Why Do We Need Cincy Beer Week?

You can walk into any brewery or taproom here in Cincinnati and get a great beer. Even further, you can experience great events any weekend in those same taprooms. It’s changed a lot since the original Cincinnati Beer Week was a “thing”.

So that begs the question – why do we need it? Why now?

Craft Beer Has Changed

You can hear rumblings about it. Everyone from drinkers to brewers and owners will tell you. You can hear it in bars, restaurants, and taprooms. There are a lot of people who like to say that craft beer has changed. I can’t argue that. They like to say that the community, the camaraderie, and the feeling of craft beer are going away, though.

That’s a thought that I can’t accept.

The more people mourn the “loss” of this community aspect of craft beer, the more I realize it’s still there. It’s in every craft beer bar and restaurant with a great tap list. It’s definitely in every brewery and taproom pouring beer that inspires and reinvigorates the fun that we all fell in love with about this simple beverage.

The people who are sad it’s gone still feel it, still want it, and can help keep it alive.

The Spirit Survives

This is the whole point of Cincy Beer Week. It’s not about just drinking good beer (though… that’s certainly part of it). Cincy Beer Week is about the very soul that made many of us fall in love with it initially. It doesn’t matter if you are one of the people who feel like you’re saving that feeling or if you’re one of the people who feel like you’re resurrecting it from a time that has passed.

The spirit of Cincinnati Beer is something that is held in our hands every day we belly up to a bar… we are stewards of Cincinnati Beer and have the responsibility to guide it forward.