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Blood Thirst Wheat

Barley’s Brewing Co. | www.barleysbrewing.com

Barley’s Brewing Co.

467 N. High St.

Columbus, Ohio 43215

(614) 228–2537

First brewed: 2010

Style: Fruit beer

Alcohol content: 5 percent

IBUs: 2.9

Available: Year-round on draft

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft beers to try:

• Old Firehouse Maltese Cross

• MadTree Blood Orange PsycHOPathy

• Maumee Bay Blood Orange Imperial Witbier

• Thirsty Dog Raspberry Ale

• Rivertown Blueberry Lager

EACH YEAR, Barley’s Brewing hosts a homebrew competition. A small batch of the winning beer is brewed for release at the brewpub the following year for all to enjoy. Usually, the beer is never heard from again.

But all that changed in 2009, the year of the 14th annual competition. Homebrewer Lloyd Cicetti devised a Bavarian wheat ale, using blood oranges. The beer was a hit when it went on tap in 2010. It proved to be so popular that Barley’s head brewer Angelo Signorino Jr. opted to make it again—and again, and again.

Cicetti didn’t have a detailed recipe written down. There was no starting gravity, for example, to work from, so Signorino improvised. The brewery zests blood oranges by hand and uses blood orange puree. The beer, wonderfully cloudy with a hint of crimson color, initially was available only during the summer. But it kept selling so well that Barley’s opted to start brewing it year-round in late 2014.

So what explains its popularity? “It is so accessible,” Signorino says. “It’s fruity, but it’s not like a fruit beer. And one of the things that I’m really proud of is that it’s not flavoring. It’s really orange puree and real orange zest. I think it shows in the beer.”

Blood Thirst Wheat also is special to Signorino because it recognizes the creativity of homebrewers.

“When I started brewing at home in 1991 and here in 1992, I wouldn’t have considered that beer,” he says with a laugh. “What do you mean? A Bavarian wheat beer with blood oranges? That’s not beer. But people love it. It’s remarkably refreshing and satisfying.”

Blood Thirst Wheat is the only winning beer from the homebrew competition that has gone on to become a regular at Barley’s.