Urban Artifact brings "Wild Culture" to Cincinnati

Sour? No thank you. The folks behind the new Urban Artifact, which opens today (April 24) in Cincinnati, will brew only what they describe as “tart and wild” beers.

“We like to use tart and wild because sour has its own connotations that we’re trying to steer away from,” said Scotty Hunter, whose business card describes him as chief of strategic development. “Most of these flagship offerings are not overly acidic. They aren’t going to make your face pucker. It’s a nice light, tart, refreshing acidity.”

The Cincinnati market may need a little education on the style, but there’s no reason local craft beer drinkers won’t be receptive to Urban Artifact’s offerings, he said.

The production brewery and tasting room held a preview party Thursday night to show off the space and its 30-barrel brewing system. The tasting room is located in the basement of the former St. Pius X Church – it’s now the third brewery in Ohio to repurpose a church -- while the brewery is in the former, separate gymnasium.

Urban Artifact repurposed some of the wooden gym floor, turning it into the back of the bar and using the wooden slats as holders for beer flights, which are served in mini snifters. The tap handles are copper pipes.

The initial offerings include Finn, a 5.4 percent Berliner pale ale; Harrow, a 4.3 percent gose; Maize, a 5.3 percent Kentucky common ale; and Kodiak, a 5.7 percent tart brown. On Thursday, the brewery also had Kodiak infused with coffee.

Urban Artifact, which employs the tagline “Wild Culture,” isn’t just a beer place. That's why the name is simply Urban Artifact without "brewery" or "brewing company" tacked on, Hunter said. The owners also want it to be an entertainment venue, with music and live performances. The church sanctuary itself will be used for large shows and can be rented out as a reception space.

The brewery plans to distribute its beers only on draft in the Cincinnati market. While many breweries are dabbling in wild beers -- the nearby Rivertown Brewing Co. has refocused on sours -- Urban Artifact is doing them exclusively, believing that the market is ready to embrace them.

“I love the Mark Twain quote about if the world ended tomorrow, I’d want to be in Cincinnati because it’d take five years to get there or 10 years to get there,” Hunter said. “That’s kind of how craft beer has been in Cincinnati. It’s kind of more late to the game than some of the other larger cities in the country. We’ve seen in a lot of larger cities where you have your big hoppy IPA beers that everybody gets into but then tastes develop and people look for new things. And then it’s the sour. It’s the funky. It’s the brettanomyces beers that people kind of gravitate to. We think that’s where Cincinnati is right on the precipice of. If somebody locally was doing it, they would be all about it. They aren’t exposed to it yet.”

Want to read more about Urban Artifact? Check out these stories from: Cincinnati.com, and Gnarly Gnome.