The beautiful wooden fans above the future taproom space of Fibonacci Brewing Company are currently the only things that you could say are “done”. When Bob and Betty Bollas look around the room you can see them mentally making lists of all the work that they still need to do before beer is flowing from taps for the hungry masses on the Northern side of Cincinnati. You can also see the passion that they have not only for beer, but for their community. This passion is something that is integral for the success of a microbrewery of any scale, let alone a nano-scale brewery like they are planning for Mt. Healthy.
If I can sum up Fibonacci brewing in one manner, it’s that is a nerd’s haven. I don’t just mean you science and math nerds who are out there reading about the Fibonacci sequence and may have stumbled upon them (although you will feel very at home in their taproom). Beer nerds will rejoice at their passion for unique beers, with unique presentations that only a brewery of their scale could pull off. Nerds of all types will fit right in at Fibonacci…and deep down, we’re all a little nerdy wether we admit it or not. (What type of beer nerd are you?)
What? Nano? What’s that?
I’m sure that most of you have read Brew Professor’s article by now. And I’m sure many of you are also familiar with DogBerry Brewing soon to open in West Chester. If you are, you are more than likely familiar with what a nano-brewery is at this point, but I’ll address it just in case you aren’t.
There isn’t a solid definition of what a nano-brewery is, but the loosest and most accepted definition is any brewery that produces beer on a system less than 3bbl. Fibonacci’s system is 1 barrel… clearly well within the definition. Why is this important to note? A nano-brewery has advantages that a brewery on a larger system just often can’t afford. Nano-breweries can often brew experimental batches that may, or may not flop…a bad batch of beer is not a deal breaker when you are only brewing 1bbl. Nano-brewers also don’t have to fork out the money to start that many big scale breweries need. Less debt has the ability to give a brewer the freedom to do what they want…take their time… develop their brewery at a speed that lets them read their customers. This ability to grow with their community is going to be crucial to the success of not only Fibonacci Brewing, but also any other new breweries that open here in Cincinnati.
Be Gnarly, Brew Local.
I love Cincinnati because it’s a city filled with neighborhoods, smaller communities within a larger community. We’re faced with a beer scene that is growing exponentially. This growth is still leaving gaps in some of our local communities for fresh, local beer within them. And as we enter this stage in our growth, I think that you are going to see more breweries popping up in areas of the city that have a deep need for good beer. This opens these same areas up to a business that in so many cases has proven to be a community catalyst… breweries bring people. Breweries get people out into their neighborhoods in such a way that so many other businesses can’t, or don’t do, and Mt. Healthy is prime for a catalyst.
The foundation is there in Mt. Healthy. You have a few businesses that are thriving…but that need something to tie them all together. Can Fibonacci be that tie? If the interest that I have been hearing, and that the Bollas’s have started seeing is any indication… people are ready. The Brewery hopes to partner up with everything from food trucks, to local restaurants and even use locally grown produce to create a unique atmosphere and unique beers that will give their neighborhood something that it can be proud of within this large Cincinnati beer mecca that is being built.
Where do they fit into Cincinnati’s beer scene?
There is a lot of people that are still drinking beer that they don’t really love because they don’t know any better. What Cincinnati needs is breweries that are able to be close to these people, to attract them in, and get them to try better beer. As Dan Listermann from Listermann/Triple Digit once put it… “We are logging the vast forest of Bud Light drinkers”. I feel that the growth of our city to the standards of some of the great beer cities is going to rest on our ability as beer brewers, beer writers, and beer drinkers to educate the masses. Fibonacci is slated to do a wonderful job of educating people by providing them with an environment that is ripe for learning… and drinking.
I cannot wait to see what Bob has up his sleeve with his beers. I encourage everyone to look them up on Facebook, follow them on twitter (where you might learn a few things that aren’t all about beer on #FibFriday). Please keep checking back here with me as I keep you updated on any news or progress reports that I get about them as well.