Brewer's Daughter Reboots America's First Craft Beer

Various mementos of the original New Albion Ale, surrounding a picture of brewer Jack McAuliffe
Photo credit:  Renee DeLuca and Jim McIntyre

America's first craft beer is being brewed once again.  New Albion Ale was introduced by Jack McAuliffe in Northern California in 1976, but it only lasted a few years.  His daughter Renee DeLuca, known as The Brewer's Daughter is now picking up where her father left off, brewing the beer at Platform Brewing and selling it by the growler at Heinen's as of Friday, February 20th.

But the route by which the recipe for New Albion Ale went from father to daughter is a weird and wonderful one.

Renee did not know Jack was her father until a few years ago.

Jack didn't even know he HAD a daughter.

Renee's story is about much more than resurrecting the original craft beer in Cleveland.  It's also about adoption, open records laws (or lack thereof) and the reverence with which the craft brewing community considers Jack McAuliffe and how he inspired an industry, as you will hear in this interview with The Brewer's Daughter, Renee DeLuca.

"The 9" Is Now Open On E. 9th Street Downtown

This interview aired on the night The 9 opened in downtown Cleveland, Friday, September 5th, 2014. It was recorded a few months earlier, and it features developer Fred Geis and Geis Hospitality Group CEO Keith Halfmann. They discuss the many amenities the "Urban Resort" features, including...eventually...a Heinen's supermarket in the rotunda of the old Ameritrust Bank Building at E. 9th and Euclid.

The 9: Exciting Geis Development Project Downtown

Keith Halfmann and Fred Geis

The 9 is what Cleveland developer Fred Geis of Geis Companies is calling the project on E. 9th Street between Euclid and Prospect.  A boutique "autograph" hotel, apartments and restaurants will open in September, along with the new county building and Heinen's supermarket, in the old Cleveland Trust Rotunda at 9th and Euclid.

Keith Halfmann is CEO of Geis Hospitality Group.  He joins Fred Geis in this interview, during which Geis talks about his other Cleveland projects as well, which include renovating the Agora and resurrecting Peabody's.