Athens, OH-based Jackie O’s Brewery will be hosting their 18th Anniversary Extravaganza this weekend, March 22-24. Let’s dive in and take a look at what you can expect at their big bash!

Genesis

As stated above, Jackie O’s will be celebrating their eighteenth birthday this weekend in Athens, OH. What some of us might not know though, is the history of Jackie O’s.

Jackie O’s was originally a bar called O’Hooley’s. Jackie O’s owner, Andrew Arthur Oestrike, known by most as Art, purchased O’Hooley’s in 2005.

Shortly before he purchased O’Hooley’s, Art’s mother, Jakie Oestrike was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2006, but not before Art would tell her he planned to change the name of O’Hooley’s to Jackie O’s in her honor. She had a classic motherly reaction of “a bar?!”, to which Art replied, “It’s going to be so much more than a f*@%ing bar, mom!” His reply is what continues to inspire and grow the business to this day!

Onward

In January of 2007, O’Hooley’s was officially changed to Jackie O’s Brewpub. This original brewpub became a pillar of the Athens, OH community. Jackie O’s focused on locally inspired and produced products.

At its inception, Jackie O’s made the decision to brew specific beer that would only be available in Athens. Creating barrel-aging and sour programs and committing to using locally sourced products whenever available.

Focusing not only on the local economy, but also state improvements as well. Jackie O’s became one of the first facilities in the state of Ohio to transfer to a non-smoking establishment in order to increase the visibility of lung cancer research.

The Public House

In 2008, a local restaurant and bar space next door to Jackie O’s Brewpub fell on tough times due to the recession. In mid-2009, Jackie O’s began renting that space and made some renovations to create what is now the Jackie O’s Public House Restaurant.

The addition of the Public House Restaurant allowed for vast improvements to dining, including an expanded locally sourced menu. Their new digs also allowed for an increase in barrels of beer from four hundred to over eight hundred barrels. At this time, all of the beer Jackie O’s produced was only available within the Jackie O’s Brewpub and Public House Restaurant, and a few local Athens businesses.

Due to popular demand of such mainstay beers such as Mystic Mama and Razz Wheat, along with enthusiasm for many other Jackie O’s staples, helped them make the decision to purchase a production facility.

Taproom & Production Facility

After attending a course at Siebel, Art and Brad selected a building on the east side of Athens that was originally built for cheese production! Acquiring this space made room for an increase in Jackie O’s production of beer!

The Taproom and Production Facility opened in February of 2013, located only a mile from the two Jackie O’s uptown locations.

This new facility allowed them to let their creative juices flow, literally and figuratively. They would begin experimenting with rum, bourbon, sherry and tequila shortly after. Equipped with sixteen taps, the Taproom became an additional Jackie O’s location that could offer more beer straight from the source. You can’t get any better than that!

Fast forward to 2014. A tragic fire rampaged Union Street in Uptown Athens. The fire damaged six buildings in total, including the Public House Restaurant. After a long road to recovery, the Public House Restaurant reopened its doors with a modernized new draft system featuring thirty new taps, a newly designed kitchen and a dedicated bakeshop space.

Overcoil

Speaking of new bottle releases, we want to give you a sneak peek at one of their bottle offerings that will be available this year.

Overcoil is an absolutely decadent Imperial Stout! Brewed with a broader range and higher inclusion of roasted malt and aged for TWENTY MONTHS in bourbon barrels from three different distillers. Want to know what those distillers are? We thought so!

This extraordinary Imperial Stout was nestled in barrels from Old Fitzgerald, Buffalo Trace mash bill #1, and Willett Bourbon. Look, this base stout would be terrific on its own, but when you infuse it with the oak-soaked remnants of some of Kentucky’s finest bourbon, you have a masterpiece!

The Expression

We don’t have enough words or adjectives to describe how remarkable this beer really is, but we will share a few words.

First and foremost, dark chocolate hits your palate up front. A nice velvety smooth blanket of decadent dark chocolate cotes the mouth, followed by an almost chocolate chip cookie flavor. You start to get a hint of the bourbon about mid-palate, along with what seems to be some honey and fig. The bourbon doesn’t want to share the limelight though, as it comes back a bit stronger on the back end and finishes with a slightly boozy bang!

Every ounce of flavor coming from Overcoil meshes so well together. Often times certain flavors overpower one another, but that is far from the case with Overcoil. Jackie O’s states that this is a toast to the ambition of finding a perfect balance, and they accomplished just that. A perfectly balanced barrel-aged liquid work of art.

Don’t Miss It

We hope you’ve enjoyed our little blurb about Jackie O’s Brewery and hope that you will attend their anniversary celebration this weekend. The bottle releases alone are worth attending the event for! You also get draft releases, food, live music and so much more. If you find yourself in the Athens or Columbus area, we would highly recommend attending to partake in what’s sure to be an epic celebration!

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