The Ohio State Fair will again be featuring (mostly) Ohio-made beer and wine this year.
Last year was the first time in modern history that alcohol sales of any kind were permitted at the fair. The addition of alcohol had been debated for years… but as this is an event that features a cow made of butter and 17 different types of food on a stick, I think a glass of fermented grapes should be the least of anyone’s concerns.
Wine from 18 Ohio wineries will be available in rotation, including Breitenbach Winery, Burnet Ridge Winery, Chalet Debonne Vineyard, Deer’s Leap Winery, Ferrante Winery, Hanover Winery, Henke Winery, Klingshirn Winery, Laurello Vineyards, Maize Valley Winery, Meranda-Nixon Winery, Raven’s Glenn, Swiss Heritage Winery, Terra Cotta Vineyards, Troutman Vineyards, Valley Vineyards, Vinoklet Winery and the Winery at Wolf Creek.
Ohio-made beers on tap will include Great Lakes Burning River Ale, Wooden Shoe Lager, Elevator Dark Horse Lager, Elevator Mogabi and Columbus Brewing Pale Ale.
Contrary to the Ohio-agriculture-showcase focus of the fair, available beer will also include Sam Adams, Guiness, Coors Light, Bud, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Miller Lite and Smirnoff Ice (bucketing in with beer for brevity.) To be fair, I guess, Budweiser does have a brewery in Columbus, as does Sam Adams in Cincinnati. Smirnoff? I got nothin’.
Beer and wine sales will be restricted to the Marketplace Building, the Taste of Ohio Cafe and the Celeste Center during select concerts. Alcoholic beverages will not permitted outside of those areas.
The fair runs from July 25 through August 5. Admission for adults is $10.
Related: In the Ohio State Fair homebrew competition, a record 485 beers were judged in 24 different styles. Christopher Schaeffer from Lakewood won Best of Show for his cream ale. The lengthy list of winners is online.
4 Comments on "Ohio beer and wine return to the State Fair"
I’m disappointed that Markko Vinyards won’t be there. I guess Mr. Esterer didn’t want to make the trip.
I gave up selling wholesale (17% of my business) to fight the licensing and inspection of wineries by the Ohio Department of Agriculture as food processing facilities. The wine has to be wholesaled to the Fair so it does cut me out as well. More information on this ludicrous regulation can be found at http://www.freethewineries.com or on http://www.facebook.com/FreeTheWineries
I see you listed a link to results of the homebrew competition. We used to have a home winemaking competition also and I used to help judge it. The chief judge and oraganizer had on discussion with Ohio Liquor control determined it was technically not legal. He also works for the state and I suspect didn’t want to put his job and retirement in jeopardy so the home wine competition was discontinued.
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