On a recent trip to Dayton, Jennifer Craig came up with an idea that would snowball into a labor of love.
“We did the Dayton Beer Trail and had a great time, but we thought it would be much better if we knew all of the breweries in the area,” she recalls. “That brought me to the idea of creating a guide for the area in which we live that had all of the breweries and enough information to make informed decisions about how you wanted to plan your day visiting them.”
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JENNIFER L. CRAIG
Craig, a graphic designer by trade, compiled information on 66 local breweries—featuring locations as far north as Middletown down to Fort Mitchell and everywhere in between—for Pocket Guide to Cincinnati’s Breweries, which launched this month. Each page includes the brewery’s contact information as well as a section where you can list your favorite beer and anything else noteworthy, such as live entertainment, trivia nights, and food options.
“The guide works as a self-guided tour of the breweries in that there is a box to check off when you’ve been there and a place to write the date,” she says. “Each listing has a space to write in your favorite beer and any notes you have about the brewery so in a sense, it’s a guide to the breweries and a journal of your adventures.”
The self-published guide was a major undertaking for Craig, who just wanted to show some love to the city’s expansive craft beer scene in her own special way to “bring awareness about all of the breweries in our area, not just the big ones.”
PHOTOGRAPH PROVIDED BY JENNIFER L. CRAIG
“My husband and I are craft beer people,” she notes. “Craft beer lovers are a community. They love to share and experience new places and beers. We experienced the sense of community and looked forward to the different aesthetics and feel of the breweries.”
Craig says that the creativity that has grown out of the craft beer boom of the last decade or so has led her and other beer enthusiasts to some flavor profiles that they may not have known existed.
“It’s an adventure to try new beers, different styles, different flavors, etc.,” she says. “I think that people get tired of the same old thing.”
Pocket Guide to Cincinnati’s Breweries retails at $15. Visit cincybrewguide.com for more information.
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