This past Monday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer publicly announced the city’s goals to grow its craft beer industry.
Already, Louisville has ten area breweries- Against The Grain, Bluegrass Brewing Company, Bluegrass Brewing Company (Taproom & Production), Apocalypse Brew Works, Cumberland Brewery, Falls City Brewing Company, Gordon
Biersch
, Great Flood Brewing Company, Red Yeti, and New Albanian Brewing Company- with at least two more coming soon - Beer Engine,
Akasha
Brewing.
Thats
a lot of beer for one little (big) city, but
thats
just how we like it.
Promoting Louisville’s brewing community both locally and globally is the goal of the city’s craft beer industry growth. The plans to do so were drafted throughout the summer with Fischer and the Brewery Work Group, comprised of brewery representatives, local brewers, and beer aficionados, who came up with 5 plans to begin the promotional process.
What are these 5 upcoming plans us
Louisvillians
can look forward to?
Beer Trail
An official beer trail showing where Louisville breweries are located and what sets them apart. There will be three versions: an online map, a map in the Louisville Metro brewery brochure, and one in each of our nine breweries as well as the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Additionally, brochures can be handed out at breweries, the Louisville Information booth, and the Louisville Visitors Center. Another goal for the brewery map is is to include a bike trail, which will in turn create bike racks in front of each brewery designed by local artists.
Beer-friendly Alcohol Beverage Control Laws
Opening a brewery in Louisville is exciting and profitable, however getting to that point can be difficult due to the state’s alcohol beverage control laws. The goal is to adjust the laws in order to make it more smooth and organized when opening a brewery as well as easier to obtain a special temporary license when hosting special events, tastings, and other activities related to alcohol.
Incorporate breweries and their products in Louisville venues and events
Louisville breweries have made great strides in the fight against large beer corporations and this plan will further enable them to do so. Louisville venues and events like Slugger Field, Iroquois Park, and Waterfront Wednesday, to name a few, will begin to move towards the sales of local beers hopefully by Spring/Summer of 2015. This will not only profit local breweries and the city’s economy, but also allow Louisvillians to enjoy handcrafted locally brewed beers at their local venues and events.
Barrel-Aged Beer Festival
This has to be the best plan yet for Louisville’s expansion of their craft beer industry- a Barrel-Aged Beer Festival set for Winter/Spring of 2015. Initially, this festival promoting the home of bourbon and barrel-aged beer will focus on local and regional breweries and then move to a nationwide focus by 2016. Additionally, there will be a competition, judged by BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program), amongst participating breweries for wood-aged beer styles. This will be a chance for Louisville to be viewed as not only a destination for foodies and bourbon drinkers, but also beer connoisseurs.
Revive Louisville’s historic brewery roots
Did you know Louisville’s brewing history did not just start with Falls City, Fehr, and Oertel Brewing? No, much farther back during the 1800’s when German immigrants moved to Louisville, bringing with them recipes and brewing traditions and thriving in our similar climate, which is perfect for beer gardens. In fact, Louisville's brewing history is largely based on German traditions with 50-75 breweries in the city before the prohibition. Up until the early 1900s, Louisville also celebrated the German spring ritual, Bock Day, which was (and still is) the release of a dark German lager after its winter-long aging that coincides with the beginning of Lent. It seems Louisville has a lot more to thank the Germans for than just good beer.
Aside from Louisville’s traditional German history, we are also home to “common” beer, now known as Kentucky Common, a dark-colored, light and creamy beer, which most Louisvillians not only have no idea exists, but also that we put it into existence.
Now that you have the long history, do you want to know the plans to get our good ‘ol German history up and running?
In order to revive our brewing roots, we must do as the Germans did (and still do)- bring back beer gardens, bring back Bock Day, and bring back recognition to Kentucky Common, and most importantly, swallow it down with a handcrafted brew.
This seems like a lot of work to be done in such a short amount of time (2015 & 2016 to be exact), but with Local Brewery Work Group, Kentucky Guild of Brewers, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Louisville’s nine local breweries, our city will be making its way to the top 10 best beer cities in no time.
In the meantime, sit back and relax with a nice, cold, local, handcrafted brew.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.com
