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Cincinnati Craft Breweries' Volksfest at Listermann is a beer fest for the people

Cincinnati Craft Breweries' Volksfest at Listermann is a beer fest for the people
Posted at 11:00 AM, Aug 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-06 09:35:36-04

CINCINNATI -- The crowd seems to grow each year that Listermann Brewing Co. hosts the Cincinnati Craft Breweries' Volksfest.

“We see comments on Facebook and social media posts that people want to make a trip into Cincinnati for it," said Listermann spokesman Jason Brewer. "It started off as one day, then went to two, and it’s been growing by the amount of breweries involved.”

More than 20 local breweries will come together Friday and Saturday for the fourth annual Volksfest at Listermann's Evanston brewery.

Cincideutsch, a local group dedicated to spreading the love of all things German, will co-host the rain-or-shine festival. Named for the German word for people, “volk,” Volksfest will feature the largest gathering of local brews yet at an area beer festival. Available beers will lean toward lighter summer beers that pair well with the hot weather.

Craft breweries participating in Volksfest include Blank Slate, Fifty West, Christian Moerlein, Rock Bottom, Rivertown, Mt. Carmel, MadTree, Cellar Dweller, Eight Ball, Quaff Bros., Rhinegeist, Triple Digit, Bad Tom Smith, Dogberry, Braxton, Urban Artifact, Fibonacci, Municipal Brew Works, Paradise Brewing, Taft’s Ale House, Tap and Screw and, of course, Listermann.

Most will bring special beers for timed tappings; the schedule will be released prior to the event. Some of those beer highlights include Butter Pecan Tastee Whip, an ice cream ale from Fifty West; Summertrip, Braxton’s passionfruit Berliner Weise; Chester, a cherry saison from Rhinegeist; Bourbon Barrel Orchid’s Flourish, an agave wheat altbier from Blank Slate; and the barrel-aged Shamrock, Listermann’s Irish cream stout.

Renegade Street Eats, Chili Hut and Catch A Fire Pizza will provide food Friday, while Best Thing Smokin', Sweets & Meats and Fireside Pizza will serve festival-goers Saturday. Local blues musician Sonny Moorman headlines the music lineup Friday, and Elementree Livity Project, an energetic group that mixes rock ‘n' roll and reggae, headlines Saturday.

For Municipal Brew Works, which opened in June in Hamilton, it will be the brewery's first chance to share its beers at a festival. Municipal's beer lineup for the festival includes Approachable Blonde Ale; Courageous White IPA; Station 2, a rye pale ale; and its special tapping, Woltermelon Blonde, a watermelon-flavored blonde ale named in honor of Hamilton firefighter Patrick Wolterman, who died in the line of duty.

“This is legitimacy for us,” said Sean Willingham, head brewer at Municipal Brew Works. “People are actually taking us seriously that we have good, quality beers.”

Willingham said Municipal will have plenty of beer available for its festival debut, though the Woltermelon has been the brewery's top seller since its release.

“It’s a crisp, clean, refreshing beer with a slight watermelon taste on the back end,” Willingham said. “It’s been free-flowing up here. It seems like it’s always in everyone’s hand.”

“I kind of pride myself on being the first to invite the new breweries,” Brewer said. “This will give people a chance to come and try their beers, along with all the other great beers that will be here."

Cincinnati Craft Breweries' Volksfest

5 p.m.-midnight Friday; noon-11 p.m. Saturday
Listermann Brewing Co., 1621 Dana Ave.
Free admission
For more details, visit the event's Facebook page.