Cristie ThomasA newly-launched event during Marietta’s annual Rivers, Trails, and Ales Festival is the RTA Beer Fest. Back for its 2nd year, RTA Beer Fest will feature over 15 regional breweries, a variety of local food trucks, live music, activities for the kiddos, and much more.
The first year of RTA Beer Fest packed 300 locals and festival-goers into East Muskingum Park to taste 42 beers available from 12 regional breweries. This year, 500 ticket holders will have the opportunity to choose from over 50 beers available from 15 breweries; the growth is an indication of the level of excitement produced by those passionate about support small business, local brewers, and unique community-based events like this one.
In celebration of good beer and great fun, Clutch MOV has partnered with the Rivers, Trails and Ales Festival to spotlight the 2019 lineup of participating Beer Fest breweries.
Brewery: Lineage Brewing
Location: Columbus, OH
Interviewer: Jeremy Stackpole, RTA Ales Director, with questions provided by Gavin Fury
Interviewee: Mike Byrne, Brewery Operations, Lineage Brewing
When did the brewery open? Lineage Brewing opened in spring of 2015.
According to your website, your name is emblematic of your mission as a brewery. Describe what it means to you to honor tradition and belong to a brewing community while still being committed to evolving. We believe that being brewers means having a firm understanding and respect of traditional and historic beer styles, brewing fundamentals and brewing culture. You first need to know the rules before you can break the rules. It is also equally as important for us to share our love of beer and to be good stewards in our community. If we want the community to support us, we need to support the community.
Do you specialize in brewing any individual styles, regional styles, or families of styles? If so, what drew you to focus on them? We tend to brew a lot of American Style Fruited Berliner Weiss. We like them because they are fun to brew. We experiment with different strains of lactobacillus, yeast, fruits, and spices. It has become a creative outlet for us when it seems like we are always brewing the Spaceship #6 IPA.
Which of your offerings are best sellers/customer favorites? We are proud to keep a rotating selection of plus or minus 10 different styles of beer on at any given time. Our most popular beers are the Spaceship #6 IPA, Oscura Obscura Nitro coffee Blonde, and our Aunt Bernice: Fruited Berliner Weiss.
Do you distribute and/or package your products? Where can people find your beer? We do not bottle or can. However, we do have a number of bar and restaurant accounts inside of I-270. We are on tap at a number of Rusty Buckets, The Rail, The Daily Growlers, The Draft Room, Bob’s Bar, and more.
Beer Advocate named you one of the Top 33 New Breweries in 2015. To what do you attribute that distinction and how have you built on it in the ensuing years? We were very fortunate to have been nominated for that. We were really excited and honored. I think at the time, even though we were still just a few months old, people could tell we were on to something. We were the first in the city to do a “kettle soured” beer. We weren’t focused on distribution and brewing IPA. And we were trying to establish a modest food program, something most breweries in Central Ohio were staying away from.
We’ve continued on the same path, but we have greatly expanded on that. We now do a number of fruited Berliner Weisses and variants of them. We’ve brewed tons of different beers and variants of those beers and have dabbled in wild barrel aging. We have grown our food menu, though still modest (but delicious) and our focus remains on being a neighborhood focused brewery. We continue to push ourselves by constantly improving processes, equipment and trying new ingredients.
What draws you as a brewery to want to participate in RTA Fest? RTA is one of our favorite festivals. The beer festival itself is well organized and pretty chill with lots of nice people and great music. It’s just a really nice time. Since we love to kayak and mountain bike, the festival as a whole is right up our alley. Last year we came down for the whole weekend and did a lot of mountain biking, kayaking, and enjoyed the local shops and food. Carey (one of our brewer/owners) went to see Reverend Horton Heat at The Adelphia Music Hall and said it was awesome. You could feel the whole community of Marietta was excited and that feeling was contagious.
Do you plan to participate in any events other than the beer festival? Which ones? Of course we do! For sure the lock paddle and the city trail ride. If the timing is right, we’ll hit the Mountwood ride too. If not, we’ll likely go down to Mountwood at some point during the weekend and maybe some free paddling on the Ohio River. If there is another concert, we’ll likely check that out as a nice way to unwind.
The 2nd annual RTA Beer Fest will take place on Saturday, August 10th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in East Muskingum Park on Front Street in downtown Marietta, OH. Tickets are now on sale! More information can be found by visiting www.rtafest.com.