If you still haven’t been out to Columbia Tusculum to see what’s up with Streetside Brewing, you’re missing out big time.  This is a brewery that even before their Grand Opening party won the ‘King of Ohio’ competition with their Raspberry Beret.  I mean, this brewery has a taproom that in my opinion is one of the best designed in the city (though it might be a bit small for some of the “big guys” around town).  Yeah… Streetside is most definitely a must-visit stop in Cincy Beer.

They’re kicking things up to the next level, too, with a move into packaged product.  On top of that, it’s not just any product, it’s one of the super popular, hazy, hoppy, NE style IPAs that everyone has been going so crazy over.  I wanted to dig a little more into all of this, so I reached out to Streetside’s Managing Brewer, Garrett Hickey to see what I could figure out about this release.  Let’s start with the why.

Why NE IPAs?  Why Package Them?

When we were out at Streetside with Cincy Brewcast to talk to them, we dug into this a big with Garret, and his Head Brewer Luke.  Streetside was one of the first in Cincinnati to do NE style IPAs, and from the very beginning they wanted to get them into packaging.  I can attest to this, as I’ve heard them talking about it for a while now.  The brewery wanted to make sure that they established themselves a little more before they made that leap, though.

It was hard to ignore the draw that the beers were bringing, however.  As soon as they saw how their fans were responding to the beers, they reached out to their artist (more on that in a little bit) and had him start working on the label for the beer.

When you package a beer, you change the way that beer is able to be consumed.  Especially when you start talking about the 16 ounce pint cans that Suh will be sold in, these will let people get a couple of cans at the release to share, some to drink, and some to trade-off as well.  It made the decision for them a lot easier.

It’s The Start Of Something

This packaging release is the start of a wave that you have every right to be excited about.  The brewery has a couple different labels already in the works and finished for what’s coming down the line.  These aren’t all NE IPAs, though, they’ve got some really great stuff in the works including some of their fruited kettle sours planned to make their way into packaging.

In fact, the plan right now is to release cans from 4-6 more times in 2017 (depending of course, how this release goes).  That’s a new release every couple of months for those of you that are bad at math.  Rest assured, you’re going to see me writing about Streetside a lot more in the coming months!

The Release

This release of Suh, Brah? is going to be a full event for the brewery.  They’re hoping to do things in a big way.  There will (of course) be a couple kegs of the beer ready to be tapped in the taproom, and there will be a food truck on site to feed everyone who shows up to snag their cans. (The truck is Caveman Crepes).

In addition, they’re going to be tapping a special small batch NE IPA that features some high oil Cascade Hops – which if you’re a fan of the style will most likely blow your mind, and cause immediate face melting and demand for the packaging program to be immediately stepped up to a bi-weekly event.

The brewery also hopesHOPES to have special glassware available for the release, which as a glassware nerd, get’s me excited in a very similar way that a new beer does.

About Suh, Brah?

I’ll have more about this once I get my tasting notes up after the release, but Suh Brah is a really fun example of the style.  The beer has a ton of fruit flavors, with a light, soft body and an aroma of citrus and pine from the Simcoe.  The beer isn’t just a hazy gimmick – it’s a damn good IPA.  It clocks in at 6.7% ABV, which should make it easy drinking enough to put back a couple at a time.

The artwork for the can is fantastic.  The brewery used artist Michael Odjana for this (and there upcoming labels) and gave credit to him on the can.  I love a brewery that embraces their designers, or their artists and Streetside is most definitely doing that.

This beer is a big deal.  It’s not just because it’s a NE IPA, which everyone seems to go insane over.  It’s also not just because this is the first packaged release from a brewery that has blowing people away in their first year.  It’s a combination of a lot of different factors, that when pieced together make this a must visit event.  Go ahead and mark your calendar, now.  April 8th (that’s a Saturday) at 10am.  It’s going to be a blast.

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