Jackie O’s Brewing holds 9th anniversary event

Five Jackie O’s barrel-aged specialties in 22 oz. bottles went on sale Saturday, December 6, and quickly sold out. And around these parts, it’s a big deal. The limit for each this year was one bottle. A couple of years ago you could easily expect to get two or three of each. Jackie O’s is getting very popular.

Located in Athens, Ohio, Jackie O’s Brewery in fact sets the standard for beer in much of the central Appalachian region of these United States.  A truly local operation without big money backing, they have worked their way from the ground up to the top echelon of craft breweries.

While they offer the requisite IPAs, stouts, ambers and the like (and sell them in cans across Ohio), the real stars here are the barrel-aged specialties — big, rich, fruited, spiced, funky, sour — or some combination.  Through the years they’ve done scores of these. They might not all exactly hit the mark, but the majority do. And when they hit that sweet spot, their beer is etherial, exciting, and a must-have experience for beer geeks around the region.

For this bottle release the focus is on sour and funk. The line up includes Poire (a barrel-aged sour kolsh with Jackie O’s farm pears), Rubus Oro (a barrel-aged sour golden with golden raspberries), Rubus Rojo (barrel-aged sour red with red raspberries), Orange Oak (an 8% ABV Wheat IPA aged in oak barrels with Brett and clementines ), and finally Chardonnay Opulence (a 9.5% ABV wine barrel-aged farmhouse ale with plenty of Vienna malt and added Chardonnay must).

The brewery events pull them in from far and wide.  On this anniversary evening you meet folks from Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all over Ohio — Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Cincinnati, Canton, you name it.

Athens, Ohio is a small city with a lot of bars. It’s a college town, home to Ohio University. Jackie O’s stands out here as definitely out of the mainstream. It may be that college student budgets dissuade them from drinking a lot of craft beer. On the streets in town you’re much more likely to see someone carrying a 24-pack of Keystone Light than you are to see someone with a six pack of Jackie O’s cans.

That’s not a criticism; it’s just the way things are around here, just as they are in most regions of the American hinterland. But it does make it even more impressive when a business breaks out of the norm and decides to take a road less traveled.

Jackie O’s was certainly not dissuaded by the popular taste of the college crowd. Instead of being content making a handful of basic, popular-taste ales, as so many others do, this brewery dared to stretch the beer envelope, take a risk, and develop new, never before thought of beer recipes. That risk is paying rewards.

Brewery owner Art Oestrike and head brewer Brad Clark are now leaders in providing inspiration to other small breweries around the region. Their success has helped others decide to take the plunge and open a craft brewery. We craft beer drinkers need them to stay strong, profitable, and to continue to experiment.

Jackie O’s ninth anniversary event almost didn’t happen, though. A November 18th fire at a neighboring business left Jackie O’s building with water damage and closed their public house for a number of days. While the kitchen remains closed, the brewery’s public areas were able to reopen in time for the anniversary event. The number of Friday’s guests was likely augmented by those fans desiring to show their support and help the brewery make up for the money lost while it was closed following the fire.

On Saturday morning the bottle sale began at 11:30 and continued through the afternoon until all the anniversary release beer was sold. Nearly 400 people took numbers, so some went home without all the bottles. This was by far the largest crowd to show up for a bottle sale here.

So we’re thankful for Jackie O’s. Thankful for this shining inspiration deep in the Ohio Appalachian hills. And definitely thankful it escaped the fire down the block. Already looking forward to next year’s 10th anniversary bottle sale. We bet it will be spectacular. Brew strong fellas.

Jackie O’ Brewery website