In 2017, brewers from Urban Artifact discovered a beer yeast strain clinging to life in a wooden, pre-Prohibition fermenting vat within the previously sealed-off 164-year-old lagering cellar of the long-defunct F. & J.A. Linck Brewery. Due to its mysterious circumstances and in homage to the Linck Brewery, the yeast was named Missing Linck.
In 2019, Cincinnati City Council passed a Resolution declaring June 1 “Missing Linck Day.” The Resolution both honored the discovery of the yeast, the storied history of F. & J.A. Linck Brewery, and vowed that “Urban Artifact will open their brewery on the first weekend of June 2020 and the years thereafter to professional brewers and homebrewers alike who want to share beers that they create with Missing Linck Yeast.” Missing Linck Festival was born! Then there was a pandemic. The first festival was cancelled and the yeast has not been used since 2019.
NOW, the yeast that refuses to die is back! On Saturday, June 5, 2021, Cincinnati brewery Urban Artifact is reviving Missing Linck for a draft-only release, but this event is bigger than one brewery and one beer. Keeping the promise that is made to the City of Cincinnati in 2019, Urban Artifact has invited some of the best breweries in Greater Cincinnati to brew with this heritage yeast, and Missing Linck Festival is proud to announce that the following breweries are partners in Missing Linck Fest 2021: Bircus Brewing Co., Fibonacci Brewing Company, Humble Monk Brewing Co., Knox Joseph Beer Co. in the OTR Stillhouse, West Side Brewing, and Wooden Cask Brewing Company.
“We are extremely excited to expand Missing Linck this year and bring together an amazing team of people. When the discovery was first made, we were a bit overwhelmed with the gravity and importance of this yeast,” says Bret Kollmann Baker, Director of Brewing Operations at Urban Artifact, who is also co-founder and co-owner. “Being able to bring other breweries on board this year, and see how they add their own style is what we had always hoped to see.” He adds, “That’s what will ensure this tradition carries on.”
Each participating brewery is using Missing Linck Yeast, but other than use of the yeast, this collection of talented brewers are making a variety of styles and no two Missing Linck beers will be the same.
Each participating brewery will have their version of Missing Linck on tap in their taproom. To highlight each of these amazing breweries, tapping events will be held at different locations on June 4th, 5th, and 11th on the following schedule:
- Friday, June 4, 5:00PM, all of the following Missing Linck brews will be released:
- Bircus Brewing Co., 322 Elm St., Ludlow, KY 41016 will be serving a Flemish Red style sour made with Missing Linck Yeast.
- Knox Joseph Beer Co. in the OTR Stillhouse, 2015 Branch St., Cincinnati, OH 45202 is tapping Missing Drink-a-Linck, a Belgian Trappist, and giving guests a preview of the soon-to-be open OTR Stillhouse.
- West Side Brewing Co., 3044 Harrison Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45211 will be tapping Cincinnati Historical Ale, a homegrown Missing Linck version of a Belgian Blonde that lets the peppery spice and funk of the yeast shine through.
- Wooden Cask Brewing Co., 629 York St., Newport, KY 41071 will be tapping Highlanderthal, which starts as a classic Scottish Ale and takes a turn into something very different when fermented with Missing Linck Yeast.
- Saturday, June 5, Noon:
- Urban Artifact Brewing Co., 1662 Blue Rock St., Cincinnati, OH 45223, the genesis and epicenter of Missing Linck Festival taps their newest version of Missing Linck, a Cincinnati Tart Saison with Strawberry and Passionfruit.
- Humble Monk Brewing Co., 1641 Blue Rock St., Cincinnati, OH 45223, across the street from Urban Artifact, will be tapping Goldi Lincks, a session ale with subtle citrus and spice coming from the yeast. Humble Monk will also be hosting Big Gs Barbecue food truck.
- Friday, June 11, 3:00PM
- Fibonacci Brewing Co., 1445 Compton Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45231, Mt. Healthy’s one and only brewery, Air BnB, beer garden, and urban farm. Fibonacci’s version of Missing Linck is a steam beer brewed with blueberries, for a delightfully fruit forward crisp drinking beer!
Due to the ongoing issues and concerns with COVID-19 this year, Missing Linck Festival 2021 will not have a centralized location. We encourage you to head out to all the different breweries this year and try all these unique Cincinnati beers. Missing Linck is evolving, and June 5 will mark the beginning of an annual festival centered around this historic yeast. And in future years the fextival will continue as that funky sea of humanity in Northside that we hope it will become for years to come.
For years, brewers have created beer using yeast that has been analyzed and reconstructed from old beer. However, we believe that Missing Linck is the first ever modern-day beer to have been made from original brewer’s yeast, which likely dates back to at least Prohibition and maybe decades before. Cincinnati is the only city in America to have its own heritage yeast strain.
More about the participating breweries, Missing Linck Festival, the history of F. & J.A. Linck Brewery, and a link to the documentary about the discovery of the yeast can be found at www.MissingLinck.com.
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