Jackie O's Pub & Brewery

It was founded in 2005 by Brad Clark and Art Oestrike, both alumni of Ohio University, which is also located in Athens. The name "Jackie O's" was chosen to pay homage to the Irish-inspired brewpub that occupied the building before its purchase, as well as in honor of Oestrike's mother Jackie, who passed away shortly after they purchased the premises.[1] Oestrike is the owner of Jackie O's, while Clark's role is head brewer. Their first location only had two fermentors, limiting their output to approximately 300 barrels annually.[2] In 2009, Jackie O's acquired the bar immediately adjacent to theirs, calling it Jackie O’s Public House. They used the larger kitchen of the Public House to expand their menu offerings, and they also had the space to increase their brewing capacity.[3] Annual beer production rose from 300 barrels to 800 barrels.[2] In 2013, Jackie O's expanded their business to another location in the city of Athens.[3] The new location was primarily a production facility, increasing their output from 800 barrels to 3,200 barrels annually. From 2013 to 2017, their annual growth rate exceeded 20%.[2]

Jackie O's Pub & Brewery has several "flagship" beers that are consistently available year-round, including a raspberry-flavored wheat beer ("Razz Wheat"), an amber ale ("Firefly"), a honey nut brown ale ("Chomolungma"), an IPA ("Mystic Mama"), and a rye IPA ("Hop Ryot"). In 2008, Jackie O's gained the capacity to begin brewing barrel-aged beers.[1] In 2017, Jackie O's launched into production of sour beers with a designated brewing space constructed for the expansion.[4] In 2017, Clark described their current output composition as 50–60% IPAs.[2] "Mystic Mama" is their most popular beer, followed by "Razz Wheat."[5] Jackie O's barrel-aged beers have attracted a wide following, with Hop Culture website calling them "one of the greatest producers of barrel-aged stouts...in the country"[2] and Paste magazine saying "we’ve yet to have a barrel-aged beer from them that wasn’t impressive."[6]

In November 2014, Jackie O's sustained heavy damages in the Union Street Fire, losing the roof of one of its properties.[16] Jackie O's Public House, its 2009 acquisition, remained standing, but had severe smoke and water damage.[17] Though Clark initially expressed fears that the Public House would have to be condemned,[17] the building was able to be rehabilitated.[16] The Public House reopened with limited business hours less than a month later, though it was unable to serve hot food due to extensive kitchen damage.[18] Clark expressed gratitude that the fire did not do more damage, stating that if the brewpub (the initial location) had been destroyed "we would’ve never reopened either spot.”[16] The Public House resumed normal operating hours with a fully operational kitchen shortly after April 2016.[19]

The Union Street Fire resulted in approximately 70 lost jobs in total due to destroyed and damaged businesses, including more than 40 employees of Jackie O's.[18][17]

Jackie O's receives about half of its energy from solar panels installed at its brewery.[1] Of the renewable energy investment, Oestrike said, "Our eventual goal is 100 percent sustainability."[20] They also support the consumption of local food, and sell several food products in their establishments from farms within 30 mi (48 km) of the city of Athens.[1] Jackie O's is the owner of Barrel Ridge Farm, one of the local farms that supplies produce for their food menu.[21] Jackie O's produces most of the baked goods sold as part of their menu offerings at their Public House, such as pizza crusts and hamburger buns. Baked goods are created with the spent grain byproduct of their brewing operation.[16] Other spent grain byproduct is turned into mulch for Barrel Ridge Farm so that none of it is wasted.[21]

Jackie O's flagship beer can labels are designed by local artist Brynn Perrott (known professionally as "deerjerk") from Morgantown, West Virginia.[22]

• Barrel-aged beer