Ei8ht Ball Brewing has announced plans to
release bottles of their Great American Beer Festival gold medal winning beer
Reintarnation on May 1.

The first 120 bottles of the highly-touted brew
will be available for purchase beginning at 5 p.m., as well as on draught in
their taproom, located at 18 Distillery Way, Newport, Kentucky.

 Photo courtesy WCPO.com

 

 The release will coincide, with the always-popular bacon
night.

Customers may buy one bottle, but then are welcome to stay and enjoy a
Reintarnation on draft, or one of 41 other beers from Ei8ht Ball and other
craft breweries.

A very limited amount of additional bottles will be released
into the Greater Cincinnati market.

Ei8ht Ball Brewing won medals at both the Great American
Beer Festival and the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers in 2014 for
Reintarnation Ale, a Tarnished Golden Ale aged in O.K.I. Bourbon barrels.

Ei8ht Ball, self-described as an oddball brewery, is part of
the same company as Newport’s New Riff Distillery.

Their physical proximity and
closely coordinated schedules mean New Riff’s used O.K.I. Straight Bourbon
Whiskey barrels are dumped and filled with beer the same day.

“The opportunity
is unparalleled in the industry. We’re so lucky and very excited to be able to
literally roll them down the back drive,” says General Manager Hannah Lowen.

Once in the fresh barrels, the beer is aged for about three
months, in a temperature controlled cellar, creating a rich, drinkable, and
deftly balanced brew. Surprisingly light and fresh, Reintarnation marries
bourbon aromas, which lend vanilla, oak, and sweet honey to the nose and
palate, with a drinkability not always found in big barrel aged beers.

Mitch
Dougherty, head brewer at Ei8ht Ball explained, “I took two of my favorite
things, beer and bourbon and found a way to marry them. The love is there, I
think that’s why we’ve been successful.” 

Dougherty, a veteran of the craft beer
industry here in greater Cincinnati, has won four other prestigious medals in
national and world competition, all for barrel aged beers.

Ei8ht Ball brewing
opened in November of 2013, so the wins came as exciting surprises to the young
brewery.

Photo courtesy brewprof.com