As per usual, I end the year with a pictorial review of the breweries and taprooms that I have visited during the previous twelve months. While the situation with respect to COVID-19 did improve during 2020, the virus did hang around, restricting my travel for significant parts of the year. While personal travel was a little easier this year, professional travel to academic conferences continued to be highly restricted. With respect to visiting breweries and taprooms, I did visit 22 in 2021, slightly less than the 26 that I visited in 2020. In a non-COVID 19 year I typically visit over 60 breweries/taprooms.
Before providing more statistics on my 2020 visits, let me explain the difference between a brewery and a taproom. The difference is quite simple. A brewery is an establishment where beer is produced, whereas a taproom is an establishment owned by a brewery that sells but does not produce beer on-site.
Of the 20 breweries that I visited, 10 were in my home state of Ohio and 10 were in other states. Outside of Ohio I visited breweries in Indiana (4 visited), Michigan (3), Colorado (2), and Texas (1). Most of the Ohio breweries that I visited were in the northwest Ohio region, the two exceptions being in Cincinnati. Both of the taprooms that I visited were in northwest Ohio. Of the 12 Ohio establishments that visited, six were ones that I visited for the first time. Of the 10 non-Ohio breweries that I visited, all but one were new visits – the exception being Hop & Sting Brewing Co. in Grapevine, TX. In the lists below, establishments that I had visited before are indicated in italics.
As per usual, I have posted one photograph from each of the breweries/taprooms that I visited during 2021. I hope you enjoy them. At the time of writing, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu , Director-General of the World Health Organization , is optimistic that COVID-19 will be “beaten in 2022“. I hope that his optimism is well-founded and that we can all look forward to a happy and healthy New Year.
Last month, I spent a few days in Denver, CO. I was there to attend the North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International – a scholarly organization to which I belong. On my “to-do” list for this trip was a visit to Wynkoop Brewing Company, which is located in Lower Downtown (LoDo) section of the city. So one lunchtime, with some colleagues, I jumped in an Uber and and headed to Wynkoop.
Among craft beer drinkers, Wynkoop is known for its excellent beers, including its Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, whose ingredients include freshly sliced and roasted bull testicles. As someone who has been studying the American craft brewing industry for a number of years, Wynkoop is a brewery that I often mention in my academic papers. Very often I mention Wynkoop in tandem with Great Lakes Brewing Company which is located in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, OH. The two breweries have much in common. Both were established in 1989, and both were what are termed pioneer investors in their respective neighborhoods, playing a key role in their revitalization.
Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout from Wynkoop Brewing Company
In 2000, my colleague Stephan Weiler, a Professor of Economics at Colorado State University published a paper in Urban Studies in which he looked at the role that Wynkoop played in the revitalization of the 23-square block LoDo neighborhood. During the 19th century Lower Downtown emerged as a rail hub, mineral processing, manufacturing and warehousing center. The 20th century brought economic changes and the emergence of new transportation technologies that would supplant the railroad, with the result that “the LoDo industrial area went into decline, as companies boarded up their factories and warehouses. Squatting and crime increased, and liquor stores (along with their entrenched customer base) became the area’s most prominent resource” (Weiler 2000, p. 173). Some of the beers brewed by Wynkoop pay homage to the LoDo’s industrial past or the city’s unique geographical location. So you can sit inside Wynkoop’s taproom and enjoy a Hazy Train IPA, a Rail Yard Ale, or Kurt’s Mile High Malt Lager.
I enjoyed a Hazy Train IPA while visiting Wynkoop
In the mid-1980s, two entrepreneurs, John Hickenlooper and Jerry Williams eyed LoDo as a potential location for a new craft brewery that they were planning. LoDo’s had what lots of craft brewery entrepreneurs seek out when they are looking for potential brewery space – an abundance of inexpensive large vacant buildings. Hickenlooper and Williams finally settled on the historic J. S. Brown Mercantile Building, built in 1899, as the site for their brewery. On the off chance that you follow Colorado politics, the name John Hickenlooper is probably familiar to you. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Hickenlooper served as the Mayor of Denver between 2003 1nd 2011 and then the 42nd Governor of Colorado between 2011 and 2019. He also sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States 2019 but dropped out before the primaries. In November 2020, he was elected to the United States Senate.
Wynkoop Brewing Company
Patrons enjoying lunch and a pint at Wynkoop Brewing Company
As noted by Weiler (2000, p. 175), “the first few years of the brewery, though, were indeed a struggle, and were devoted to attracting a regular clientele into the area”. As its reputation grew, however, the number of patrons steadily increased. Not only did the flow of patrons to Wynkoop increase, but so did the flow of other investment dollars into the neighborhood – an antique store, residential lofts and a publishing company soon opened their doors. Additional retail, galleries, and residential properties followed the example set by Wynkoop and other early investors. Today, LoDo is a thriving neighborhood that functions as a mixed-use hub of housing, retail, office, and entertainment spaces. One evening. coming back from dinner, driving through LoDo, my Uber driver said that the neighborhood today was unrecognizable from what it had previously been. The revitalization of LoDo is part of larger planning initiatives being undertaken by the City and County of Denver. Over the years, the City and County have developed a number of plans in their efforts to think strategically about what the city might look like. These include the 1968 Downtown Area Plan, the 2000 Lower Downtown Neighborhood Plan, the 2007 Downtown Area Plan, and the Comprehensive Plan 2040 (adopted in 2019). In 1988 Denver City Council gave LoDo Historic District status, with a view to ” encouraging historic preservation and promoting economic and social vitality ” Today, LoDo’s development is overseen by The LoDo District, Inc., a 501(c)(3) Registered Neighborhood Organization.
A former LoDo flour mill (left) is now residential lofts (right). Source: LoDo
Wynkoop Brewing Company is one of many examples of a brewery that has contributed to the revitalization of an urban neighborhood. Google “breweries revitalizing neighborhoods” and you will plenty of other examples. In some cases, like Wynkoop, a brewery can be the catalyst for neighborhood revitalization. They are the first significant entity to invest in a neighborhood. Such pioneer investors can signal the promise of a neighborhood to other would-be investors. In others cases, a brewery follows other investors and becomes an important piece of the revitalization jigsaw. In contributing to the revitalization of distressed neighborhoods, craft breweries engage in adaptive reuse, thereby breathing new life into abandoned buildings. Thus, all across the United States, we see craft breweries located in what were once were old churches, fire stations, hardware stores, auto dealership etc. Craft brewery entrepreneurs are particularly adept at utilizing what might be thought of as challenging spaces. As noted by Bart Watson, Chief Economist with the Brewers Association, “one of the advantages of breweries is they can go into former industrial buildings or difficult spaces to develop”. Weiler (2000, p. 178) agrees with the assessment. As he notes, “craft breweries are likely to be particularly well-matched with the circumstances of senescent industrial districts, and thus often represent the most promising pioneers”.
My visit to Wynkoop represented another item checked-off on my “breweries-to-visit-list”. I have known about Wynkoop for years and have used it as an example of a neighborhood revitalizer in many of my writings. So it was nice to finally visit and enjoy a taste of their beautifully crafted ale.
Recently, I came across an interesting article on the website ozy.com. It was titled Overlooked Neighborhoods: Little-known Gems in Well-Known Cities. The premise of the article was pretty straightforward. When we visit a city, we tend to keep to well-trodden paths. These can be restaurants we have read about in guidebooks, museums that are on everyone’s must-visit list, or a green space such as a famous park.
But dare to look beyond the tourist traps and our own comfort zone, and we will see that every city has lesser-known neighborhoods that are worth spending time in. This particular article identifies seven such neighborhoods:
It is is an interesting list, albeit a little U.S.-centric. What I found particularly intriguing about the descriptions of these seven neighborhoods is that beer is mentioned as a key part of the urban fabric in four of them (Abasto, Bridgeport, Brevnov, and Over-the-Rhine). In the cases of Abasto, Bridgeport, and Over-the-Rhine, craft beer bars and breweries, in particular, are mentioned, while in the Břevnov neighborhood of Prague, the monks at the monastery there first brewed beer in the year 993. This makes it the earliest record of beer being brewed in the Czech Republic. In a completely separate piece on Pittsburgh’s overlooked neighborhoods, Kelly Abrogast, shines the spotlight on the city’s Troy Hill neighborhood. According to Abrogast, Troy Hill is Home to “some of the best beer you’ve ever had”. Troy Hill is home to Penn Brewery.
Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood
The fact that craft beer (whether in the form of craft beer bars or craft breweries) are considered a key contributor to interesting and vibrant neighborhoods does not surprise me in the slightest. In a 2016 piece in The Atlantic, James Fallows identified eleven signs that a city will succeed – one of those signs was the existence of at least one craft brewery. As noted by Fallows, “a town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur, and a critical mass of mainly young (except for me) customers.” As Fallows correctly notes, craft breweries are a magnet for young people. As market research has demonstrated, it is the Millennial cohort who are driving the growth of the craft beer sector. A craft brewery or craft beer bar in a neighborhood attracts young people, not just from the immediate neighborhood, but from other parts of the city, and even farther afield. Beer tourism is increasingly popular, and craft beer drinkers visiting cities search out those neighborhoods with craft breweries and craft beer bars. A craft brewery opening up in a neighborhood is akin to putting up a welcome sign. It is saying to people, come check us out. This neighborhood is ok; good things are happening. In some cases, such as the Ohio City neighborhood in Cleveland, OH or the Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood in Denver, CO, craft breweries (Great Lakes Brewing Company and Wynkoop Brewing Company respectively) were pioneer investors who kick-started the redevelopment of these respective neighborhoods. In other cases, such as the Pearl District in Portland, OR or the North Davidson (NoDa) neighborhood in Charlotte, NC the craft breweries and craft beer bars have followed other investment into the neighborhood. Whatever the sequencing of investments, many of these neighborhoods have had new life breathed into them.
Great Lakes Brewing Company was the catalyst for the redevelopment of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood
According to Denver Public Library, “back in the 1980s, Lower Downtown Denver was what we called “a little sketchy” – a lot of places were boarded up, and ones that were open were populated by the underground crowd, drifters, punk rockers and late nighters. Today, the bustling restaurant – sports bar – brew pub district looks like the Seattle or Portland we all longed for, with a huge variety of food choices both native and exotic, all kinds of great beer, espresso, chocolate, and other delicacies, and a wide array of clothing and accessory stores, art galleries, and high-end lofts.”
Back in 2016, I spent a few days in Stockholm, Sweden. While there I visited the Nya Carnegie Bryggeret (New Carnegie Brewery). The brewery is in an old lightbulb factory in the Hammarby Sjöstad neighborhood. In the early 1990s, Hammarby Sjöstad was a run-down, polluted industrial and residential neighborhood that was considered unsafe by outsiders. By the time I visited it in 2016, it had underwent a remarkable transformation. As a result of significant investment, it was an attractive neighborhood with apartments, shops, offices and, yes, a brewery.
The Nya Carnegie Bryggeret (New Carnegie Brewery) in Stockholm’s HammarbySjöstad neighborhood is in an old lightbulbg factory
The example of Nya Carnegie Bryggeret shows that craft breweries often thrive in overlooked neighborhoods, but they can also succeed in overlooked buildings. Through the process of adaptive reuse, craft brewery entrepreneurs will take an old abandoned church, fire station, automobile dealership etc. and turn it into a vibrant craft brewery. Craft brewery entrepreneurs are attracted to distressed neighborhoods because real estate is often relatively inexpensive.
Some people living in an overlooked neighborhood, may like it that way. So they may not necessarily welcome a new brewery and other investment and the visitors that they attract. Rising property values may force long-standing residents out of the neighborhood. Along with my colleagues, Jay Gatrell and Matthew Lehnert, I write about this in an upcoming book chapter. The chapter looks at the historical evolution of Cincinnati’s Over-the- Rhine neighborhood. Despite once being dubbed the most dangerous neighborhood in the United States, residents of Over-the-Rhine had for decades been suspicious of outsiders and the change they sought to bring to the neighborhood. This suspicion manifest itself in the Over-the-Rhine Peoples’ Movement who fought against gentrification of their neighborhood. In the end, their cause was a lost one and millions of investment dollars later Over-the-Rhine is very much a changed and more vibrant neighborhood.
Reid, Neil, Jay D. Gatrell, and Matthew Lehnert. Leveraging brewing history: The case of Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood”. In Thakur, Rajiv, Ashok K. Dutt, Sudhir K. Thakur, and George Pomeroy (Eds). Urban and Regional Planning and Development: 20th Century Forms and 21st Century Transformations, Springer: Dordrecht (forthcoming).
Reid, Neil and Isabelle Nilsson. From mill district to brewery district: Craft beer and the revitalization of Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. Invited chapter for inclusion in Beer Places: The Micro-Geographies of Craft Beer, by Daina Cheyenne Harvey, Ellis Jones, and Nate Chapman (Eds).
