By Dave Kubacki, Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
On March 6, area residents will find plenty of craft beers to fill their sample-sized glasses as the Glass City Beer Festival opens its doors for the ninth year.
The event, which will again be held at the Lucas County Recreation Center in Maumee, supports Camp Courageous & The Arc of NW Ohio and the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation.
The event will provide attendees an oasis from the reality of winter, said Carla Wells, executive director of the Northwest Ohio Hemophilia Foundation.
“People are ready to go out and do something fun,” Wells said. “It’s an indoor event so we don’t have to worry about the weather.”
The festival, which runs from 7-11 p.m., will offer pours of more than 200 beers from 40 breweries.
While the event will feature microbreweries from across the country, Lucas County will be represented well. Six area breweries will offer their beers: Maumee Bay Brewing Co., Great Black Swamp Brewing Company, Black Cloister Brewing Company, Black Frog Brewery, Sugar Ridge Brewery and Flatrock Brewing Company.
Black Cloister CEO Tom Schaeffer said the festival is one of the area’s premier events.
“The growth the Glass City Beer Festival has experienced since its inception has been amazing,” Schaeffer said. “It’s really a sizable festival at this point. It just shows that there is a growing craft beer culture in this area and that makes it very exciting for us to be a part of that and being a new brewery in the area. We have a starving public out there right now.”
Black Cloister, which is slated to open at 619 Monroe St. on March 20, is part of the growing craft beer scene in the Toledo area. According to Chris Harris of Black Frog Brewery, the festival provides an opportunity for the community to learn more about craft beers.
“It gives me a chance to reach a broader audience besides the core beer drinking community that follows craft beer,” Harris said. “A lot of people go to the Glass City Beer Festival so it’s a great chance to expand my audience and show everyone in Toledo what I have to offer.”
This year’s event will host new food vendors including PizzAroma and Granite City Food & Brewery, both in Maumee. Perrysburg’s Swig will again provide food for the VIP area, which opens an hour earlier and offers access to exclusive beers.
Wells said the festival offers an opportunity for people to try styles they might otherwise skip.
“Craft beers are not usually inexpensive so it is a great way to try a bunch of different beers that you may have seen at The Andersons or at Joseph’s Beverage Center and didn’t really want to pay $10 or $15 for a six-pack without knowing if you’d like it,” Wells said.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door ($50/$55 VIP). Advance tickets can be purchased at The Andersons customer service desks. Admission includes 12 taste tickets (18 for VIP) with additional taste tickets available for $1 each or six for $5. Parking is $5.
For more information, visit the Glass City Beer Festival Facebook page or glasscitybeerfest.com.
