Hog Molly Brewing Co. in Columbus came up with the signature beer for the 2024 Mill Race Marathon — Hydration Station lemon radler.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
A little more than a year ago, some Mill Race Marathon organizers were having a beer at Hog Molly Brewing Co. in Columbus. Liking what they tasted, they approached the owners about maybe coming up with a brew for this year’s event.
The local brewpub’s mom-and-pop owners took the idea and ran with it.
Co-owners Martha Krempel and husband Lou, who’s also Hog Molly’s brewmaster, cooked up about nine or 10 different varieties with the marathon in mind, Martha said. Lou and Martha had help from son and assistant brewmaster Matt, and his wife and Hog Molly’s marketing director, Ashley Krempel. Martha and Lou’s daughter Tessa also is involved with the family business.
Out of the batches Hog Molly prepared as Mill Race Marathon brews, “I think we presented them with four different beers, and this is the one they liked best,” Martha said of Hog Molly’s Hydration Station lemon radler. The beer is available at Hog Molly’s on tap and in cans and will be sold at the Finish on Fourth After Party in downtown Columbus following the marathon events. The beer also will be sold during marathon week at 4th Street Bar & Grill.
Akin to a lemon shandy, Martha said Hydration Station is a combination of a German hefeweizen beer and homemade lemonade. “It’s very refreshing, very light,” she said. According to Hog Molly, the brew has a lower alcohol content than most beers and scores very low on the IBU scale used to measure a beer’s bitterness.
Beer purists say the radler variety traces its roots to a German brewer who in the 1920s realized he didn’t have enough beer on hand to cater to a large group of bicyclists, so he mixed his beer with lemon soda that was on hand. The creation was called “radlermass” in German, or “cyclist’s liter.” It became a hit, and cyclists and those wanting a lighter brew continued to ask for it.
Closer to home and rounding out the Columbus connections to this year’s Mill Race Marathon brew, Ashley noted that the design for the Hydration Station branded cans came from a collaboration with Columbus-based Ryan Furr Creative.
Since opening in December 2019, Hog Molly has catered to large party crowds, hosting and partnering on many collaborative community events since opening in December 2019. The Mill Race Finish on Fourth After Party attended by a crowd of thousands may be among the biggest yet.
“We’ve worked really hard to get our face and name in the public as much as possible,” Ashley said, noting the anticipation of partnering on the marathon, Columbus’ largest annual participatory event.
“We’ve just excited. It’s our first year partnering with them, and we hope we can continue to do that,” she said.
