“The Craft Brewery Issue” of Food & Dining Magazine (Fall 2022; Vol. 75) is coming in September.
Today’s cover photo was taken in May, 1995, at the Drawbridge Estate in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, where an inaugural beer festival (I think it died well before “2nd annual” became a promotional option) took place at the Oldenberg Brewing Company (founded 1987).
The Gnarly Gnome has a good overview of the brewery’s 15-year history, which primarily attests to the level of sheer underachievement-by-design which is attainable whenever beer is regarded as an investment vehicle (read: after-thought) pursued by lawyers and real estate moguls. The site apparently has been cleared of structures, and will become a purpose-built retirement community.
In retrospect, there is something instructive, encouraging and almost noble about retirees living where the German-style beer hall was unceremoniously converted into a Coyote’s-branded boot, scoop and booger emporium.
For some reason, recollections of Oldenberg have brought the phrase...
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