July 2007 Issue

Brew Crew

Meet Kelly Sauber. He's an avid gardener, a music aficionado and an Ohio Magazine subscriber. But during the daily grind, Sauber's best known as a microbrewer for the Marietta Brewing Company, and this month you can taste his award-winning concoctions at Ohio Brew Week in Athens.

Featuring more than 50 craft beers from 15 micro-breweries around Ohio, Brew Week, July 16–21, offers the best of Ohio on tap. And that includes The Marietta Brewing Company.

"Being a riverboat town [and] the first community in the Northwest Territory, Marietta was pretty focused on brewing as early as 1860," says Sauber. "We also had a large number of bottling plants in Marietta originally, so it was a town where people could stop, pick up supplies, pick up some beer and basically prepare for the rest of their journey."

It won't be much different at this year's event. Thirsty festival-goers can stop by Casa Cantina, one of three bars featuring Sauber's brew, and raise a glass to his Raspberry Wheat Ale, the People's Choice favorite of last year's celebration. The fun continues with live music, beer-song contests, cooking-with-beer competitions and home-brewing demonstrations.

In case you become enamored with all that Brew Week has to offer and want to hone your skills, Sauber has some of tricks of the trade to share.

First, make friends with your local brewing-supply shop and don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions. Second, sanitation is key. "If you are really not careful, you might end up with your first ... batch of beer actually being a [batch] of vinegar, which is great on French fries but you don't want to drink a pint of it," he says. But most important, Sauber suggests having an enjoyable time and a worry-free experience.

Now that calls for a beer!

For more information on Ohio Brew Week, call 740/592-5382 or visit www.ohiobrewweek.com.