Beer Draft Kits

Nestled in a valley in Reikorangi behind Waikanae lies a boutique brewery attracting prestigious awards and a burgeoning export market.

Carl and Simone Vasta established the Tuatara Brewery Company in 2001 experimenting with home brewery techniques.

Carl worked as an engineer before deciding to pursue his hobby and passion for making beer when the market was dominated by two breweries in New Zealand.

A craft beer revolution started when a few micro breweries, including Tuatara, started producing beer based on taste rather than volume.

Starting with a backyard business in Reikorangi and the idea of selling a few kegs to the local market, and having the tastebuds of a wine critic, Carl secured a niche market and a decade later he is supplying Tuatara beer all over New Zealand.

He also exports to Australia and the United States, mainly the east coast, and is looking at promising markets in Asia and Hong Kong.

With sales running at about a million litres a year, equating to an annual turnover of $4 million to $6m, he plans to move production from a large shed on his Reikorangi property to a building in Paraparaumu's Sheffield St industrial area in February.

"We have added on and added on. Moving will help us ramp up production to meet demand, make production smoother. Bottling here is too small, everything has to come in and out the front door," he said.

Employing 11 staff, he hoped to increase staff numbers after the move.

The company has scooped many awards including Business of the Year at the 2011 Kapiti-Horowhenua Business Awards, was named BrewNZ's Best Brewery 2008-2009 and won the Emerging Gold Award at the prestigious Wellington Gold Awards this year.

Malted barley and wheat grains are fermented with yeasts and spiced with hops in large steel urns in his shed to produce several different styles of beer.

The most popular Tuatara beer is the Pilsner, a pale lager. "It is quite hoppy with a good fruity, citrusy aroma, good malt body and nice lingering aftertaste," Mr Vasta said.

The second most popular was their Aotearoa Pale Ale which he described as "quite hoppy with a lot of orangey, citrusy fruit characters".

He was currently looking at producing a light, easy drinking summer ale and was also considering developing a cider when they got to the new site.

"The industry is still growing and getting stronger. The craft end of the beer market is growing about 10 per cent a year whereas the mainsteam beer market is dropping by about the same amount. It is going more towards flavour than volume," he said.

Mr Vasta has also made a special session beer, ESB (extra special bitter) for Malthouse outlets.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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December 2, 2011

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St. Paul, Minn. — The historic Hamm's brewery in St. Paul made beer for more than a century before it shut down 14 years ago. But it may soon find new life — as a fish farm. A St. Paul landscaper said his idea for an organic fish and produce operation is so crazy it might just work.

Driving down Minnehaha Avenue on St. Paul's East Side, most people might pass the shuttered Hamm's brewery and see blight. Rusty padlocks swing between the plant's gates. Holes gape in the brew house walls where workers ripped out beer making equipment.

But David Haider?

He sees fish.

"We're going to start with tilapia and once things are up and running, probably branch out to trout and we'll branch out maybe into a couple other species," Haider said.

Those fish will be farmed in 4-foot wide, 60-foot long tanks in a brewery outbuilding, just behind the hulking five-story brewhouse. The fish will swim in water from the brewery well. Racks of aquaponic produce will grow above them.

"The fish water would get pumped to the top tier, and all the vegetable roots will hang down, suspended in the nutrient rich water," Haider said. "As the water passes through, it will feed the plants, and then the roots of the plants will also filter out the water. It'll drop down to the next tier and so on, and by the time it gets filtered back down to the fish tanks, it will be fresh, filtered water.

Hamm's Brewery, circa 1900

Haider hopes to sell the fish and vegetables, offer some hands-on science education to neighborhood school kids and take advantage of the local food movement.

Odd as that may sound for a brewery, it's already working in an abandoned crane factory in Milwaukee. Sweet Water Organics raises about 35,000 perch and 20,000 tilapia, along with lettuce, watercress, basil and wheatgrass.

Back in St. Paul, Haider's efforts are a little more down to earth for now. Literally. He and his wife run Urban Nature, a small landscaping company. They and business partner Chris Ames are starting the fish farm.

They have an initial approval for $300,000 from a city-run development fund and Haider said they're rounding up another quarter million in private funding.

St. Paul City Council President Kathy Lantry said the fish farm will be a perfect fit.

"I mean, they're going to raise fish, so what do you need? A water source — voila, the well's on site," Lantry said. "They need buildings that are overbuilt, because they're going to have giant tubs of water in a building. What sort of building is overbuilt to have liquids in them? A brewery.

It has taken a long time to see that potential. Stroh's brewing stopped making beer there in 1997. The site has been mostly notable since for catching fire.

In it's heyday, Hamm's was the fifth-biggest brewer in the U.S. Its St. Paul roots date back to the Civil War.

Along with 3M and the neighboring Whirlpool factory, Hamm's was the beating blue collar heart of the East Side. At one time, Hamm's employed as many as 2,000 people in St. Paul.

"Back in the day, (that) was an awful lot of folks," said Kirk Schnitker, president of the Hamm's Club, which he founded to keep alive the memory of the historic beer and its maker.

At the mid-century height of its business, he says there were shifts running around the clock at the brewery. The Hamm family sold it in 1965.

"You know it had a long run of making Hamm's there and Old Style and Pheiffer's and Buckhorn and a number of other brands. And finally, Stroh's," Schnitker said. "The run was long, and eventually it was ended by the larger beer interests."

Since the brewery closed, planners have pitched homes, offices and warehouse space on the site. Plans for an Asian Pacific cultural center were vetoed by then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

"We've been looking at reuse of these buildings. It's difficult, because it was built as a brewery, and these are massive buildings," said David Gontarek a planner for the city of St. Paul, which owns the southern half of the Hamm's site.

If all goes as planned, there will be fish swimming around in some of them by March.

• All Things Considered, 12/02/2011, 3:20 p.m.

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Banger Brewing Company hopes to sell its product on Fremont East next summer.

The Brew’s Best Spring Fest beer festival at Lake Las Vegas on November 12 was notable for many excellent beers. It was also the Weekly’s introduction to Banger Brewing Company, five Las Vegas guys whose friendship is as solid as the beer they create. They ended up winning “Best Brewery” at that festival, and they hope to sell their product on Fremont East next summer.

Nick Fischella, Eddie Quiogue, Marc Longwith, Roberto Mendoza and Michael “Banger” Beaman all met 12 years ago while working for restaurants at Bellagio. They’ve become inseparable, and while on vacation in Big Bear two years ago, they came up with the idea of forming their own company.

“Michael has been brewing the last seven years, and he’d always bring his beer over,” Quiogue says. The decision to brew beer was an easy one, recalls Longwith: “It’s a huge market, growing at 10 percent a year.”

Beaman’s nickname—and the company’s name—comes from a phrase the gang would use in restaurants whenever something needed to get done: “We’d always say, ‘Bang it out; bang it out,’” Beaman says. They already have a solid stable of pale ales, lagers and stouts, but they intend to keep fans on their toes—how about a green tea kölsch-style beer, a raspberry stout or even an orange mint blonde?

Until they find a space Downtown, Banger’s fans will have to be content to taste their product at Longwith’s house. Follow them on Twitter @bangerbrewing and on Facebook to hear about upcoming tastings.

I have only created one Thanksgiving grilled cheese sandwich in the three plus years of this blog. I wanted to change that this year. After my 2009 creation, Pumpkin Pie Grilled Cheese, I had a lot to live up to. I had to make this sandwich bigger and better. I had to think far outside the box. I had to push myself. I think I succeeded but you must be the judge…

Ingredients for butternut squash & cranberry orange chevre pumpkin bread grilled cheese…

Spiced Butternut Squash
Mackenzie Creamery Cranberry Orange Chèvre
Pillsbury Quick Bread Pumpkin Bread

The cheese: mackenzie creamery cranberry orange chèvre

After trying Mackenzie’s Toasted Pumpkin Chèvre, I thought, why not try another Mackenzie original for this year’s Thanksgiving grilled cheese sandwich? Cranberry Orange sounds, at least to me, very festive and Thanksgiving-like. It seemed like a perfect base for a Thanksgiving grilled cheese sandwich. Plus, it was 50 cents off at our local grocery store, Heinen’s. Not a bad deal.

I won’t bore you with the details of chèvre (aka goat cheese), but I will tell you about this particular cheese. This cranberry orange chèvre was creamy and had a nice tart, strong flavor to it. (It worked really well with the other ingredients/bread of this grilled cheese. More on that later.) I am still not sure if there were cranberries mixed up and large pieces or just pieces, but that is irrelevant. The cheese really is fantastic and was a perfect choice for this sandwich.

The bread: pillsbury quick bread pumpkin bread

Besides making beer bread in January, I haven’t made bread since the family bought a Sunbeam bread maker about 10-15 years ago. Those were the days! When I was at Heinen’s and saw the Orange Cranberry Chèvre, I also saw a pumpkin bread kit. I thought, hmmm, why not make pumpkin bread for this year’s Thanksgiving grilled cheese? The sous chef returned to Heinen’s while I was working, asked about the kit and the clerk actually said that Pillsbury Quick Bread mix is a better choice and what he uses. I would say he is 100% correct. The pumpkin bread had the perfect mix of flavor and spice without being too strong or overpowering. Fantastic enough that I have continually been nibbling on the leftovers…

Striking gold ... publican Brenden Lawless with his last remaining cans of KB Lager. ''I was begging the man from CUB, 'Please don't cut us off.' " Photo: Steve Christo

THE consumption of alcohol in NSW risks becoming lonesome, morbid and drear as a last great historic link with local brewing, KB Lager, teeters towards extinction.

One of the few Tooth and Co's drops still on the market, KB Lager was once such a NSW favourite that CUB dared not drop the brand when the Victorian takeover occurred.

That was 38 years ago but now KB lager is almost harder to find than hen's teeth.

No longer on tap, it is available as takeaway cans in a dwindling number of pubs but has completely vanished from online liquor outlets.

In an apparent attempt to deflect attention from the KB Lager drought, CUB this week issued a limited edition Resch's Draught can - featuring the original can design from the early '60s. Only 5000 cartons have been produced, CUB says, to give NSW beer drinkers a taste of the past.

But that has not satisfied Brenden Lawless, the licensee of the Strawberry Hills Hotel in Surry Hills, who is down to his last 18 cans of KB.

He said CUB had told one of his managers that KB Lager was no longer available. ''It is so heavy with heritage, everybody's dad drank it,'' Mr Lawless said. ''KB added character to our fridge and put a smile on drinkers' faces but now, shocked would be the best word to describe it. I was begging the man from CUB, 'Don't cut us off, don't cut us off'. It's our best-selling beer.''

KB is a contraction of Kent Brewery, named by John Tooth as a homesick nod to the England he left when he started making beer on the Parramatta Road site in 1835.

Some say KB went on to become a patriotic part of NSW life, as XXXX did in Queensland. The beer wars of the 1970s and '80s featured massive advertising campaigns with blokey images of handlebar moustaches and racecallers spruiking the product, and the tipple acquired the slang names Kid's Beer and Rolled Gold.

In recent times, KB served as a prop for the fictitious rugby league boofhead Reg Reagan, aka Matthew Johns, a shtick that failed to excite consumers.

Mr Lawless renovated his hotel last November and decided to stock the fridge with KB Lager to ''bring back memories''.

''It hit a chord with the 30-plus crowd … soon as they see it they say, 'Oh, that's the beer my dad used to drink, I'll get three of those,' '' he said.

''I actually spoke with a bloke from Carlton about six months ago because I wanted to get it on tap. And he told me they were probably going to discontinue it.''

Some have not waited for a taste of nostalgia, however. The KB flag from the Strawberry Hills Hotel bottle shop has been souvenired already.

Competition is heady in the craft beer business these days, with more than 1,700 breweries in the U.S. and more than 50 in the Portland, Ore., area alone. Still, pioneers and newcomers alike say the pleasures easily outweigh any perils. We spoke with five craft brewery and brewpub owners in the Portland area to find out how they got the beer bug and how they’ve found a competitive edge.

Full Sail Brewing Co.
Founded: 1987
Employees: 100
Expected 2011 Revenue: More than $25 million
Expected 2011 Production: 150,000 barrels

For some people, making beer is a calling. For others, it's simply a good business opportunity. Irene Firmat, 53, moved to Portland from New York City in 1981 to work at a local department store as a fashion buyer. As an avid beer consumer, she couldn’t help but notice the growing prevalence of craft beer after the Oregon legislature legalized brewpubs in the early 1980s. She also saw a missed opportunity: Most brewers weren't bottling their beer but were shipping it in kegs to nearby pubs.

In 1987, Firmat launched Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Ore., at the foot of Mount Hood, about an hour's drive from Portland. By 1989, Full Sail had become the first craft brewery in the region to successfully bottle its beer to sell through retail outlets. "It was a marriage of business opportunity and a desire to see how I could do," Firmat says. "But also I love beer, so it made perfect sense to me." Today, Full Sail has expanded well beyond the Portland area, shipping its beers to retailers throughout the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast. In addition, Full Sail has produced and bottled the Henry Weinhards seasonal beer for MillerCoors since 2003. Although Full Sail faces more local competition than ever, the company continues to outpace most of its rivals. Firmat credits the continued growth partly to the fact that Full Sail’s employees have owned the company since 1999 and are deeply vested in its success.

Alan Sprints infuses some of his Hair of the Dog beers with fruit and lets them age in wine or brandy barrels, which he can then sell for more money.

Hair of the Dog Brewing Co.
Founded: 1993
Employees: 8
Expected 2011 Revenue: $600,000
Expected 2011 Production: 500 to 600 barrels

Alan Sprints moved to Portland from Los Angeles in 1988 for the food, but he stayed for the beer. Upon graduating from culinary school in Portland, Sprints spent the next few years working at a series of restaurants. Then in 1991, he tried his hand at brewing--taking a job at Widmer Brothers Brewing, one of the biggest in the area.

Related: Why Portland's Beer Economy Is 'Hoppy'

Like many entrepreneurs, Sprints decided that if he was going to put in long hours for what he deemed little in return, he might as well work for himself. In 1993, he started Hair of the Dog Brewing and gave it a different spin. Unlike other craft breweries and brewpubs in the area, Sprints exclusively makes and serves dark beers with rich flavors and high alcohol concentration. He also infuses some of his beers with fruit and lets them age overtime in wine or brandy barrels, creating a more complex beverage that resembles liquor. "Then I have a value-added product that I can sell for more money," says Sprints, who will disclose only that he is about 50 years old. Although Sprints says the special beers are profitable, he isn't sure how profitable. "It is hard to calculate how much I really make considering the investment in time and money and experiments that don't work out," he says. Oregonians snap up most of his creations, but Hair of the Dog brews also are sold in eight other states.

Gary Geist uses beer gardens, a pet-friendly policy and beer specials to help Lucky Labrador Brewing grow.

Lucky Labrador Brewing Co.
Founded: 1994
Employees: 85
Expected 2011 Revenue: More than $3.5 million
Expected 2011 Production: 26,000 barrels

Longtime friends Gary Geist and Alex Stiles played in the dirt together as toddlers and traveled to Europe as teenagers. Later, they worked together at BridgePort Brewing Co. in Portland for nearly two years. Geist focused on the business side, while Stiles learned his way around fermenters and kegs. They had talked about starting up a brewery together many times over the years and finally took the plunge in 1994 with Lucky Labrador Brewing.

By then, Portland had already become a hotbed for craft breweries, but after six months of studying the market, Geist, now 45, concluded there was still plenty of growth potential. He believes Portland is much like such famed beer-drinking enclaves as Munich and Prague. "In Europe, there are a lot of regional beers," he says. "You can go to one area and choose from a spectrum of different kinds of beer. It's the same in Portland. Like going to Munich, this is the place where people [in the U.S.] come to drink beer." But to ensure that Lucky Lab itself became a key destination, Geist -- who manages the overall business while Stiles heads up the brewery -- says he focused on marketing the pub and creating a convivial atmosphere. While the food is anything but gourmet, beer gardens, a pet-friendly policy and beer specials have helped Lucky Labrador grow. It also has benefited from being a pit stop on Portland pub tours and even having its own biking event -- the Tour de Lab.

Video: How to Tap into a Competitive Market: The Craft-Beer Business in Portland, Ore.

As co-founder of Burnside Brewing Jason McAdam (left), mixes ingredients like oatmeal and coriander into his beers.

Burnside Brewing Co.
Founded: 2010
Employees: 16
Expected 2011 Revenue: $1 million
Expected 2011 Production: 2,000 barrels

Born and raised in Portland, Jason McAdam has been around beer half his life. He bought his first home brewing kit at age 18, and four years later, landed his first professional brewing job at Oak Hills Brewpub in Portland. He spent the next seven years there and at another brewery in Troutdale, Ore. By 2004, he felt ready to start his own brewpub, which he named Roots Organic Brewing, and co-founded with a friend in Portland. "It's a way of life for me," says McAdam, now 36.

Related: How to Tap into a Competitive Market: The Craft-Beer Business in Portland

But it wasn't until he launched his second brewpub, Burnside Brewing, in 2010 that he was able to turn beer making into an art and the kind of stuff foodies crave. McAdam -- who runs Burnside with two other partners -- often blends ingredients like coriander, oatmeal and apricot puree into his beers. He even uses Hama Hama oyster liquor from Washington state in one of his seasonal ales. "We wanted to reimagine the standard pub," he says, noting that in addition to the food-infused beers, the burgers are served on brioche and Burnside makes its own sausage. Another twist to the menu: McAdam sometimes whips up vintage beer blends, such as Berliner Weisse, a sour wheat beer from Northern Germany that dates back to the 16th century.

McKean Banzer-Lausberg (on far right) says hosting community events helps Migration Brewing stand out.

Migration Brewing Co.
Founded: 2010
Employees: 10
Expected 2011 Revenue: $650,000
Expected 2011 Production: 900 barrels

Brewing beer doesn't run in McKean Banzer-Lausberg's family, but entrepreneurship does. His mother and stepfather started Sports Car Market magazine, and he developed his own Web design business in 2006. Then came Migration Brewing, which the 34-year-old native of Portland co-founded in 2010 with his brother Eric and two other business partners. 

Before creating Migration, Banzer-Lausberg worked as a pub manager and bartender at Lucky Labrador Brewing for more than four years. But he knew entrepreneurship, not management, was his true love. Yet in the overflowing craft-beer haven of Portland, an entrepreneurial spirit isn't enough. To try to stand out, Banzer-Lausberg and his partners host area meet-up groups and provide live music. Migration's founders also recently sponsored and participated in an adult soapbox-derby race at nearby Mt. Tabor Park. "We're trying to be as integrated as possible in the community," says Banzer-Lausberg. "We want the Migration experience to be what's different in the marketplace."

This article originally posted on Entrepreneur.com

So is your dog drinking responsibly? That's the slogan behind a new beer for dogs. Bowser Beer was created by Jenny Brown, and pups around the country are drinking the punch.  Literally.

"The fun part of it is what really catches people's attention.  The fact that they can have a beer with their dog is kind of cool," said Brown.

There is no alcohol, hops, or carbonation in this beverage.  Rather, it's beef or chicken flavoring, broth (no salt or MSG added), and malt barley that makes up this doggie cocktail.

One of the biggest hits with customers is that they can customize the label with a photo of their own dog.  The product has been getting so much attention both locally and nationally, that Brown is having a challenging time keeping up with demand, especially during the holidays.

For a list of retailers carrying Bowser Beer, or for more information on how to order online, CLICK HERE.

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UTICA, N.Y. -- Two new beers will soon be joining the more than 100 choices available to customers of the Nail Creek Pub and Brewery in Utica from the city's newest and only other brewery besides the legendary Matt Brewing Company.

The pub's first beers, Belgian Double and Breakfast Stout, are being released this Friday. They were crafted in Nail Creek's nano-brewery, a three barrel system run and monitored via computer.

Owners say the three year journey to becoming a certified brewery was worth it to be able to offer customers new, unique beers.

"I like making beer and I like tasting good beer. I had the space for a brewery and it just kind of popped in my head to start making beer. No one else around here was really doing it besides Saranac and so there was good room for a micro brew in Utica," said Chris Talgo, owner of Nail Creek Pub and Brewery.

While Belgian Double and Breakfast Stout will only be available on tap at Nail Creek for now, the bar will soon offer growlers. Customers can fill the two pint-sized bottles and return them to the bar for new, sterilized, refills.

Ohio-made beer is hot.

So are wine, mead and spirits.

Small breweries, wineries and distilleries are popping up at a record pace across Ohio.

And many, many more are on the way, as passionate amateurs are turning their alcohol-making hobbies into full-time professions. Fueled by the buy local and local food movements, many of these small businesses are riding a wave of sentiment against big, national brands.

The Ohio Department of Liquor Control handed out more alcohol-manufacturing permits in the first six months of this year than it did all of last year.

The number of distilleries — making anything from whiskey to vodka to gin — nearly doubled from eight to 14. Meanwhile, brewery and winery permits jumped 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

There are now 70 licensed beer manufacturers and 164 wine makers in the state. Five years ago, there were only 44 beer makers and 114 wine makers.

“Our society is undergoing a cultural revolution,” said Bill Owens, president and founder of the American Distilling Institute in Kentucky. “We want to buy local. We want to meet the maker of our products. It’s a renaissance to get away from corporate America. Corporate America has run this country into the ground. Now it’s our time to take it back.”

Alcohol-related examples are everywhere in Ohio. The year-old Watershed Distillery in Columbus has been earning acclaim for its spirits. The state’s newest brewpub, Alexandria’s, opened Friday in Findlay. And Market Garden Brewery and Distillery — Cleveland’s newest brewery that opened over the summer — is making beer and spirits.

Then there are places on the cusp of opening, such as Blank Slate Brewing Co. and Double Barrel Brewery in Cincinnati, Toxic Brew Co. in Dayton, BottleHouse Brewery in Cleveland Heights, Cleveland Whiskey in Cleveland and Crafted Artisan Meadery in rural Suffield Township in Portage County. The list goes on and on.

“It’s a national trend,” said David Goodman, director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, which oversees Liquor Control. “It’s not just happening in Ohio. There’s a lot of folks who are finding the opportunity to enter into a small business like this, and people’s tastes seem to be headed in this direction.

“It’s like anything else. People just find that there’s a market for it, and that market gets filled.”

Kent Waldeck, the 33-year-old owner of Crafted Artisan Meadery, is typical of the trend. A longtime homebrewer, he had a dream to turn his hobby into a professional career.

When he and his wife moved back to Ohio from North Carolina, they bought a model home along rural state Route 43 and renovated the small sales office on the side of the house into a commercial meadery. Mead — a beverage fermented with honey and other spices — has been named one of the year’s top food trends by Forbes.

Waldeck’s operation should open to the public early next year. He kept his full-time marketing job and plans to be small, selling out of his home at first.

“It’s a good time to be doing something like this in the state right now,” he said. “Consumers are more savvy than they used to be. They are seeking out unique products and local products.”

Business is brewing

Meanwhile, BottleHouse owners Brian Benchek and Dave Schubert are renovating a former 6,000-square-foot warehouse along busy Lee Road near Cleveland Heights High School into a brew-on-premise business and tasting room.

People will be able to come in and make their own beer, and also buy Benchek’s and Schubert’s creations.

Benchek, 35, a tattooed former glass blower, and Schubert, 40, an engineer with a braided ponytail, both live in the residential neighborhood with their families and are able to walk to work. The goal, they said, is to become part of the surrounding community’s culture. “We don’t want to be just a brewery,” Benchek said.

That attitude is prevalent among these new entrepreneurs. They aren’t getting into the business necessarily to become the next Samuel Adams or Jack Daniel or Kendall-Jackson.

“It’s a lifestyle and about a quality of life,” said Donniella Winchell, executive director of the Ohio Wine Producers Association in Geneva. The rise in alcohol manufacturing is great news for the state’s bottom line.

“We are an economic engine,” Winchell said about Ohio wineries.

Impact on economy

The state wine industry was estimated to provide a $582 million impact on the state economy, according to a 2008 study. At that time, there were 120 wineries and 4,100 people working in the wine field.

The impact is much greater today, Winchell said.

A similar 2009 study by the Beer Institute and National Beer Wholesalers Association estimated that the beer industry directly and indirectly contributes $7.7 billion a year to the Ohio economy.

Goodman, the Ohio commerce director, said the state is reviewing alcohol regulations to make sure the state isn’t impeding business and job growth.

He cited a pending state bill that would allow the creation of more micro-distilleries, which produce less than 10,000 gallons a year. State law limits the number of those businesses to counties with populations over 800,000 — and only one in those counties.

“We recognize that there is a trend here and there are a lot of small-business owners who want to get into this,” Goodman said.

Even with the growing number of alcohol producers in the state, industry leaders believe there is plenty of room to grow for Ohio-made alcohol. For example, Ohio wines hold only a 5 percent share of the state market.

Whether small alcohol manufacturers can capture the attention of more Ohioans, though, is unclear. That will depend on the product itself.

“In the end, people like to drink good stuff,” Waldeck said.

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his beer blog at www.beer.ohio.com.