In 1992, Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company teamed up with Over-the-Rhine advocates and revived Bockfest to celebrate the brewery’s introduction of Christian Moerlein Bock, giving birth to an eclectic and uniquely Cincinnati festival.
In the 1800s, Cincinnati was one of America’s most prolific brewing cities. Cincinnatians drank more beer per capita than any other city in the country, and Over-the-Rhine was, at one point, home to more than 18 breweries A tradition led by breweries like Christian Moerlein and Hudepohl developed among the breweries to release all their bock beer on the same day. Bock beer is a rich, complex, robust lager that marks the end of the winter brewing season and the beginning of spring.
The Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Co. will continue its participation in Bockfest 2010 by providing two Limited Edition Bock beers. Namesakes of both sides of the iconic Cincinnati brewing company will be represented with Hudepohl Bock and Schoenling Bock. Cincinnati’s own Moerlein Emancipator Doppel Bock along with these historic Hudepohl and Schoenling Brews will only be available during Bockfest and participating Bockfest venues.
Events during Bockfest include the Bockfest Parade on Friday, a homebrewers’ competition on Saturday at Bockfest Hall, 1621 Moore St., Prohibition Resistance tours on Saturday and Sunday, Over-the-Rhine Historic Church Tours on Sunday, and live music throughout the weekend. Sunday includes German Day hosted by the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati with cultural events and plenty of GEMÜTLICHKEIT (German for “coziness” or “cheerfulness”) at Bockfest Hall. A free shuttle bus will transport Bockfest attendees between venues. Bockfest attendance is free and there are no cover charges for events or bands, except for tours. Pre-Bockfest events will occur throughout the month.
ABOUT BOCK BEER:
(Please look at Hudepohl, Schoenling, Moerlein Bock beer logos)
Bock beer is traditionally a dark, rich lager with a higher nutritional and alcohol content than other lagers. It was originally brewed by German monks for sustenance during the Lenten fast. In pre-prohibition Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine’s dozens of breweries would introduce their seasonal bock beers around Lent.
Schoenling Bock is back on tap after roughly a quarter-century’s absence. The iconic Cincinnati brand started its revitalization with the reintroduction of the Schoenling name to the Little Kings Original Cream Ale labels in 2009. Schoenling Bock has been revived specifically for this year’s Bockfest.
Hudepohl Bock makes its Cincinnati return as the winning recipe of the 2009 Bockfest Homebrewers’ Competition – an annual Bloatarian Brewing League event. Michael Carver of Florence, Ky. created 2009’s competition-winning Bock. Carver was given the opportunity to recreate his recipe as Hudepohl Bock for this year’s Bockfest. Details for the 2010 Bockfest Homebrewers’ Competition are available at the Bloatarian Brewing League Web site, www.bloatarian.org.
BOCKFEST EVENTS
Friday, February 18, 2010 through Saturday, March 6, 2010: Bockfest Sausage Queen Competition. The Bohemian Bockfest Parade includes the “Sausage Queen” – Bockfest royalty who carries a ceremonial tray of bockwurst sausage. The Queen is crowned during Bockfest after a series of four, pre-Bockfest preliminary pageant rounds. Sausage Queen 2009 will carry the tray of bockwurst in this year’s parade, accompanied by a court of contestants. On Saturday, March 7, 2010, at 8 p.m., at Bockfest Hall, Sausage Queen 2010 will be selected in a gender-neutral competition.
A panel of "expert" judges will determine the best applicant based on the following criteria.
1. Personality: Good traits will include a love of bock beer, a sense of humor. The personality round will involve a series of questions posed to the contestants by the judges.
2. Presence: The contestant must look good in the bohemian spirit carrying a tray of sausages. The presence round will involve a very short catwalk turn while carrying a tray of bockwurst.
3. Talent: Whatever “talent” you think a Sausage Queen should possess is good enough for us.
Complete rules and details are available at www.bockfest.com
Coverage suggestions:
· There are four preliminary rounds. The events produce very memorable scenes. Preliminary Sausage Queen rounds will be conducted at:
Ø February 18, 2010, 9 p.m., Arnold’s Bar & Grill, 210 East 8th St., Cincinnati
Ø February 26, 2010, 9 p.m., Blue Bar, 266 Pike St., Covington
Ø February 27, 2010, 9 p.m., Milton’s Prospect Hill Tavern, Cincinnati
Ø March 6, 2010, 8 p.m., FINALS at Bockfest Hall 1621 Moore St., Cincinnati
· Contestants sign waivers permitting use of their image to promote Bockfest and cameras are welcome at the preliminary competitions and at the Finale.
Tuesday, February 16, 5:30p.m.: Special VIP Tour and Dinner at Arnold’s to Benefit the Over-the-Rhine Foundation. Arnold’s Bar & Grill, 210 E. 8th St., is generously hosting a fundraiser for the Over-the-Rhine Foundation. Proceeds will help make Bockfest possible. With the support of the Brewery District CURC, the event will also include a private, VIP version of the Prohibition Resistance Tour 2010. The event will include:
· A gourmet, wild game, five course dinner with beer pairings
· Brief histories of beer in Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine, and Arnold’s by Bret Androski (Arnold’s owner), Jim Tarbell (former Vice-Mayor and Arnold’s owner), Steve Hampton (President of the Brewery District CURC), Michael Morgan (Director of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation), and Greg Hardman (President and CEO of Christian Moerlein Brewing)
· Guided tours of the subterranean lagering tunnels under the former Kauffman Brewery and the Crown Brewery, including passage through a tunnel under McMicken that has been unearthed after being sealed and lost to time for over 50 years.
· Tickets are $95. The price includes dinner, drinks, and the tour. $80 of the purchase price is a tax-deductible donation to the Over-the-Rhine Foundation. Tickets can be purchased at: www.otrbrewerydistrict.org
Sunday, February 28, at 4 p.m.: Precipitation Retaliation. Milton’s Prospect Hill Tavern, 301 Milton St., Cincinnati, Ohio will host a pre-Bockfest happy hour 4-7p.m., featuring Hudepohl and Christian Moerlein beer specials. The 2008 Bockfest Parade was officially cancelled by the City of Cincinnati due to coinciding with the worst blizzard in a decade. In homage to 2008, as a call for the coming of spring, and in an attempt to intimidate the weather into cooperation, we burned a snowman in effigy in 2009. The event was a lot of fun and, more importantly, it worked! Bockfest 2009 was blessed with some of the best weather in Bockfest history, so we are repeating the event. Coverage suggestions:
· Cameras are welcome at the event. Precipitation Retaliation would be a fitting compliment to a weather forecast. (Unlike Groundhog Day in Pennsylvania, we Cincinnatians take matters into our own hands.)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 6p.m. – 9p.m.: Unveiling of 2010 Hudepohl Bock & Schoenling Bock tapping at Mecklenburg Gardens. Mecklenburg Gardens, 302 E. University Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio will be hosting a sneak preview of three 2010 Bocks on the Wednesday before Bockfest officially begins. Get a special bock preview in a Cincinnati landmark. Mecklenburg Gardens, Cincinnati’s oldest restaurant, will be hosting the first tapping of this year’s Hudepohl Bock and Schoenling Bock. Last year, we started an annual tradition: The winning recipe in the Bockfest Bock Homebrew Competition is used to brew the following year’s Hudepohl Bock. The professionally judged 2009 award winning recipe, brewed by Michael Carver of Florence, Ky., will be tapped for the first time in a Bockfest preview. The Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company is bringing back Schoenling Bock after almost a quarter-century’s absence. Hudepohl Bock and Schoenling Bock will only be available at Mecklenburg Gardens and Bockfest venues during Bockfest. Spaten Brewery will also have available seasonal Spaten Maibock. Mecklenburg Gardens will have a German buffet to complement the sneak preview of this year’s 2010 bocks.
Friday, March 5, 2010, 6 p.m.: Bockfest Parade & Blessing of the Bock beer at Bockfest Hall: Bockfest will officially begin with the Bockfest Parade, forming in front of Arnold’s Bar & Grill, 210 E. 8th St., Cincinnati, at 5:30 p.m. and starts to move at 6 p.m.. The Bockfest Parade is frequently described as Cincinnati’s “most bohemian” parade. It is lead by a goat pulling a keg of bock beer, a “Sausage Queen” carrying a tray of bockwurst sausage, and followed by a very non-traditional procession of a motorized bathtub, “bocking dogs,” a brewing kettle of beer, faux monks, quirky floats, and a lot more. The parade will move up Main St. and end in a brief ceremony to be held in Bockfest Hall, 1621 Moore St. The ceremony includes Franciscan Monks blessing and tapping a ceremonial keg of bock beer. Parade judges will also announce the winner of best entry in the Bockfest Parade. The ceremony will then be followed by live music in participating venues.
· Blessing of the keg at Bockfest Hall at 7:00 p.m. The official start of Bockfest includes the blessing of the Bock beer, a must see event which includes proclamations and a skit with time period actors from the Renaissance and early 19th century monks, beer barons and other dignitaries.
· 2010 Grand Marshall: Manfred Schnetzer has been chosen as this year’s Grand Marshall in the Bockfest Parade. Manfred Schnetzer serves as Vice-President of the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati. He and his wife, Regina, are also active members of the Catholic Kolping Society and the Deutsche Buben Verein. He is a retired mechanical engineer from General Electric Aircraft Engines. They also hold the honor of being featured as successful German immigrants in an exhibit at the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, Germany.
· Evenings entertainment will be provided by Cincinnati’s own The Bier Band and Jake Speed and the Freddie’s.
Coverage suggestions:
· Many still photos of previous parades are available upon request.
Saturday, March 6, 2010: Bloatarian Brewing League’s Second Annual Hudepohl Bock Homebrew Competition at Bockfest Hall. From noon to 6 p.m., the Bloatarian Brewing League will be holding a professionally conducted and judged bock beer homebrew competition. The winner’s recipe will be used to produce Hudepohl Bock in 2011. Hudepohl Bock is brewed in Cincinnati and is only available at Bockfest. More information about the competition can be found at www.bloatarian.org/content/view/54/62/
· Homebrewers are available to discuss homebrewing, the competition, and bock beer. Homebrewing equipment is easily moved and a beer can be partially cooked during a television morning or evening news segment.
Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7, 2010: Prohibition Resistance Tours. Prior to Prohibition, Over-the-Rhine and the West End were two of America’s most prolific brewing centers, home to dozens of breweries. Prior to electric refrigeration, most of them relied on cavernous sub-basements far below street level to brew and age lager beers. This year’s tours will take participants into the lagering tunnels of the Kauffman and Crown breweries, including a tunnel underneath McMicken Avenue that has been sealed for over 50 years and is being opened to the public for the very first time. Ticket price is $30 each and tickets are on sale in advance. Tours will sell out prior to Bockfest. Tickets can be purchased at www.bockfest.com
· We will be happy to provide access to brewery sights and subterranean brewing tunnels in advance of Bockfest, and make someone available to discuss Cincinnati brewing history.
· The contact for Prohibition Resistance coverage is Steve Hampton, President of the Brewery District CURC, (513) 484-2493 or info@otrbrewerydistrict.org
· From noon to 6 p.m., Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzman will be present to sign books and answer questions about Cincinnati’s German history, and George Hibben will display one of the mid-west’s most significant collections of antique German beer steins, along with additional cultural exhibitors (additional authors to be named at a later date) Bockfest Hall, 1621 Moore St., Cincinnati.
· Bockfest Hall located at 1621 Moore St. Parking available on site and at shuttle bus locations. Go to www.bockfest.com for more details.
· Bockfest Hall will be open:
o Friday March 5th: 4 p.m.- Midnight
o Saturday March 6th: 10 a.m. to Midnight
o Sunday March 7th : 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, March 7, 2010, 2p.m. – 4p.m.: OTR Historic Church Tour. Guided walking tours of several of Over-the-Rhine’s most important sacred spaces. Over-the-Rhine is home to several of America’s oldest German-American congregations and the City of Cincinnati’s most historic churches. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.bockfest.com
· Tour Itinerary: Old St. Mary’s (Cincinnati’s Oldest church), Nast Trinity (the home of German Methodism in America), Central Assembly of God (better known as Wielert’s Tavern, open to the public for the first time), Zion’s Church and St. Paul Church (these historically important churches are in disrepair and tour will only include and exterior discuss of their history, condition, and current status), First Lutheran, St. Frances Sereph (including the basement graveyard.) All proceeds benefit the Over-the-Rhine Foundation.
· Coverage Suggestion: We will be happy to make arrangements for access to any of these historic churches in advance.
Sunday, March 7, 2010: GEMÜTLICHKEIT (German culture day) hosted by the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati: We are also having a German Buffet from (all you can eat, details coming) 1:00-3:00 pm. Sunday will be a day celebrating Over-the-Rhine’s German heritage. A procession will leave Old St. Mary’s church following traditional German mass and end in a brief ceremony at Bockfest Hall, 1621 Moore St., Cincinnati. From noon to 6 p.m., Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzman will be present to sign books and answer questions about Cincinnati’s German history, and George Hibben will display one of the mid-west’s most significant collections of antique German beer steins, along with additional cultural exhibitors (additional authors to be named at a later date). Throughout the day, German bands, traditional German entertainment, and German dancing will be featured at the Hall: the Polka Dots 1 p.m., Enzian Tanz Gruppe (traditional German dancing) at 2 p.m., and Donauschwaben Schuhplattler (traditional German variety show) at 4 p.m. Sunday will be family-friendly. Admission is free. Coverage suggestions:
· German performers in traditional German dress can be available to demonstrate performances: horns, dancing, whip cracking, etc.
· Camera arrangements can be made to enter Old St. Mary’s church. One of the city’s oldest churches, Old St. Mary’s rivals European cathedrals. It still conducts German Mass as it has for almost 170 years, and has a Rathskeller remaining from a time when a few pints of beer after mass were a basic part of German family-life in Over-the-Rhine.
· Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzman can be available to discuss German-American history in Over-the-Rhine and the importance of beer in Cincinnati’s economic and cultural development (possibly at Old St. Mary’s.)
· George Hibben can bring portions of stein collection to a photo shoot or studio.
Live Entertainment Throughout Bockfest Weekend: There will be live music at the venues throughout Bockfest weekend. There is no fee for Bockfest and the festival provides a free shuttle bus between venues. The vast majority of entertainment is free.
Bockfest Hall: This year’s Bockfest Hall will be in the historic Kauffman Brewery (most recently the Husman potato chip factory), 1621 Moore St. (north of Liberty, between Walnut and Vine.)
Contact Information:
· Mike Morgan, Executive Director of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, can be contacted with general Bockfest questions at info@otrfoundation.org or by phone at (513) 721-1317.
· Steve Hampton, President of the Brewery District CURC, can be contacted with questions about Prohibition Resistance or access to historic brewery buildings at info@otrbrewerydistrict.org or by phone at (513) 484-2493.
· An up-to-date schedule of Bockfest events is posted at www.bockfest.com
1 comment:
Great Post about Bockfest! Thanks so much.
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