ATHENS, Ohio — Find out what’s brewing this weekend at First Call of Ohio Brew Week, from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, July 11 on Court Street in Uptown Athens.
This year’s First Call marks the opening of OBW’s 20th anniversary event and features music from Ben Davis Jr., Baker Ten Trio, Blues Cowboys, and Muchi Nochi.
First Call will be a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) event, which means participants need to purchase a DORA cup from participating venues, including J Bar, The Union and Little Fish Brewing Company, to move freely throughout the designated area of Court Street.
Ohio Brew Week started twenty years ago when Jon Sparhawk sought to bring business and prosperity to Athens during the summer, a time when business slowed and crowds dwindled. When Sparhawk started OBW, there weren’t any breweries in Athens. But that first year, 70 Ohio craft brews were available at over 36 venues in Athens.
OBW was the first week-long celebration of craft beer in America, said Brandon Thompson, the executive director of OBW who is in the midst of his nine-year appointment to the role.
Sparhawk, who passed away in 2007, will be honored with the tapping of a new, limited-time beer at Jackie O’s, brewed by Ohio University Chemistry Depatrment’s summer brewing class. The Keg Tapping Ceremony will take place at Jackie O’s Brewpub from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, July 14.
Since Sparhawk founded the event, Athens has become a hub for craft brewing in Southeast Ohio. And supporting the local economy and local craft breweries remains a key part of the event.
“The idea behind Ohio Brew Week is to celebrate craft beer, but also to bring business back to Athens,” Thompson said. Boogie on the Bricks, which started in 2004, according to Thompson, used to cap off OBW, but the organizers of Boogie on the Bricks eventually split into its own event.
It’s not just local businesses that benefit from the week-long celebration, either: “We bring about anywhere between 35, 45, breweries to Athens,” said Thompson, who coordinates with breweries and sponsors in his role as the director.
OBW has a budget of $120,000 this year, which is used to buy beer, pay for advertising, hire the bands and rent the stage, tents and tables. Thompson also bought 6,000 cups and tokens.
Beers will be sold for $6 and will use a token system.
The brews that will be sold are on the website and anyone can keep track of which brews they want to try, have tried or loved.
Bands and programming
Thompson said he and OBW staff try to bring bands from a variety of places and backgrounds to Athens, including local bands and out-of-town bands.
Friday, July 18, OBW Brew BQ will feature bands, Nakatoni Danza, Free Black!, Ready Aim Flowers and Steve Zarate, at the Athens Train Depot.
Saturday, July 19, on Court Street, from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., Last Call will feature Any Colour, The Dysfunktional Family, The Interns, Moonbeau, Micah Kesselring, Dairy Family and Appalachian Soup Company. Thompson estimated 4 to 5 thousand people attend Last Call.
Other events will take place every day from July 11–19, in bars and breweries across Athens. Some will be held all day, like those on July 11, kicking off the festival at Courtside Pizza, J Bar, North End Kitchen + Bar, The Union, West End Distillery, Little Fish Brewing Company, Eclipse Company Store, The Over Hang, The Side Bar, Casa Nueva, and First Call on Court Street.
Other events throughout the week include:
- Friday, July 11, there will be an 80s dance night at Casa Nueva. 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. the next morning.
- Saturday, July 12, there will be Brew Week Bingo at North End Kitchen + Bar, Courtside Pizza and J Bar.
- Wednesday, July 15, Chef Andrew Rios Wenmouth and Jackie O’s will make Top Deck Dinner, a five-course dinner paired with beer. Tickets can be purchased online.
- Thursday, July 17, Black Diamond Brewery and Distillery Night will be at The Pub at noon.
The full schedule of OBW events is available on the OBW website.
In addition to the scheduled programming, OBW attendants can download the Scavify App to participate in a scavenger hunt throughout the week and win glasses, steins, gift cards, OBW tokens, or a raffle for top point scorers to get a free stay at Fairfield Inn.
Posters and merchandise
A retrospective of Kevin Morgan’s OBW posters is currently on display at Casa Nueva.
When OBW started, Morgan made the logo, but he didn’t make a poster until OBW had been happening for five years. Now, he makes one each year.
“I’m very honored when every year, they get ahold of me and say, ‘Hey, are you ready for the next one?’” Morgan said.
The poster design for this year, with a dragon curled up on a horde of kegs, felt special for Morgan and Thompson because Thompson had wanted a dragon on the poster for years, but Morgan hadn’t found a good design for it until this year.
This year, the poster design is also being sold as a full-color design T-shirt because the dragon has attracted a lot more interest in merch, Thompson said. OBW shirts are sold at Ohio Is Home, which splits the profits with OBW.
