By Jason Jugenheimer, Mahoning Valley Flight Crew

“3.. 2.. 1.. LIFTOFF!” Well not exactly, but the tapping of our collaboration with Birdfish Brewery was a pinnacle moment for the Mahoning Valley Flight Crew. Words can not express the gratitude we have for Josh Dunn, Jared Channell and Greg Snyder for opening up their brewery to us and letting us be a part of the process. These guys are top notch and are going places fast. We only hope that they remember the little people as the continue their rise into brewery folklore.

February 16th, 2017 is a day that will resonate in the Flight Crew’s history as our Blueberry Oatmeal Outstanding Breakfast Stout was tapped to a large and eager crowd at Birdfish Brewery. Many Birdfish regulars, friends of the Flight crew and some new patrons packed the Columbiana brewery for the event… well I guess some people are fans of “Throwback Thursday,” bring your own vinyl or Super Mario Brothers. But for this blog’s sake, we’ll just assume they were there for the B.O.O.B.S.

http://www.vindy.com/users/photos/2017/feb/21/106759/

At 7:00 PM the keg was tapped, and I received the honor of pouring the first glass. After stumbling through a quick speech, the beer began flowing for the brewery’s patrons. What started out as an ingredients list had matured nicely into a semi-sweet and creamy stout with a mild blueberry background. It checked in at 4.7% ABV, poured near pitch-black and produced aromas of roasted malts and blueberry.

We enjoyed the beer with some White House Blueberry donuts and some White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal cookies that my father, Tim Jugenheimer, had whipped up that morning. Both items paired nicely with our stout.

It was a great evening and the early reviews that night were positive. After texting with Josh I learned that it was relatively popular over the course of the weekend, emptying all but one of the kegs. Hopefully you got a chance to visit Birdfish Brewery to try it. If not, you still may be able to grab a pint at the brewery when the they tap the final keg that's on nitro, which will tap this Saturday at noon

Once again, this has been a great, and eye-opening, experience into the art of brewing made possible by the wonderful people at Birdfish Brewery. I only hope we get another chance to collaborate on another beer with them or get invited down to help brew with them again. The Flight Crew feels like we’ve developed a lasting friendship with them and hope to use that as a benchmark for all of our other brewery relationships going forward. The local brew scene is growing but still remains a close-knit group of people who have each other’s backs.

Its a great time to be a craft beer fan in the Valley, and we hope you continue to drink local, talk with the local breweries and follow the exploits of the Mahoning Valley Flight Crew through the Vindicator, our blog on vindy.com and on our Facebook page. Until next time I’m “tapped,” pun intended.