Preservation + Pints (Or Shots)
By Sarah Marsom
Craft breweries and distilleries have swept Ohio by storm. Many breweries are hoping to revitalize the state’s history as a beer capital, and many distilleries are using historical beverages to inspire their contemporary palates. Here are a few places you should try!
Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus (Columbus)—both a popular bar and eye catching building in Columbus. Elevator Brewery’s history dates back to 1897. Located in the Bott Brothers’ Billiards building, this contemporary bar thrives on its historical elements—the billiards tables from the 1800s, stained glass entry, tile floors, decorative ceilings, and a well preserved bar. The Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Columbia Building. You can go to www.elevatorbrewing.com for more information.
Image source: elevatorbrewing.com
Rhinegeist (Cincinnati)—Rhinegeist means “ghost of the Rhine”, and bringing a ghost back to life is exactly what this beer company did! Located in the historic Over-the-Rhine brewery district, Rhinegeist is revitalizing the beer industry, which made the area thrive in the late 1800s. Prohibition put 38 breweries out of business and left countless German immigrants unemployed. In the recent past, developers have been revitalizing the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood; Rhinegeist has sparked new life into Christian Moerling Brewing Company’s old bottling plant. Want to learn more about the building’s history and Rhinegeist? Take one of their guided tours. You can learn more at www.rhinegeist.com.
Image source: rhinegeist.com
*Cincinnati is also home to underground brewery tours! This town’s beer history is deep!
Homestead Beer Co (Licking County)—while the brewery is not in a historic building, Homestead Beer Co has its headquarters in the very historic community of Granville, and the name evokes wonderment of the original farm settlements, which created a thriving Licking County in the 1800s. Homestead Brewing does not use modern yeast strains, instead preferring yeast which could have been used by grandfathers of the past to brew. With brew names such as 1805, Five Points Irish, and Barnraiser, one knows the people behind Homestead use the past as inspiration to create contemporary drinks. Go to www.homesteadbeerco.com to learn more.
Image source: homesteadbeerco.com
E.S. Distillery (outside Fremont)—located in a 120-year-old barn, the Ernesto Scarano distillery is worth a visit. This craft distillery is supposedly the smallest legal whiskey distillery in America. Www.esdistillery.com for more information.
What are some of your favorite bars, breweries, or distilleries in Ohio with historic elements? Add your favorites to the list in the comments section below.
A sneak peek into what YOP is planning
We’re excited to start a new blog series this month, with preservation perspectives written by Young Ohio Preservationist members. Sarah Marsom, the YOP chair, kicks off the series this month.
The Young Ohio Preservationists are new to the scene and excited for 2015. We have already hosted a successful tour of the Cristo Rey Columbus High School, which was an exciting multi-million dollar tax credit project, and we had an engaging window restoration workshop, where we fixed all of the historic windows in a Dutch Colonial home in the Westgate neighborhood of Columbus.
Attendees of the windows workshop gather outside the Westgate home. Photo courtesy of Stephen Newport.
It is the Young Ohio Preservationists board’s goal to provide unique experiences to both recreational and professional preservationists. And if you are wondering if you are too old to participate, do not worry! We invite people of all ages to engage with us.
Throughout the year we will be rolling out exclusive events, but here is a sneak peek for two experiences you cannot miss out on!
On April 25, the Young Ohio Preservationists are taking Newark by storm. The Licking County Foundation has invited us to tour the Louis Sullivan designed Home Building Association Bank, and they are coordinating some bonus historic building tours exclusively for the YOPs! Following the tours, we will be hosting a design charrette and helping the foundation brainstorm the best adaptive use opportunities for the Sullivan designed bank.
The Sullivan designed bank building in downtown Newark. Photo courtesy of Sarah Marsom.
As part of the Green Lawn Abbey CLG grant, the YOPs will be hosting a marble cleaning workshop. Green Lawn Abbey is a 1927 neoclassical mausoleum listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been undergoing a restoration for a number of years. The Centennial Preservation Group will teach participants the best practices for marble cleaning. Our assistance will bring Green Lawn Abbey one step closer to renting the space for events and creating a sustainable income source for maintenance.
Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or join our mailing list by emailing yop@heritageohio.org to make sure you know about our events!
Young Ohio Preservationists
Update 3/1/2016: The Young Ohio Preservationists have become a reality and are located at youngohiopreservationists.org!
One of my absolute favorite blogs is Preservation in Pink, so I found her post a few weeks back about young preservationists especially interesting. As you may be aware, Heritage Ohio has been active in working to help build a Young Ohio Preservationist movement, from developing a survey to get feedback about how 20-40 year old self-identified preservationists view themselves shaping preservation in Ohio, to holding one-on-one stakeholder interviews, to holding introductory planning meetings in Columbus this past January.
As the PiP author expresses in her blog post, preservationists in leadership positions have done a better job in recent years of actively engaging people under 40 to help shape the preservation movement. Although some bristle at the notion that a “Young Preservationist” appellation is even needed, preferring instead to seamlessly mesh with the rest of the preservation world, the concept of giving young preservationists special status within the preservation world has taken hold. A lot of Old Preservationists (myself included) are excited by the prospect of fresh ideas, and new ways of looking at (and saving) old buildings that young preservationists can bring to the table.
What do you think? Is there a place in the preservation world for groups of a specific age range?