I’m always up for celebrating Cincinnati beer, and I’ll find all kinds of strange reasons to do that. This weekend, it doesn’t take much of a stretch for me, though. The Sam Adams Cincinnati Taproom is something really special to me. This is a company that literally saved the brewing industry from non-existence in Cincinnati.

They didn’t need to… in fact there might have even been places that were better suited for them to open their production facility – yet here they are.

When they opened their doors I spent a lot of time telling you why they deserved to be here. Jim Koch himself gave an amazing speech at the taproom’s grand opening last year explaining why Cincinnati was important to him and why opening a taproom after all this time made sense. Nothing has done a better job at illustrating it all, though, than the taproom itself.

Here’s a nano-brewery that sits in the shadow of a massive production facility. They continually earn the respect of beer drinkers the hard way – by giving them a stool, a glass of beer… and a story that is far from marketing b.s.

I respected Sam Adams a year ago. I love them today.

The Anniversary Party

How do you throw a celebration that’s worthy of an idea that’s as big as this taproom? You tap Utopias to start with.

That’s right, The world class, style bending, extreme beer is being tapped on Friday and Saturday for hundreds of craft beer fans to get their chance at something that you can’t find anywhere else. I won’t go too deep into the details about Utopias (there’s a whole other post for that). But it’s safe to just say that it’s very being here is something worthy of talking about.

While the tasting tickets for Utopias are already sold out, you can still show up and try to snag one of the bottles of the new Utopias barrel aged barleywine. Maybe the new draft only Brink/Sam Adams collaboration is more your speed? Perhaps you just want a cold pint of Boston Lager and the chance to say that you were there. They’re all worthy reasons in my book.

Of course, the event will also feature live music – great food from Bearded Pig… all the things that you want out of an anniversary event. But in my book, the chance to go and raise a glass to a much bigger picture of Cincinnati beer is the real reason to line up.