Lots of Beer in College Town
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Updated: 2:50 PM Jul 12, 2010
Lots of Beer in College Town
Athens is the site Ohio's 5th annual Brew Week where more than 175 different craft beers are on tap.
Posted: 1:17 AM Jul 12, 2010
Reporter: Brooks Jarosz
Email Address: brooks.jarosz@wsaz.com
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ATHENS, OH (WSAZ) -- A week of tasty celebration is brewing up in sleepy college town.

Athens is the site Ohio's 5th annual Brew Week where more than 175 different craft beers are on tap as people from around the country come to Southeast Ohio to come to get a taste.

"This is our busiest week of the year, hands down," Jackie O's owner Art Oestrike said. "We have a barrel aging program in the basement so for special events like Brew Week we break out a number of things from our seller and throw them on draft."

A busy week with beer in a college town isn't the typical thing on tap in the middle of the summer, but it does help bring in some green to the community and keep the economy going.

"With Ohio Brew Week, that creates enough economy in itself that pub owners aren't laying those waitresses off," Ohio Brew Week Director Dan Gates said. "They know they're going to have a big week of economic development in the third week of July every year."

Ohio Brew Week also helps to benefit those in the brewing industry and allows beer lovers to get a taste of the Buckeye state.

"You can actually taste new products and new styles of beer," Ohio brewer Kelly Sauber said. "It explains and educates people on beers so that they're more likely to purchase a craft beer instead of the a Bud Light."

At Jackie O's, the only microbrewery in town, 20 different craft brews are being served up. As they try to keep up with demand, other businesses are feeling the benefits of new visitors.

"When people are on their down time, they're visiting places like the Dairy Barn Arts Center and other galleries in the area," director Andrea Lewis said. "They're supporting the arts as well as restaurants and hotels."

"The best possible outcome is for people to come to our community and say 'I want to go back there sometime,'" Gates said. "Not just during another Ohio Brew Week, but 'I want to come back to Athens, I've discovered things in Athens that I really want to do.'"

Even without all of the students, Athens is becoming a true destination.

Ohio brew week runs through Saturday.

A schedule of events is available on http://www.ohiobrewweek.com/

Latest Comments

Posted by: YFNA on Jul 12, 2010 at 03:34 PM

I wish I had been off work to go to this... All that yummy craft beer and not a drop for me. Now I'm sad.
Posted by: OU Grad on Jul 12, 2010 at 02:39 PM

Matt: Its summer and the majority of students- especially the underagers are gone! The ones who remain are drinking swill they get somewhere else, not the tasty Ohio micro brews at Brew Fest (which I still get carded at and I'm over 30!).
Posted by: Jeff on Jul 12, 2010 at 01:48 PM

I think the drinking age should be 18 and people who think thats wrong for college students to drink. All the colleges and the NCAA should give the money back to Budweiser for all the sponsorship of their Football, Basketball and other College Sports.
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