I do actually understand the knee-jerk fear when a place that you love gets new ownership. When the news hit that Dan and Sue Listermann were going to retire, and with that new ownership was going to be coming in and assuming leadership of the historic brand, some of you were freaking out.

I’m hopefully here to calm some of those fears by telling you my take on Listermann.

My Story

I fell into the Listermann story pretty early in my craft beer life. We were pretty young when we started homebrewing. It didn’t take long after discovering better beer that we started trying to make it ourselves. There are some family ties between the Listermann family and my family (it seems they are connected to everyone in the Cincinnati area somehow). We learned really quickly that not only was it not too complicated to jump into the hobby, but that it was one of the friendliest and most helpful groups of folks that you could ever connect with.

We went to a few homebrew club meetings at the Listermann homebrew shop, got into it for a while – but eventually figured out that we weren’t nearly as good as the other folks around in Cincinnati. In short, we could drink the beer that other people were making and enjoy it just as much.

While I might have fallen out of the homebrew hobby – I did gain something else. I got a sneak peek into the world of Listermann. It was right around that time that Dan bought a brewhouse that someone cold-called the brewery about. He opened a production brewery inside the homebrew shop and started down a new path for Listermann that you might say changed the course of Cincinnati beer.

He bottled his own beer for a while in 22oz bombers before the taproom laws changed, and it became possible for what we now know as Listermann Brewing Company to be possible.

Who Is Listermann?

From very early on, one of the things that Listermann Brewing Company did really well was build, support, and embrace the community around them. They hired folks that were great at what they do. They threw events that brought everyone together, and they kept operating a store that ignited the spark for beer-making in generation after generation of craft beer geek.

Dan didn’t make the beer at Listermann for very long before he hired an extremely talented brewer. That guy left to start up a new project – and Listermann hired someone else, then someone else, then someone else. The homebrew shop was run by talented folks. The taproom was managed by people who were great at what they do over the years.

All of these folks are people who you know, people you love. They were folks that when they left you felt sad, while also excited for their next journey. It was just as scary then as it is now. The fear of things changing too much was there… but Listermann comes around, it survives and only finds more of it’s personality.

You see… Listermann isn’t about any one of them. It’s about all of them. Listermann is made up of the community and the group around it. It was once written that ‘All Roads Lead To Listermann’. I think it’s missing what Listermann actually is all about. Listermann Brewing Company outgrew any one person a long time ago – even someone with as big of a personality as Dan has.

The New Ownership

I don’t know a lot about the new owners that are coming into Listermann, Steve and Terrie Ipson. I know they are from up North, with some family ties here in the area, and that they are fans of Listermann. I know that they’re eager to help guide Listermann into the next phase of its life. They are quick to point out that they don’t want to change stuff. They love what Listermann is and only hope to provide guidance for it as it heads into the future.

The staff stays the same. The store stays the same. The beer stays the same.

Obviously, over time some things will be forced to evolve and change. They don’t seem eager to make them change in any noticeable way, though.

This is the key to becoming a part of the Listermann story, or the Listermann beer family. Hold onto what makes it special, and sprinkle in your own personality as the chances pop up.

At the end of the day – I’m not concerned for Listermann Brewing Company. The company will do what it does best, it will welcome new parts of its personality, and it will grow and evolve. Dan and Sue Listermann will get a chance to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. I feel great about where Cincinnati beer is headed, and I think that Listermann will be a major part of that for a very long time.

The next chapter begins, now… and I’m really excited to see how it goes!