Queen City Brews

The last year has been an exploration of my new favorite past time: beer tasting!

It took a semester in England to transition from college drinking to casual “adult” drinking, and I have many evenings at The Gloucester Arms and The Builder’s Arms pubs in London to thank for that.

By the time I left England, however, I still didn’t really know that much about beer; I tried the classics like Guinness and Foster’s as well as the Berliner Weisses in Munich. But it was the many brewery, wine, and whiskey tours over Europe that gave me a beginner’s appreciation that not all beer or liquor tastes the same. London is also trying its best with its own little craft beer moment, but I didn’t want to choose my beer based on how cool I thought its label was. Cincinnati’s exploding craft brewery scene was the perfect opportunity for me this summer to finally taste what I really like.

Equipped with my friend Kevon and my amateur beer-photography skills, we visited nine breweries in Cincinnati between June and August. My friend and my mom’s coworker Linsey Kraeling runs the blog Tour de Cincinnati, a fantastic comprehensive resource for all things food, beer, and events in the Queen City. Taking inspiration from her bad-assness of being a woman who knows beer, as well as her list of Cincy breweries, Kevon and I chose the large breweries first and randomly added some smaller ones to visit within five miles of the city. There are still way more to go, but we’ll get there someday!

Our beginner’s approach to beer tasting consisted of a flight of four beers, either from the bartender’s recommendation, unusual types of beers, or one of each type of ale or IPA, amber ale, stout or porter (I’m not a fan of coffee stouts, no thanks), and sour ale (Kevon’s least favorite). Amber or red ales are now my favorite (and it’s what I imagine they drink in Game of Thrones), as well as sour ales, since Rhinegeists’ Bubbles was a good fruity cider-to-beer transition for me in early college.

You don’t like beer, you say? Below I’ve provided all the beers that Kevon and I have tried together at these nine breweries in Cincinnati, in no particular order. Let me draw you away from those Natty Lights at the house party so you can give these a (4 oz) shot instead:

Rhinegeist Brewery, Over-the-Rhine

Atmosphere: Rhinegeist is a classic on the Cincy brewery circuit, and I’m starting to see people wear Rhinegeist t-shirts outside of Cincinnati, which is makes me prideful. I can also buy Rhinegeist at Kroger when I’m in Columbus for school. The best part about the Rhinegeist location is the rooftop bar, which overlooks OTR and downtown. You can also get married here if you’re a hipster millennial. This summer I have found, however, that Rhinegeist is not the be-all-end-all of Cincy breweries, and there are many more underrated ones below! However, Rhinegeist is a must-visit in this city.

Beers:

• Truth (india pale ale)
• Cougar (blonde ale)
• Cidergeist bubbles (rosé ale) *my favorite (very girly of me)
• Uncle (english mild ale)
• Botanical (cider)

3 Points Urban Brewery, Pendleton

Atmosphere: 3 Points feels very “trendy” compared to the others we’ve been to. Their branding is minimal and industrial but funky, and their tap house feels very young millennial and like it provides collaborative work space by day and club vibes by night. I also really like the Pendleton/OTR neighborhood location.

Beers: 

• Birdseye (saison)
• Thundergulch (dry hopped kolsch)
• Sure Shot (house pale ale)
• Origami (post coast IPA) *my favorite!

Braxton Brewing, Covington, KY

Atmosphere: So many dogs! Kevon and I spent most of our time there talking about which dogs are our favorite. The vibes here are very relaxed, family-friendly, and a great social space for Covington. Braxton brings their beer truck to a lot of events around Cincy, so I’d had their beer before, and was not disappointed at the infinite and weird selection of beers at the tap house. I’ll have to go to their Braxton Labs location in Bellevue next!

Beers:

• Summertrip (passion fruit berliner weisse)
• Storm (golden cream)
• Jam
• Scooter (blood orange shandy/radler) *my favorite! 

Darkness Brewing, Bellevue, KY 

Atmosphere: This might be my favorite brewery on this list because it’s like two minutes from my house, is very tiny, and has cool space/astronaut branding. I also had these Asian tacos from one of the food trucks outside, which were tasty and went excellently with the Bellevue Common. I also appreciate how Darkness doesn’t try to be too cool. Its indoor/outdoor space is small, eclectic, and homey.

Beers:

• Bellevue Common (Kentucky common ale)
• Ray Gun (IPA) *my favorite!
• Man on the Moo (milk stout)
• On the Brink of Darkness (american mild)

Madtree Brewing, Oakley 

Atmosphere: I was pleasantly surprised by Madtree! Its outdoor space feels like a cool abandoned warehouse, and there are plenty of dogs to pet and cornhole to be played. We also ate the fast-fired pizza at their pizza restaurant, which was excellent.

Beers (not all pictured above): 

• Happy Amber (amber ale)
• Psychopathy (IPA)
• Mad Pils (pilsner)
• Shade (sour ale) *my favorite! 

Taft’s Ale House, Over-the-Rhine

Atmosphere: I geek out over restorative architecture, so to stick a tap room and restaurant in a historic church was sooo cool. Taft’s also has a separate brewhouse, but I wanted to eat some smoked chicken and beer cheese so we went to the Ale House instead. Taft’s Ale House is cozy, which will keep me coming back.

Beers:

• Cherrywood Amber (american amber ale) *my favorite! 
• Nellie’s Key Lime Caribbean Ale (american ale)
• 27 Lager (golden lager)
• Sour Vice (german kettle sour)
• Culebra Cut (coconut brown ale)

Wooden Cask Brewing, Newport, KY

Atmosphere: We visited Wooden Cask on a slow Monday afternoon and basically had the place to ourselves. I kind of like it when the tap rooms are quiet. We spent an hour playing Uno and board games and deciding that I will always choose sours and Kevon will always choose stouts as our number ones.

Beers:

• Newporter (english brown porter)
• Blueberry Ale (golden ale with blueberry) *my favorite!
• Local 45 (american ale)
• Corruption (bourbon BA scottish stout)

Fifty West Brewing Company & Production Works, Mariemont

Atmosphere: Mariemont is probably the furthest we ventured from Northern Kentucky (only like 20 minutes though, so I’m not complaining), but Fifty West did not disappoint! My friend Michaela recommended this one to us, so we bumped it to top of our list and were greeted with a super casual atmosphere, adventure/road trip branding, and sand volleyball leagues at their Production Works location (the Brewing Company tap room is across the street). Because they don’t serve flights at the Production Works, I just chose a pint of their amber ale and watched some volleyball for a while. I’ll have to return soon for more!

Beers:

• Main Street Amber Ale
• Nitro Stout

Streetside Brewery, Columbia Tusculum

Atmosphere: This was the first non-Rhinegeist brewery Kevon and I visited. It’s a small brewery along the river on the East Side, with a strange selection of beers such as Toasted Marshmallow and one called Danky McDankerson. I regret not trying that one. Even though they’re small, they advertised a lot of cool, family-friendly events.

Beers:

• Alpha (IPA)
• Sofa King (india red ale) *my favorite!
• Cafe con Leche (coffee stout)
• Upside Down (imperial stout)

Honorary “Outside of Cincinnati” Brewery:

Low Tide Brewing, St. John’s Island, SC

Atmosphere: I visited Low Tide Brewing with my dad while we were on vacation in South Carolina in July. I appreciated the island vibes of the tap room, which was a departure from the Ohio/Kentucky breweries. Their flight board is shaped like a surf board! I actually loved all of these beers, and it was difficult to choose a favorite! They all were very summery, especially the Carolina Creamsicle Nitro (the nitro made it way smoother and more creamsicle-y than the regular), which is one of my dad’s favorite beers. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I had to drink all of them myself because my dad is gluten intolerant and most breweries don’t make gluten free beers. They have some good stickers, though. White people love free stickers.

Beers:

• Carolina Creamsicle Nitro (sour ale)
• Basil Better Have My Honey Ale (tastes a bit like pizza, but the honey is an unexpectedly great complement and I actually loved it) 
• Framboise Sour (raspberry sour) *my favorite!
• Tura’lu (irish red ale)
• Oceanfront Course (american ale)

I will continue my brewery adventures in Columbus this semester, since Kevon is co-oping up there and we can include my roommates, too.

Let’s grab a beer sometime – cheers!