknown
Available: Year-round on draft
IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER . . . well, good luck finding other porters from the 1800s. But here are five other Ohio craft porters to try:
• Temperance Row 40-Ton Porter
• Old Firehouse Probie
• Restoration Brew Worx Rush Porter
• Yellow Springs Porter
• Lockport Lockporter
CARILLON BREWING makes their porter the old-fashioned way—the real old-fashioned way. The brewery, which is part of the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, was built to replicate brewing from the 1850s, with a small wood-fired, gravity-fed brewhouse that produces only 1.9 barrels of beer at a time.
If the sight of brewers doing their work in period costume isn’t a dead giveaway that this isn’t your typical brewpub, the roaring fire used to heat the kettle, the volunteers grinding grain by hand, and the ropes and pulleys used to carry ingredients to the top of the two-story brick brewing system should be.
The porter, simply named Porter, is one of the brewery’s key beers, along with its Coriander Ale. Befitting Carillon’s mission, the brewing process and beer are used to educate rather than intoxicate. All the work is done within plain view of restaurant and bar customers, and the workers are more than happy to talk about the historical brewing process.
“Porters were the young folks who carried and curried things, and they didn’t have enough money to afford a strong ale or a strong stout but were tired of drinking a small ale all day long,” former brewmaster Tanya Brock says about the history of the style.
Brewers created porter for them and then, recognizing how popular the style became, started brewing it all the time. Carillon didn’t design its own porter. Instead, it pulled the recipe from an 1862 Cincinnati cookbook that was written for brewers.
The beer is lighter in body and flavor than modern porters. That has caused more than a few craft beer drinkers to question whether it’s a true porter. But again, this is beer as it tasted in the 1800s.
Brock doesn’t even know where the beer ranks in terms of IBUs. Then again, why would she? Brewers back in the 1800s didn’t focus on that statistic.
Brock smiles when asked how difficult it is to make the beer. It’s not an easy process. Two days before making the porter, volunteers hand-roast the heirloom six-row barley, pouring a pound at a time into a skillet and stirring it. The brew day itself lasts anywhere from 12 to 15 hours.
“This is not profitable by any means,” Brock says.
Chickow!
Triple Digit Brewing Co. | www.tripledigitbrewing.com
Triple Digit Brewing Co.
1621 Dana Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45207
(513) 731–1130
First brewed: 2012
Style: Brown ale
Alcohol content: 10 percent
IBUs: 28
Awards: The barrel-aged version of Chickow! won the best of show at the 2016 Festival of Barrel and Wood-Aged Beers (FoBAB) in Chicago and a silver medal at the event in 2015
Available: Year-round on draft and in bottles
IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER . . . well, there aren’t many other hazelnut brews around. Here are five other darker Ohio craft beers to try:
• Thirsty Dog Rise of the Mayan Dog
• Mt. Carmel Coffee Brown Ale
• Seventh Son Mr. Owl Double India Brown
• Buckeye Warm Fuzzy
• Fat Head’s Shakedown
CHICKOW! WAS never meant to be a year-round beer. Heck, it was never meant to be brewed more than once. Former head brewer Kevin Moreland decided to create the imperial brown ale made with hazelnuts for Listermann’s inaugural Oktoberfest, which featured Cincinnati’s craft brewers.
The strong hazelnut flavor, combined with its high gravity, proved to be an overwhelming hit with beer geeks and novices alike. But perhaps the complex malt base is the most inviting, with people picking up vanilla, caramel, and chocolate flavors and a little heat from the alcohol.
“It caught a lot of people off guard,” says Patrick Gilroy, who worked the festival as a volunteer and later served as head brewer. “It was pretty obvious it was unique and you couldn’t compare it to anything.”
A few months later, after word spread about this tasty and unusual brew, Triple Digit couldn’t make enough of it. Chickow! serves as the brewery’s flagship.
Gilroy also realized that Chickow! is quite the versatile beer, as it meshes well with all kinds of infusions. The brewery has released a seemingly endless number of variations, including barrel-aged, habanero, coffee, pumpkin, caramel, vanilla, coconut, and cinnamon roll versions.
Fans just can’t get enough Chickow!. Triple Digit launched the League of Extraordinary Chickow!s in 2015: a membership club that allows fans a crack at four exclusive Chickow! beers released in 22-ounce bottles throughout the year, along with glassware, a T-shirt, and growler fills. Two of those were an Irish crème and maple Chickow!
Gilroy enjoys thinking up creative ways to play with the beer.
“It’s ever evolving,” he says. “It’s always that same beer but we hate to see things get stale. Not that that beer really can. But in an environment where there’s increasingly more and more awesome beer available at any moment’s notice, it’s nice to have a beer that constantly challenges you to do something new with it.”
Christmas Ale
Great Lakes Brewing Co. | www.greatlakesbrewing.com
Great Lakes Brewing Co.
2516 Market Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
(216) 771–4404
First brewed: Early 1990s
Style: Winter seasonal
Alcohol content: 7.5 percent
IBUs: 30
Available: