It’s not always enough to plan an anniversary party to take place on one day, sometimes you need to set aside a whole weekend to get all the festivities in – and for Municipal Brew Works – their second anniversary is gearing up to be the “whole weekend party” sort of event.  They’ll be closing off the street in front of the brewery, bringing in a big mobile stage and throwing an event that will make you proud to be having a beer in the city of Hamilton!

Friday June 8th

The whole weekend kicks off with a really fun event from the Butler County Historical Society.  The brewery and the historical society are honoring the amazing brewing history of Hamilton and Butler County.  You’ve heard by now about the amazing brewing heritage that we had in downtown Cincinnati, and OTR, but you might not be familiar with some of the history that took place in Butler County.

While talking to the folks from Municipal I was reminded that Hamilton was once home to the Cincinnati Brewing Company, who prior to prohibition was knocking out somewhere around 400bbls a day.  In addition to the brewing that was happening in Butler County, the area was also the second leading producer of barley in the entire state every year for close to 60 years.  There were six malt houses in Hamilton alone (Songhen malthouse is still standing on C street).

If this sort of geekiness gets you as excited as it does me, Jim Goodman from Municipal will be kicking off the exhibit with a presentation starting at 7pm in the Municipal Building.  Once you’re done there, if you head back over to the patio, “Outta Here” will be taking the stage starting at 8pm.

Saturday, June 9th

Saturday is ‘Bottle Day’ at Municipal. I hope you got a chance last year to try the first in Municipal’s Anniversary series of Imperial IPAs. (You can read my beer notes). This big 10% IPA uses not just more than 3 pounds of hops per batch, but get’s a kick of seasonality and uniqueness from local honey, as well.  Every year the brewery uses a different source for their honey which gives the beer a slightly different color and sweetness.

The doors open at 10am for you to snag your bottle, but you might want to stick around.  They’re going to start releasing special 5 gallon releases every hour, on the hour starting at noon.

If you manage to last all day, the music kicks in at 5pm with Acoustic Blue taking the stage, followed up by Excalibur at 7 and the Yada Yada Yadas at 9pm.

If you need to get your Dora cup and take a walk during the day, it’s important to note that the 9th is also the Hamilton Flea, and they’ll be tapping a special Municipal beer over there, too.  It’s a ‘Second Saturday Summer Ale’, lime zest infused golden ale.

Sunday, June 10th

Recovery Day?  A nice easy mellow day to wind down the weekend and prep for heading back to work on Monday, Sunday will feature an open mic night from 1-3pm followed up by an acoustic set from Jim Brown 3-5pm.

Some More Fun That You’ll Want To Know About

Also, you might want to start prepping for what I think is one of the coolest events that any brewery has done.  You might remember hearing some teasing about this from the last episode of Cincy Brewcast at Municipal, but as of the 8th, you can officially get your kit for the Municipal 500.

What’s the Municipal 500?  It’s the pinewood derby that will be rocking the faces off of craft beer fans on July 14th at 4pm.  The kits are going to cost $10, and the proceeds will go to prizes for winners, as well as the FOP 38 Christmas Caravan fund.  I’ll most definitely be telling you a lot more about this event pretty soon… but for now, get your kit and prepare yourself for something unlike anything that’s been done here in town before!

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