Ohio Brew Week

Ohio Brew Week is a festival held annually in Athens, Ohio. The week long festival showcases craft beers from over 26 different breweries located in Ohio. During this week, the different types of beer from those breweries is served to customers at 35 different venues in the local Athens area.^[1] Throughout the week there are events and competitions centered around the craft beers that festival goers can participate in.^[2] Events are daily and consist of concerts, barbecue cook-outs, multiple happy hours, dinners, "meet the brewer", pool tournaments, tastings, golf outings, karaoke, corn hole tournaments, trivia, a haunted tour, and other activities.

Dates

Ohio Brew Week begins the second week in July and goes for a full week with the last day showcasing a festival called "Boogie on the Bricks".^[2] This past 2011 year, OBW's sixth annual festival^[3] began on Friday, July 8, 2011 and ended on Saturday, July 16, 2011.

Locations

The Ohio Brew Week is always held in Athens, Ohio. Within the community there are over 35 businesses/facilities that take part in serving and making the craft brews available to the public.^[1] Places that serve the week's advertised beers are:

• Abrio's Brick Oven
• Applebee's
• Athens Country Club
• Broney's Alumni Grill
• Buffalo Wild Wings
• Bunch of Grapes Tavern
• Casa Nueva
• The Cat's Den
• Cat's Eye Saloon
• The CI
• Courtside Pizza
• The Crystal
• Gran Ranchero
• Jackie O's Brew Pub
• Leghorns
• Lucky's Sports Tavern
• Lui Lui Restaurant
• The Oak Room
• PawPurr's
• The Pigskin Sports Bar and Grill
• The Pub^[3]
• Tony's
• The Red Brick Sports Pub
• Smiling Skull
• The Union
• W.G. Grinders
• Zoe

History

The first annual Ohio Brew Week was held in Athens, Ohio in July 2006. Since then the week has been celebrated every year with this past 2011 Brew Week being the sixth annual.

Traditions/Competitions

Ohio Brew Week Homebrew Competition

Each year goers of Ohio Brew Week are invited to enter the OBW Homebrew Competition where participants may enter their own home-brewed beer to be judged and ranked among other participant's brew entries. The winners of this competition are announced at the Boogie on the Bricks celebration on the final day of OBW.

Athens Cuisine Showcase

The Athens Cuisine Showcase is an event during Ohio Brew Week, held at Abrio's Brick Oven, where people come to sample other people's cuisine entries. The entries must be made with or served with one of the week's craft beers. Entries are sampled in five different categories, and all proceeds from the event go to benefit the Jon Sparhawk.^[3] Memorial Scholarship & Community Fund^[1]

Brew BQ Cook-Off

The Brew BQ Cook-Off is an event of OBW held at the Athens Train Depot Area. This is event is one that invites participants to compete in multiple different competitions involving barbecue and craft beers. Some examples of the contests held this past 2011 OBW are "Best Ohio Craft Beer Based Bar-B-Q Sauce", "Best Sauce 'In Show'", "Best Use of Budweiser Genuine BBQ Sauce", "Best Vegetarian BBQ", "Best BBQ Chicken", and "Best BBQ Pork".

Sponsors

Golden Stein Level

• Great Lakes Brewing Company
• Leeners
• Rocky Outdoor Gear
• Hampton Inn
• The Pub^[3]
• Ohio University Inn
• Jackie O's Pub and Brewery
• Anchor
• Buckeye Brewing
• Athens County Ohio
• The Pigskin
• Beer Engine
• BellaVino

Silver Mug Level

• Ohio PawPaw Festival
• Holiday Inn Express
• Oak Room Bar & Grill
• Red Brick Tavern
• Baymont Inn & Suites
• Thirsty Dog Brewing Co.
• Shrivers Beer & Wine Supply
• Barley's Brewing Company Ale House #1
• Official Ohio Smoked Meat and Barbecue Festival-State Championship
• Midwest Supplies
• Bob Evans Restaurant
• Classic Brands
• WWS Communications
• Budweiser Genuine Sauces

Crystal Stein Level

• Courtside Pizza
• Tony's Tavern
• Distributors of Fine Craft Beers Throughout Ohio
• Athens Sport Cycles
• PawPurr's Bar
• Rocky River Brewing Co.
• The CI
• Casa Nueva
• Crystal Casino
• Smiling Skull Saloon
• Willoughby Brewing Co.
• Athens Country Club
• Gordon Food Service
• US Food Service
• W.G. Grinders
• Gordon Biersch Brewing Restaurant
• LD Carlson, homebrew supplier
• Cat's Den
• A Savannah Night
• Dale's BP
• The Athen's Real Estate Company
• Broney's Alumni Grill
• Cleveland Brew Week
• Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar

Beer Tap Level

• Lucky's Tavern
• Hocking Valley Bank
• Cats Eye Saloon
• Athens Area Chamber of Commerce
• Ruby Tuesday
• Brewcraft USA
• All About Beer Magazine
• Cellar Rats Brewery
• 21 Crows Web Design
• Happy Hills Campground & Cabins
• Citizen's Bank of Athens
• Zoe Fine Dining
• Lake Hill Cabins
• The Copper Top Inn
• Restaurant Salaam
• Marietta Brewing Co.
• Ohio Brewing Co.
• O'Betty's Red Hot
• The Rivertown Brewing Company, LLC
• Lui Lui Restaurant
• Athens Do-It-Yourself Shop
• Dr. Alan Legg, D.D.S.
• Dr. Tim Monroe, D.D.S.
• Vik Art
• Gran Ranchero
• Big Green Egg

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Brumfield, Sara (June 13, 2010). "A sneak peak at Ohio Brew Week". The Athens Messenger. http://www.ohiobrewweek.com/press/06_13_10.html. Retrieved September 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Hartenbach, Anna (June 26, 2011). "Brew Week 2011 bigger and longer". The Athens News. http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-34292-brew-week-2011-bigger-and-longer.html. Retrieved September 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Roose, Graylyn (July 11, 2011). "Patrons drink up the summertime at Ohio Brew Week". The Post. http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/patrons-drink-summertime-ohio-brew-week. Retrieved September 2011.