Sam Adams’ Jim Koch talks Cincinnati beer

Cincinnati’s craft brewing industry has come a long way in the 32 years since Jim Koch found the recipe for what would become Samuel Adams Boston Lager here. (It was his great-great grandfather’s recipe, handed down by his father with other family recipes.)

“Cincinnati has really become a hotbed of craft beer startups,” Koch said. “It’s really come alive in the last few years.”

Koch has watched that happen from his local brewery in the West End for the last 20 years. Located near Findlay Market, it’s one of three breweries used to make the company’s beers. (The others are in Pennsylvania and of course, Boston.)

Here are some of his thoughts about the Cincinnati beer scene.

On the local renaissance’s role: “You can see Cincinnati as a city is going through a renaissance,” Koch said. “It’s becoming quite a vibrant city. You’ve got new bars and restaurants opening. The newer places are much more into craft beer.”

On Kroger: “I think Kroger has been a big factor in supporting craft beer in Cincinnati and all over the country,” Koch said. “They’ve been one of the path-breaking grocery chains to first recognize that craft beer was going to be an important part of the beer industry.”

On local friends: “I’ve known some of the people who are brewers who’ve started craft breweries recently,” Koch said. “(Jason) Roeper at Rivertown was a finalist in our LongShot Homebrew competition. He had a really interesting beer that I still remember, a fresh lambic.

“Greg Hardman at Christian Moerlein has been a friend for 20 years. Richard Dubé at Braxton was at Boston Beer Co. for almost 10 years. These are friends. It’s nice to have company (in the craft beer industry), many of whom have been friends for a long time.”

On the national perspective: “The attention that craft beer had gotten nationwide has been noticed and compelling in Cincinnati,” Koch said. “People read about craft beer now. Sam Adams has gone from being odd and unknown to being well-respected everywhere.”

On the role of Sam Adams: Koch said his company has helped support local breweries over the years, in ways such as supplying hops and malts to brewers when they’ve run out. “I think the success of Sam Adams gives people an inspiration that they can start like I did, even in their kitchen, and be successful. It might take 30 years. But I’ve had people say ‘I wouldn’t be in craft brewing if it weren’t for Sam Adams.’ ”

On having a brewery in Cincinnati: The West End brewery that’s now Sam Adams has a been a brewery since 1933. It was built at the end of Prohibition as Schoenling Brewing. Sam Adams purchased the brewery, then Hudepohl-Schoenling, in 1997, and now has 140 employees there. (The family that owned Hudepohl-Schoenling kept its brands for a while; when they went dormant, Hardman bought them.) Koch said he wanted to buy the brewery “partly because it was my hometown, partly because that brewery was one of the last small batch breweries in America.”

And there was the tradition. “Cincinnati has always had a German tradition of craftsmanship, of caring about what you make,” Koch said. “People (who) worked at the brewery had that kind of ethic when I came there. I recognized that. When I saw how the people cared about what they were doing, I felt like this is going to be a good place to make beer.”