Saturday, April 16, 2016

After 15 years, Little Kings returns to Cincinnati.

Notice the shirt, circa 1981.


It's only been two months since Little Kings Cream Ale was last mentioned in this space.


The PC: Swill in youthful times of penury and need.

The last time I drank a Little Kings Cream Ale, it tasted awful.

The exact year escapes me, but it was during the period when the ill-fated entity known as Snyder International owned and brewed Little Kings in Frederick, Maryland, having reduced it and other beer brands, both old and new, to lowly chattel, suitable only for manipulation by enriched computer geeks wearing mittens, posturing at chess with only half the pieces on their playing board.

Who did this temporary dot.com zillionaire think he was, Carlos Brito?


Happily, it turns out that Little Kings is back in Cincinnati. I look forward to tasting the new/old recipe.


Little Kings comes home to Cincinnati, by Shauna Steigerwald (Cincinnati Enquirer)

"How awesome is this?" Greg Hardman said as he watched little green bottles roll down the bottling line Thursday in Christian Moerlein Brewing Co.'s Over-the-Rhine brewery.

It was the brewery's first full run of Little Kings Cream Ale. The beer hadn't been produced locally in nearly 15 years.

"It's emotional," Hardman, who owns Christian Moerlein, said over the whir of the machines and the clanking of bottles. "So many people wanted this to happen."

People started asking him about bringing other Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Co. brands, including Little Kings, back to Cincinnati as soon as he bought Christian Moerlein in 2004, Hardman said. He got letters and emails. People came up to him in bars. It wasn't just fans of the old beers: Children and grandchildren of former brewery workers were also deeply interested in the historic brands' fate, he said.

And it wasn't like the idea had never crossed Hardman's mind. In fact, the seeds had been planted there years before.

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