Little Fish a brewery sweet on sours

If you haven’t been over to Athens, Ohio, recently, it’s time to go again. A new brewery there is shaking up the craft beer scene that used to be the exclusive territory of Jackie O’s.

Last July, former Jackie O’s critter-beer specialist, Sean White, and his microbiologist partner, Jimmy Stockwell, opened Little Fish Brewing Company on the western edge of town.

While it’s a new venture, Stockwell and White go way back. They’ve known each other since 6th grade. Later, as young adults, they began homebrewing together. While Jimmy moved on to laboratory work, Sean moved on to a brewing career, most notably at Portland, Oregon’s Cascade Brewing and at Jackie O’s. These are both breweries with an intense passion for funky farmhouse and sour ales.

With the combination of a funk-brewer and a microbiologist, you might expect Little Fish to brew only critter-filled beers. You would be wrong.

“We love well-made beers and a balance of beer styles,” said Stockwell when explaining that you’ ll find a variety of traditional, popular-style ales and even lagers on the brewery taps.

Little Fish taproom keeps a variety of beer styles

While the brewery has farmhouse and sour ales on tap all the time, there are plenty of other styles too. A review of taps found amber ale, IPAs, saisons, coffee-flavored milk stouts, bier de garde, Pils, a sour ale, and even a pawpaw ale. You’ll also find a couple of house-made non-alcoholic sodas.

In the brewery taproom, pints of standard brews are $5. Ten-ounce pours of barrel-aged and high gravity beers cost $5 and up. Five-ounce tasters go for $2 a piece. Happy Hour discounts are commonly offered.

An $11 growler fill for standard beers is typical (not including barrel-aged products). Their unique, barrel-aged brews will also be offered periodically at special bottle sales. Expect one in October.

“We’re running with a lot of different cultures of bacteria and yeasts,” Stockwell said, adding that the only beers they will offer in bottles are their small batch, funky, sour beers.

Initially, since they don’t have a hop contract, the house IPA will change-up from batch to batch.

“We’ll be getting in different hops and playing with different hop combinations,” Stockwell explained.

By being out on the edge of town Little Fish offers something unique to Athens. They have two acres of green space with fruit trees and berry bushes planted on it. They’re turning this space into a large, family-friendly outdoor beer garden where guests can relax and enjoy a beer. Another benefit: a large parking lot.

Brewery sits along a historical railroad right-of-way. Still in use, trains come by about three times a day. The brewers say people enjoy watching the trains go by.

Once the beer-garden cherries, apples, raspberries, goji berries, and elderberries are in production, expect them to end up as flavoring agents in Little Fish barrel-aged beers.

White and Stockwell source their specialty grains from local farmers. They have recently purchased corn and spelt from Shagbark Seed & Mill in Athens. Little Fish’s Shagbark Pilsner (a pre-Pro American lager) contains 20% corn from Shagbark. Their Saison du Poisson has the spelt in its grain bill. All spent grain from the brewery goes to a local goat farmer.

City extending bike path to brewery

The city is building a new bike path extension off the existing Hockhocking Adena Bikeway that will run to the edge of Little Fish’s property. This will conveniently connect the brewery to the popular rail trail and the Ohio University campus.

“Our passion started with farmhouse ale,” said Stockwell. “We wanted a place in Athens that was low-key and very comfortable to come to and enjoy. Our tap list has all things we really care about.”

Expect the release of a trio of bottle-conditioned, barrel-aged beers in October. These should include Saison du Poisson, Woodthrush, and Reinheitsgewhat.

Little Fish will be doing limited distribution to craft-oriented, on-premise accounts in the Athens to Columbus corridor.

Sampling one beer flight in the brewery taproom will tell you these guys really do know how to brew a wide range of beer. Their farmhouse ales really hit the spot.  Little Fish Brewing Company is another great beer stop on your next outing to Athens.

Little Fish Brewing
8675 Armitage Rd
Athens, Ohio

Call ahead for brewery  tour information.

Taproom Hours

Tuesdays: 3pm – 10pm
Wednesdays: 3pm – 10pm
Thursdays: 3pm – 10pm
Fridays: 3pm – 11pm
Saturdays: Noon – 11pm
Sundays: Noon – 7pm
Happy hour, 4-6 p.m., with discounted pints.

Food Trucks most evenings

Originally opened Friday, July 10, 2015