It has been five years since the Cincinnati Chapter of Mondiale was wowed by spending an evening with Dave Gausepohl, locally known as “Beer Dave.” He has worked in the production, wholesale, and retail sectors of the industry and currently serves as the Specialty Beer Manager for the Heidelberg Distributing Company division in Northern Kentucky.

Throughout his life, this connoisseur of brewed libations has made beer his passion. He has collected over 7,500 beer-related artifacts and traveled to nearly 4,000 brewing facilities in the United States. Dave has participated in more than 1,000 beer festivals, tastings, and beer dinners and was one of the founders of Beer Camp and Beer School while working at the Oldenberg Brewery in Northern Kentucky. He has written numerous publications including All About Beer, Beer News, and the Celebrator, and is also the editor of the Queen City Brewsletter. Dave has also served as Secretary, Vice President, and President of the Brewery Collectables Club of America along with other leadership positions that are too numerous to list in this article.

Echanson Provincial Mary Horn invited Beer Dave to share a crash course on the newest developments in beer since our last event five years ago. We started with a welcome beer from Rhinegeist, a Cincinnati-based brewery founded a decade ago. Its newest offering is an Easy Hop Ale called “Beer for Humans” so-named as a nod to Rhinegeist’s cause-based charitable donations to 300 organizations a year. DelightMore Catering (formerly known as Funky’s Catering) served passed appetizers including Citrus Grilled Chicken Wings with Brown Sugar Glaze & Smoked Gorgonzola, Pork Belly BLT, and Summer Vegetable Pakora.

For the educational tasting, we were seated in an informal classroom style with seven glasses lined up in a row. Dave masterfully wove amusing as well as fascinating beer facts around each outstanding beer taste. All of the beers were from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana region: Mile Wide Beer Co., Goodwood Brewing Company, Blue Stallion Brewing, Dreaming Creek Brewery, and Fretboard Brewing (in addition to Rhinegeist). We sampled a range of beer styles including Kolsch, Pilsner, IPA, Hazy IPA, Dunkel, and Brown Ale.

After the educational part of the evening, DelightMore Catering opened an incredible buffet for members to enjoy with repeat pours of their favorite beers of the evening. The buffet included Summer Watermelon Salad, Herb Crusted Salmon, Lemon Rosemary Brick Roasted Cornish Hen, Baby Back Barbecue Ribs, Twice Baked Potatoes, and Mexican Street Corn Salad. Many of the beer pairings turned out to be exceptional, and in all honesty, we were delightfully surprised. The meal was capped off with a Peach & Blueberry Cobbler with Orange Mascarpone Ice Cream.

At the conclusion of the evening, Bailli George Elliott introduced the staff of DelightMore Catering and thanked both Beer Dave and Echanson Provincial Mary Horn for an outstanding evening. A repeat performance would be most welcome – certainly much sooner than five years.

Graig Smith, Vice Chargé de Presse