Temperance Beer Co. had no intention of selling its beers outside its home market of Greater Chicago. But when Cincinnati’s own Michael Amann, Adena Distributing’s co-founder, approached Temperance’s founder Josh Gilbert, Gilbert started re- thinking that strategy.

“I loved the fact that Adena is a craft-only start-up and wants to challenge what a distributor can be. I saw a lot of parallels with what we’re trying to do,” said Gilbert. “Cincinnati is such a fantastic city — we’re really excited to become a part of the community, and we can’t wait for Cincinnatians to be able to enjoy a Gatecrasher right here in Cincy,” he added.

Gatecrasher, Temperance’s English-style IPA, is the brewery’s flagship beer. At the Great American Beer Festival® in 2014, it took silver and in 2016, gold, both for English-style IPA. In addition to Gatecrasher, Adena will be distributing Birdsong, a farmhouse saison dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops, Basement Party, an unfiltered lager, Smittytown ESB, an English-style amber, and Root Down, a robust porter brewed with licorice root and chicory.

“When I went on the road to Chicago looking for beers to bring back to Cincinnati, Temperance was one of the few I was told not to miss,” said Amman. “At Adena, we look for great beer, great business, and great people. Temperance has all three in spades,” he added.

The first Temperance beers will be poured in Cincinnati this Friday, November 9, 2018, at the Growler Stop (3804 Church St) at 4 PM and Mac’s on the Pike (6309 Wooster Pike) starting at 5 PM. Temperance and Adena staff will be on hand at both locations as well as at The Comet (4579 Hamilton Ave) Saturday night to toast the 6-year anniversary of their monthly Basement Reggae with pitchers of Temperance’s Basement Party unfiltered lager.

“I love all their beers and the response we’ve had has been fantastic,” said Amman. “Cincinnati is a maturing beer market and I’m excited for my home town to be the first out-of-state market for Temperance.”

Look for Temperance Beer Co’s offerings in fine establishments throughout the greater Cincinnati area beginning November 9.