After reviving and relaunching Little Kings earlier this year, the new owners of CinBev are relaunching one of Cincinnati’s most iconic beer brands, as Christian Moerlein has been completely overhauled and is returning to its roots as a brand representing the tastes and styles of a simpler time.
To keep things simple, the the brand is relaunching with just two beers: a lager and a hefeweizen. Good start. The original Moerlein lager was the first American craft beer to pass the German Reinheitsgebot purity law back in the 1980s. The new beers also meet Reinheistgebot standards: nothing is in the beer other than barley, hops, yeast, and water.
To keep things even simpler, the beers are just named Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. Lager and Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. Hefeweizen. I love it. The new owners clearly see the importance of the history of these brands, and brewing traditional German styles is what Moerlein is meant to do and be.
The new brand features the traditional Moerlein “M” with a crown with clean, simple lettering and the style of the beer front and center.
The new brand statement reads:
Christian Moerlein is returning to the beers that have made it famous for over 150 years. Adhering to the centuries-old German recipes and techniques, we brew timeless styles in Cincinnati that are as close as you can get to Munich without catching a plane. Pour one today and find out why our beers have stood the test of time.
In addition to the beer brands, new owner John Richardson also acquired three historic breweries in Over-the-Rhine: Clyffside, Felsenhaus, and the Jackson Brewery.
The plan is to renovate the Clyffside/Felsenhaus Breweries into a taproom and event space as well as a working brewery and bottling/canning operation. Some of this work is already underway and I was able to take a tour of the Clyffside/Felsenhaus Breweries during Bockfest earlier this month prior to the renovations starting (see below).
The idea is to have that brewery open to the public sometime next year, while the Jackson Brewery will have a longer journey, as it needs major work after a fire a few years ago.