I’ve been extremely impressed with the meteoric rise of Old Firehouse in the Cincinnati beer scene.  They are still short of their first Anniversary and in that time have made big waves around town, shaking things up and keeping a lot of thirsty people satisfied.  People gave (and still give) them crap about opening a brewery in the little village of Williamsburg, and they just looked them in the eyes and smiled…doing things their way despite the naysayers.  I respect that far more than I can explain in words.

Recently you might have read about their coming expansion (which I haven’t written about yet, but rest assured it’s coming once the new space is finalized) but, if there is one thing that this city loves more than beer news it’s new beers, so lets talk about some of those barrels that you’ve seen lining the taproom when you visit…

Brush Fire

Brush Fire sounds like a fun one… if you got a chance to try their Winter ale this year you are familiar with the base of this… Sort of.  They took the beer and stashed it away in wine barrels (they were originally bourbon barrels) and let it age away until yesterday.  One of the interesting effects of letting a beer age is that some flavors fade, and others become more prominent, and from what I hear a lot of the spices from the winter ale have faded out, leaving this beer prime to accentuate the wine flavors from the barrel.  So it’s nothing like what you are familiar with when you think of the Winter Ale.  They’re calling Brush Fire a bourbon barrel aged Cabernet amber ale, and it should be available in the taproom next Friday, July 24th for you to try.