The 13th Annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival will take place September 16-18 at scenic Lake Snowden in Albany, Ohio. They advertise three days of Pawpaw music, food, contests, art, history, education, sustainable living workshops and activities for the kids!
Okay... I know you've got a couple of questions, right? Where's Albany, Ohio? Albany is in Southeastern Ohio, not too far from Athens, Ohio. And what's a pawpaw? It's a fruit that is native to Ohio, and in recent years, has been increasingly cultivated and grown commercially in southeastern Ohio. According to Wikipedia, it's sometimes called a Kentucky banana or West Virginia banana, or poor man's banana. It's the largest fruit indigineous to North America. An Ohio botanist said of the fruit, "The fruit, edible after the first frost, has a tangy, wild-wood flavor peculiarly its own. It is sweet, yet rather cloying to the taste and a wee bit puckery." Well... you can read the rest on Wikipedia.
Now the most important question, "What's all this got to do with beer?" Several Ohio breweries will be participating in this festival with beer made from pawpaws. Marietta Brewing Company will be there with their Pawpaw Wheat, an American style wheat ale, made with one pound of pawpaw fruit per gallon and weighing in at a hefty 9% alcohol by volume (ABV).
Weasel Boy Brewing (Zanesville) has a bitter-based ale brewed pawpaw pulp, pale and aromatic malts called Weasel Paw Pawpaw Pale Ale (4.5% ABV). Jackie O's Brewery (Athens) calls their American pale ale style pawpaw ale, Southpaw (6%ABV). Black Box Brewing (Westlake) has an interesting variation called Cookie Duster. It's a Belgian oatmeal rye with pawpaw pulp and tellicherry peppercorns (6.5%). Buckeye Brewing (Cleveland) will also be participating along with Athens Do It Yourself Shop with a non-alcoholic pawpaw soda.
There will be tons of activities to enjoy over the three day festival. There will be two stages with live music. The main stage and a stage in the beer tent. So head to Albany Ohio for a fun weekend for all ages. More information can be found here.
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