The Luminary Counterlager

John Riepenhoff is known for his fluid negotiations of art and its accompanying support structures. Through his ongoing project to promote collective cultural expression by supporting artist-run organizations, known as Beer Endowment, Riepenhoff has created numerous conceptual beers that support the artist spaces they are inspired by. For example, artists Michelle Grabner and Brad Killiam’s spaces The Suburban and Poor Farm were met with an annual pilsner; the FRONT Triennial inspired his Experimental Kolsch; and in Riepenhoff’s own space The Green Gallery, visitors will find a roving roster of beers dating back to his early experiments. These tests blur the structure, experience, and consumption of art to bolster Riepenhoff’s widening gyre of collaborators.

For Counterpublic, John Riepenhoff has collaborated with Cherokee Street-based craft brewery Earthbound Beer to create The Luminary Counterlager. The Counterlager, contrary to its name, is a Belgian Amber Ale brewed with locally grown hops, Masa sources from a local Mexican grocer, and balanced with a number of imported ingredients. Inspired by the dark drinkability of Negra Modelo and Vienna lagers, and embracing a hyper-local and global view simultaneously, the Counterlager speaks to The Luminary’s local, national, and international publics and commitment to complex, yet accessible, forms of exchange.