Ohio Pint Day Taps Craft Beer Fans for Support

Ohio Pint Day, a fundraiser for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association (OCBA), will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at more than 100 participating breweries across the state. The inaugural promotion invites craft beer enthusiasts to purchase a limited-edition collectible pint glass available exclusively at the participating brewery taprooms. A portion of the sale of each glass benefits OCBA, the non-profit organization that promotes, protects and unifies Ohio’s craft brewing industry.

With state and local restrictions on large gatherings still in place to slow the spread of coronavirus, OCBA has been forced to cancel several fundraising events this year. The trade association reached out to brewers guilds in other states to swap ideas on how to generate revenue when beer festivals are not an option. Inspired by an existing pint glass promotion run by the Colorado Brewers Guild, OCBA launched Ohio Pint Day and got enthusiastic buy-in from more than 100 Ohio breweries.

OCBA commissioned Columbus artist Adam Hernandez to design the inaugural Ohio Pint Day glass around the theme “#InThisTogetherOhio” after seeing the can designs he had produced for Jackie O’s Brewery.

“For this piece, I chose to depict Ohio’s state bird, the cardinal, as a phoenix,” Hernandez explains in his artist’s statement. “The phoenix is a powerful creature that represents transformation and rebirth… My goal is that when the community sees the Cardinal Phoenix they will be challenged to look inward and see how they too can be transformed.”

Hernandez’s art will be showcased on a 16-ounce “can” glass provided by Boelter Beverage. The glass style was chosen in part to reflect the craft beer industry’s emergency pivot to canned beer in 2020 necessitated by the response to the pandemic.

Ohio Pint Day is the third merchandise-based fundraiser OCBA has held in 2020, following the Ohio Brew Haul carry out beer promotion in May and the Ale-O-Ween t-shirt sale that concluded in late September. As with both of those campaigns, OCBA will offer a bonus stamp on the Ohio On Tap brewery passport app for people who purchase an Ohio Pint Day glass. Users will be able to submit selfies with their glass from Oct. 27 through Nov. 1 to receive the stamp.

Tuesday, October 27 was chosen as the date for the inaugural Ohio Pint Day as it coincides with National American Beer Day, a day to celebrate the most American of beers: the ones made here in our neighborhoods, towns and cities by independently-owned craft breweries. Public health also played a role in the choice of date: brewery taprooms tend to have more patrons on weekends, so the promotion is being held on a Tuesday in order to avoid overcrowding.

On Ohio Pint Day, craft beer fans can expect to find many different offers from participating breweries. Some breweries may sell the glass filled with the customer’s choice of beer, others may include the glass with a crowler or growler purchase to go, still others may sell the glass individually.

“As challenging as 2020 has been for our organization, it has been even more of a challenge for Ohio breweries,” said OCBA executive director Mary MacDonald. “We’ve made it a point to make sure that our fundraisers this year can benefit the bottom lines of our breweries as well.”

A complete list and map of participating breweries can be found at https://ohiocraftbeer.org/ohiopintday/

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