Dockside Brewing Co.

Recently we had a chance to sit down with Aaron, John and Ed of the Dockside Brewing Co. Dockside isn't to the point of selling beer yet but they're getting closer to that point every day.
When the Dockside guys started, they had a network of homebrewers helping them out, they even went to Mount Carmel and brewed with them for a day. Woodstone Creek, who they call an amazing distiller, gave them helpful advice. Additionally, Landor helped them financially. Aaron says they're still learning; hands on trial and error and drinking lots of beer.
Aaron told us he came into Dockside Brewing with no prior brewing experience. He had had a beer blog he created thinking he'd trust what people were saying a good beer was, he'd drink a beer and then try and explain what he tasted without knowing too much. He says this approach helped because once he started brewing, the process began to make sense.

Dockside Brewing Co.
Dockside Brewing Co.

The other night someone asked me if there were 3 or 4 craft brewers in Cincinnati and I told the guy I could think of almost a dozen right off the top of my head. I mentioned this and Ed began naming some and told me there's going to be 17 breweries opening in the next few years in Cincinnati.
Us Cincinnatians sure love our beer!
Ed continued that craft beer is in a boom period right now. Its Dockside vs the man. Not against the biggest guys maybe, but Moerlien since they have such a stamp on Cincinnati. Ed feels the other craft guys are more than willing to help out and once Dockside gets to the point of setting up a line, they'll have a bunch more questions. Ed says Cincinnati has a good community of brewers.

After all that I had to wonder, is it a goal for the guys to quit their day jobs and be brewers?
"Absolutely", says Aaron, "we want to push this as far as it can go. How far can we go, that is the goal. We're shooting for the stars."

Landor will lose some employees but gain a customer I joked. Gain a customer and a story Aaron feels and it fits in with Landors 'Unleash' campaign, which erases the boundaries of where ideas can go. Landor's been helping Dockside and Dockside has helped Landor in a way. Create a brand, a brewery that can become a reality. It just happens to work out for the guys. A designer beer brand is important to them. The guys tried to imagine a visual icon to represent how the beer tastes. For instance, the lightning bolt is crisp. The slice of bread, toastiness, and the others, hops, barley etc. After a while, a person should understand how a beer will taste by the icons on the can.
Dockside Brewing Co.
As the name implies, Dockside Brewing does all its brewing on the dock, not the most friendly environment in the world but then as I pointed out, people have been brewing beers for thousands of years so it doesn't take the most pristine of conditions to accomplish. Right now they are working out of a homemade closet that takes them a half hour every brew session to unload and clean. Just another sign they are quickly outgrowing the Landor docks.
Dockside Brewing Co.
This wooden barrel houses a Belgian Blonde. It's a sour beer, almost a wine. The barrel is American Oak with French Oak caps.
Dockside Brewing Co.

Right now the guys are only brewing beer for competition and private Landor parties. As soon as the licenses and permits start rolling in, the guys want to start cranking it out for the public. I can't wait.[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati

2 comments

1 comment:

  1. Interesting, their tap system looks somewhat like Arnold's. We have our beer in a walk in box that gets piped up to that type of box with the coils running though ice water.

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