It’s hard to believe that Great Crescent Brewing has been around for 9 years… and it’s hard to believe that they still manage to fly under the radar for so many craft beer drinkers here in Greater Cincinnati, but they have… and they do. The brewery is the fifth oldest in town, behind Rockbottom, Hofbrauhaus, Mt. Carmel and Listermann – but in a lot of ways they are still in their own category – situated out in Aurora Indiana, they are very much part of Greater Cincinnati, and yet still mange to feel like they are in their own universe when you take a day trip out to their historic meets steampunk-ish taproom.
They’re brewing up something special too, for their 9th anniversary – and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of you guys are going to want to hear about it.
In Orbit – A Trip Around The State
Indiana has it’s fair share of great breweries within it’s state lines, doing some really delicious stuff – but this beer focuses in on something else that Indiana’s beer community has going for it – some awesome hop farms!
Great Crescent is Brewing up a beer that showcases some of these places because they believe whole-heartedly that their local hop producers deserve to be recognized the same way the brewer’s do. They’re using a new beer called ‘IN Orbit IPA’ to provide the canvas for showcasing these producers.
A variety of hops will be blended from the 2017 harvest from farms all around the state of Indiana to create something really special.
To celebrate, the brewery team (Dan, Lana and Joe Valas) will be driving their ‘Ambrewlance’ to each participating farm around the state to meet the growers and to collect the hops themselves.
The Participating Farms
The following farms will be teaming up with Great Crescent to make this beer possible:
- Indy High Bines – Facebook
- Howe Farms – Facebook
- Crazy Horse Hops – Facebook
- Waltz Valley Farms – Facebook
- Eight One Two Farms – Facebook
- Liberty Hop Farm – Facebook
- Tiger Claw Hop Farm
The blend will include a huge variety of hops – Cascade, Columbus, Chinook, Tacoma, FigLeaf, Pacific Gem, Crystal, Michigan Copper and Mackinac.
Tapping The Beer
As I mentioned earlier, the release of this beer will coincide with the 9th Anniversary of Great Crescent. The brewery will tap the beer in their taproom (of course) as draft, and it will also be distributed around to some of their local draft accounts. If you’re looking to get your hands on keg of beer outside of Dearborn County Indiana, you need to shoot them a message.
I think you know what I’m going to give you as homework now – if you haven’t been out to Great Crescent before (or maybe it’s just been a little while… you need to get out there.) Show them that you support what they are doing, and that you Cincinnati loves them!
Seriously, though… Dan, Lani, Joe – Congrats on 9 years. It’s been fun watching the journey of your brewery, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to grow and change! Everyone else – GO!