I don’t know if you ever had the chance to meet Mike Cisneros, but if you’re a listener of Cincy Brewcast you can definitely get a good impression of what type of guy he was by listening to some of those early episodes. Big Cis as a beer, and as an event is most definitely about honoring Mike, and who he was… it’s about how he championed this local community. As the event continues, and it grows it keeps evolving in my mind a little bit, too. I want to explore that.

What It’s Really About

While Big Cis is definitely about Mike Cisneros, like I mentioned at the beginning, I think that especially as the event continues to grow and bring in new people – it’s important to take a step back and see the bigger picture of what it all is “really” about. I’m talking about all of this “craft beer stuff” and why it’s as important as I believe that it is.

I loved Mike’s ability to infect a room with his big laugh. His ability to make everyone feel like a lifelong friend, like family. When you met him you knew instantly that you could trust the guy. His personality was a great personification of the things that so many of us love about craft beer and the community that is formed around it. As the community grows, as the industry changes and as it all gets far more complicated, the importance of taking a step back and remembering those traits that made us fall in love with Craft Beer become immeasurable.

Mike was Craft Beer. He didn’t know that he was, and he would laugh and tell me I’m full of shit if he heard me talking about him like this… but whether he knew it or not, the parallels are there, and they continue to propel this event, and this beer into importance every year.

This Year’s Collaboration

The collaborative beer, dubbed Big Cis, is a huge part of what this is all about. This year’s beer is a dry-hopped German Pilsner – simple, but beautiful in that simplicity. A showcase of ingredients, and a spin on Mike’s favorite style of beer. Every two years the brew heads to a new spot, and this year it’s making its final showcase at Alexandria Brewing Company.

As things grow and evolve, it’s become about the process itself probably a little bit more than the actual beer. The act of getting breweries together to make a beer, the day of hanging out, sharing beers and laughing, making jokes… smiling. For lack of a better way to describe it, for me, it’s a breathtaking reminder of what this whole community is really about.

Beer People Are Good People, and I’m reminded of that so perfectly every year while we brew this Pilsner.

This year’s “Big Cis Brew Day” was fantastic. We had a lot of breweries get together to make this happen, some of these people have been involved since day one of the Big Cis collab – some of these folks are new… and that’s exactly what Mike would have loved to see. This year’s collaborators are:

The Event

Another side of craft beer that I know Mike felt strongly about is the ability of beer to give back to people. It wouldn’t be Big Cis without a big tapping party that involves giving back to a charity. Every year we try to make sure that we come up with a charity that means something to all of us – as well as would have to Mike.

This year’s charity is Deep Sea Valkyries – and I encourage everyone to go read up a little bit on what they do. In short, this is a group that provides alternative forms of therapy to injured veterans as a method to combat veteran suicide and enhance lives post-service.

During the event at Alexandria Brewing Company on 12/14/19, you’ll find some great raffles and silent auctions donated by local breweries (Christmas shopping? Right?) through which all the proceeds will go towards the charity. The circle continues.

It’s ugly sweater night at ABC and SantaCon in Cincy that night, so it’s gonna be a fun night to be out and having a pint or two. If you find yourself spending some time with us, my good friends Hunting Agnes will be playing live during the evening, and if you’ve never seen these guys live, you’re missing out. It’s gonna be an absolute blast!!!

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