2017 Porkopolis Pig & Whiskey Festival by Cincinnati CityBeat

B L U E A S H S U M M I T PA R K

F R E E & OPE N TO A L L AGE S

Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 1

Friday, July 21st • 5 - 10 p.m. Saturday, July 22nd • 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

2 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

When smooth, charcoal-mellowed Tennessee whiskey first met the sweet fizz of cola, America’s classic cocktail was born. It’s almost like the two were made for each other. And after just one sip, we think you’ll know exactly what we mean.

J A C K D A N I E L’ S

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

T W O D AY S O F W H I S K E Y, F O O D, LIV E MUSIC & MOR E! O V E R 5 0 va rieties of w h is k e Y, in c l u d in g :

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Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 3

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4 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

RIVERSIDE 3313 Riverside Dr. Cincinnati, OH 45226 (513) 533-1957

HOLIDAY MANOR KROGER 2219 Holiday Manor Center Louisville, KY 40222 (513) 533-1957

FINDLAY MARKET 133 West Elder St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 533-1957

Pair your burger with a beer from our wide selection of 30 drafts 4767 Creek Road Blue Ash | 513-745-9484 6691 Western Row Road | Mason, Ohio 45040 | 513-486-3772

Whiskey 101

Learning to appreciate Cincinnati’s ‘other’ drink By St e ph e n Novot n i

Wellmann says once you smell it, you should consider what memories it conjures. Smell is one of the most powerful triggers for long-buried memories to resurface. “It’s all about paying attention,” Wellmann says. “And then we take a taste. I always ask people to take one taste first to let your palate get used to it. It will burn a little bit, but that’s just the initiation. Nobody’s going to die. The next taste, I ask them to really pay attention to what they’re tasting. Where do these different things land on your tongue? What does your mouth feel like? Is there a finish? So, really, when somebody is tasting whiskey for the first time, it’s about slowing down. It’s about paying attention.” Wellmann says just like anything else, appreciating whiskey takes practice. She says you’ll start to notice the notes of vanilla and caramel that come from the wood aging process. Then you may notice the grain flavors beneath this — corn or wheat notes. “If there’s a lot of rye in it, there could be a great floral scent,” Wellmann says. “Bananas, cherries, apples, pears, apricot. You get all these different things. There are some whiskies where I get leather, tobacco, earth or grass. Cedar, wood — I have people come up with all these different things when tasting, even a cassette tape when you peel off the plastic and you get that smell. I just find it fascinating.”

Made in Cincinnati

The first thing you need to know about Northside Distilling Company is that only part of it is in Northside, and not the part you visit. Northside is where the products are aged. The main event — the distillation and production facility are inside the bar building downtown on Race Street. Master Distiller Chris Courts gives the tours of the facility. It’s sort of a steampunk Willy Wonka setup featuring bright copper and chrome pots and towers that are the flashpoint of the magic. Once upon a time, it took a biblical miracle to turn water into wine. The mechanized process, although slower, is no less amazing now than it was during the time of Christ. Courts says the process is similar to brewing beer. “A lot of the homebrewers who come in here, the first half of the process is the same thing they do,” Courts says. “They make a grain wash that has all these sugars and they’re fermenting it. They don’t know the distillation process. We always call brewers distillers who quit.” The Northside location is where the business started in an old horse barn. The downtown location pays homage to these roots with a lean-to, rustic wood and curios reminiscent of its humble beginnings. “In a nutshell, we’re making a mash,” Courts says while gesturing to the massive chrome still. “It’s all grain if it’s a whiskey or bourbon. If it’s a moonshine, it’s some

grain and some sugar. What happens is we’re extracting all those sugars so we can convert them to alcohol. After they convert, we distill the alcohol out of it. We put that wash into a still. Alcohol vaporizes quicker. Alcohol vaporizes around 173 degrees. Water is 212. If we keep the temperature in that flux, all the alcohol vapors will start to evaporate before the water.” The process sounds simple, but has a lot of moving parts. Courts enjoys explaining these to visitors and offers them small samples at the end of the tour so they can try the finished product. It’s more refinement than hillbilly engineering, but Courts says you can find both if you look hard enough. There are fun discoveries such as the notyet-distilled corn mix that could, if primed and carbonated, be served as a beer. And there are the various smells of pre-production liquor that give visitors unique insights into the origins of the spirits in their glass. “If people are from Cincinnati, they understand beer,” Courts says. “What’s interesting about distilling is that Cincinnati actually has a larger history of distilled spirits than it does beer. At the turn of the 19th century, Cincinnati was putting out more alcohol than any other place in the world. There’s so much cool history. And it’s another craft. At small distilleries, we have the ability to control all the fine elements of the process. We are so hands on. We touch on every aspect of the process.” ©

Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 5

ccording to local mixologist and bartender Molly Wellmann, whiskey and bourbon are about American heritage more than anything else. Though the spirit originated in Europe, it is intricately tied in to American entrepreneurship and puritanical struggles for temperance during the era of Prohibition. Wellmann says learning about the history of whiskey brings a deeper understanding of American history and that sharing this and passing on the joy of experiencing the beverage is something that thrills her. “It starts off with simple ingredients — water, grain, yeast and wood — that’s pretty much it,” Wellmann says. “It’s pretty simple and then Mother Nature takes over from there. It’s clear when it comes off of the still and then it’s put into a barrel and aged and that gives it flavor and color.” She says it’s best to start slowly when you are first experimenting with whiskey. “It’s best not to take it in a shot because all you’re going to get is the ethanol,” Wellmann says. “It’s going to burn, especially if you’re not used to drinking it. Going slow, looking at the color through the glass, give it a smell. I always tell people, if you smell whiskey over 80 proof, especially if it’s way over 80 proof, just stick the glass under your nose, part your lips, and inhale through your mouth. That way, you don’t burn all your nose hairs off trying to smell what’s in this whiskey.”

OhiO’s MOst

W H I SK E Y & B E E R C H AT T E R

Drinkable Craft beer

F riday 6 p.m. Peter Wagner a k a “ W h isk e y Pe t e”

7 p.m. Kevin Rutkowski W ise gu y L ou nge & G oodf e ll as Pi z z e r i a

7885 E KEmpEr rd CinCinnati, OH 45249 513.718.9173 | marCHfirstbrEwing.COm

8 p.m. Dan Shatto M a dTr e e Br e w i ng

9 p.m. Shae Pridemore M a rch F i r st Br e w i ng

Indian Creek Distillery

6 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

6 generations of whiskey making on the historic Staley Mill Farm. Uniquely Small Batch,

Award Winning Whiskey Crafted thoughtfully and slowly in small batches in the oldest working stills in America , our frontier whiskey has true character. Visit our unique distillery for tours, history and a special tasting experience in our Tasting Tavern.

Tue-Wed 12:00 - 5:00 • Thu-Fri 12:00 - 7:00 • Sat 11:00 - 7:00 7095 Staley Road • New Carlisle, OH 45344 • 937-846-1443 Check us out on Facebook & Instagram

www.staleymillfarmanddistillery.com

Sat urday 1 p.m. Sailor I n di a n Cr e e k Dist i ll e ry

2 p.m. Todd Carnes Ci nci n nat i Bou rbon Soci e t y

3 p.m. Robin Carnes Ge orge R e m us Bou rbon

4 p.m. Jay Erisman N e w R i f f Dist i ll i ng

5 p.m. Chris Courts Nort hsi de Dist i ll i ng Co.

6 p.m. Tyler Henry K a r at e Cowboy

7 p.m. Brad Measel St i llwr igh ts

922 raCE str EEt

C i nC i nnat i , o H

- Fro m G ra i n to G l ass -

BACK IN THE DAY, KENTUCKY BOURBON WAS SHIPPED ON BOATS TO MARKET.

En route, the rocking of the vessel forced the bourbon into more contact with the wood, therefore aging it faster. Curious to experiment with this lost process, we took fully mature, eight-year-old bourbon and put it on the deck of an ocean liner. As our bourbon transversed the globe, the salt air infused a briney element to

NorthsiDe CorN Whiskey

the taste while shifts from cold geographies to equatorial sun carmelized the sugars inside the barrel. Of course, all of this happened while the bourbon rocks against the wood, rounding out the flavor to give it a taste as unbelievable as a mermaid.

“NorthsiDe shiNe” MooNshiNe

VoDka SIP Awards Gold Medal Winner

• Visit Our Downtown Location For Tastings, Signature Cocktails and Craft Shots • Book a Tour with Master Distiller Chris Courts by emailing: courts@northsidedistilling.com Distillery Hours: Wednesday-Friday 4-11pm & saturday 1pm-12am Happy Hour Wednesday - Friday: 4-8pm | live music Every saturday: 8:30-11:30pm 922 race street (race & Court streets) northsideDistilling.com • 513.549.3831 NorthsideDistilling

NorthsideDistillingCo

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color

How Do We Make Ohio’s Best Bourbon? white

Sweat and Years black

s t i l lw r i g h t s . c o m

Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 7

Blood,

8 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

1. Jack Daniel’s 2. Northside Distillery 3. Stillwright 4. Devil’s Backbone 5. MadTree 6. Woodburn 7. March First Brewery 8. Karate Cowboy 9. Heidelberg & Jeffersons 10. Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam & Indian Creek 11. New Riff & George Remus 12. Whiskey Chatter 13. Ole Smoky & CityBeat Bar 14. Woodford & Heidelberg 15. Beerded Pig 16. Sammy’s 17. Eli’s BBQ 18. Pontiac 19. Piggin N’ Grinnin 20. Amaizing Grace Kettle Corn 21. Off the Bone 22. Brew City Sausage 23. Sweets & Meats 24. Rivertown 25. Pit to Plate 26. DHR Guitar 27. Band Inventory Merchandise 28. Music Stage 29. Tickets 30. ATM Kiosks

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B L U E A S H S U M M I T PA R K 5

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Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 9

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Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 11

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Boswell’s 12 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

Featuring the Boursin Burger with Bacon and Rodeo Burger

1686 Blue Rock St. • Cincinnati (513) 681-8100• boswellalley.com

Nice work if you can get it Whiskey Ambassador Pete Wagner II helps patrons and staff know their drinks By St e ph e n Novot n i

CityBeat: It sounds like the life of The World’s Most Interesting Man. How close is that to the reality? Whiskey Pete: (Laughs) Everybody has their good days. I will say working for Brown-Forman has been a blessing. When you have brands like Woodford, Jack Daniels, Old Forrester — when you have these strong brands, it’s very easy to go in and speak to them. But there’s a lot of road time, a lot of lag time. Everybody has their paperwork and their quotas. I will say it’s pretty darn close. It’s a fantastic job. I get paid for my palate.

CB: How much drink literacy or lack thereof do you find among patrons and bar staff? What do you teach them?

WP: Everybody is much more educated about drinking than they used to be. Both the consumers and some of the bartenders. I’ll go and I’ll find these bars out in the middle of nowhere that have these great culinary and drink programs. And then you’ll find a bar in an urban area that has been getting by with the same old drink list. The consumers are a lot more savvy. I tell people that the United States as a whole was really the cocky teenager of the world scene, with all the money and the power for so long. It’s only been recently that we’ve gotten into the small things in life — the food and the drink. People are becoming much more learned in their consumption. They are drinking and eating seasonally, regionally. The big thing for me is to know what the people want (to learn). That changes from bar to bar. You can’t do some crazy, high-end, molecular mixology for Joe’s bar down on the corner. But you can do your classic cocktails and train their staff on using fresh juices, on using a jigger.

CB: Are cocktails more art or science? WP: Recently, I heard someone say, “That’s a good person. I like to pour them a little extra.” But that should never be the case. Mixology is like baking. It’s a precise art. You want your measure-

ments exact. Those recipes are there for a reason. Just getting everyone on the same page and making sure everyone understands the math behind it.

CB: What are common misperceptions you find among bar staffs? WP: Underpouring or overpouring. A well-made drink is a balanced drink and that’s a combination of sweet, spicy and bitter. If you do that as a bartender, you’re going to create a person who wants two or three and, thanks to our friends at Uber, maybe four. When you overpour, people are getting intoxicated. BrownForman, one of the things we believe in is responsible consumption. To the same point, if you’re pouring weak drinks, then you have a consumer who is not getting a consistent product.

CB: What questions do you hear most often? WP: Predominately, I speak to the whiskies. One of the questions I am most asked is, “What is the difference between bourbon and whiskey?” Whiskey, by definition is a fermented grain alcohol that’s distilled and aged in an oak vessel. Whether it’s Scotch, bourbon, Tennessee, Irish, they are all whiskey. Where it is determines how it’s made. And there are certain laws behind Scotch, certain laws behind Ten-

nessee, certain laws behind bourbon. Once you break that down, you can figure out the regionality based on those laws. With Scotch whiskey, if there’s more of a peat profile to it, or more of an iodine profile, you can figure out where it comes from. Each whiskey lends itself to the crafting of a cocktail. With our products, we have the Tennessee whiskeys that have the charcoal mellowing, that’s the Lincoln County process, getting rid of some of the smoother notes from the grain. Our yeast strain has a banana profile — by bringing up these notes that naturally occur in the product, it allows better pairing.

CB: What do people find surprising about whiskey? WP: Whiskey has over 200 flavors to it. You can do certain tricks to play with your palate. I’ll have everyone take a sip of Woodford and then sample a dried cherry or a dried cranberry. The fruit juices, the sugars, will play off the spices of the rye and will soften the overall profile, showing Woodford’s silky mouth feel. So it’s getting around the alcohol and it’s all about mouth feel. We’ll do orange slices, which shows off its brighter, more effervescent side. If you eat toasted hazelnuts or almonds, they’re high in tannic acid. So are our barrels. You are compounding those tannic acids and it brings out smokier notes. ©

Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 13

ete Wagner II is a whiskey ambassador. He is paid to go to bars. But not as a barfly. His job is to fill in information gaps between the whiskey industry — specifically the company for which he works, liquor and wine distributor Brown-Forman — and the public and bar staffs around Ohio. So when a bartender or bar patron wants to really understand the subtleties of whiskey and how to fully exploit its pairings, they talk to Pete and he explains what makes America’s favorite hard liquor tick.

Wonder what spirit and sake tastes like? 46 top global tasters say Medal Worthy

LIVE M USIC

F riday 5 p.m. Willow Tree Carolers 6 p.m. Wonky Tonk 7 p.m. The Missy Werner Band 8 p.m. Justin Paul Lewis 9 p.m. Jay Jesse Johnson Band

Sat urday

14 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

2 p.m. Joe Wannabe 3 p.m. Ethan and Joey 4 p.m. Ma Crow and the LadySlippers 5 p.m. The Rosetint Collective 6 p.m. Right Turn Clyde 7 p.m. Taylor Shannon 8 p.m. Royal Holland 9 p.m. Comet Bluegrass All-Stars GenUine hickory smoked bbq

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Cooper Creek

Summit Park

Summit Park, located in the center of Blue Ash, is a 130-acre world-class park project currently under development where visitors will enjoy large & small events, interactive programming, unique learning opportunities and year-round experiences in one of the region’s most beautiful settings. Development will continue for the next several years as we watch Summit Park’s story unfold.

Special Events

The City of Blue Ash’s premiere events feature delicious food from local restaurants, local and national entertainment wrapped up in an inviting, family atmosphere. We host a Summer Concert Series in addition to the annual Red White and Blue Ash and Taste-Blue Ash Food & Music Festival. Our events give the community a great way to connect with friends, bring the kids out for fun, and enjoy making new memories.

BlueAsh.com

Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • 15

Cooper Creek is the newest hot spot in Greater Cincinnati for social and corporate events. Centrally located in the desirable Blue Ash Community, we’re an inviting, upscale destination overlooking the scenic Blue Ash Golf Course. From the moment you arrive, you’ll be greeted with immaculate grounds, a grand entrance and breathtaking views. We are proud to offer exquisite cuisine and exceptional service in an extraordinary atmosphere.

16 • THE PORKOPLIS PIG & WHISKEY FESTIVAL • Friday, July 21 - Saturday July 22, 2017

Cincinnati-style.