Written by: Joe Ludwig
In a recent episode of the Craft Parenting Podcast, I said that one of my goals for 2022 is to visit 12 Cincinnati breweries that I haven’t been to before. That statement is not only in audio form but now, with this blog post, also in written form, which means that now I have accountability. I’ve never been a resolution kind of person. I don’t mean that I haven’t set yearly goals in the past before. I have. But usually, my priorities shift by the time February comes along and I almost never follow through with them. This year, I hope that changes.
Cincinnati has been my home my entire life. I was fortunate that when I turned 21, the craft beer industry also started to explode. So instead of drinking Nati Light and Miller High Life (no offense to anyone who likes these) in my early 20’s, I naturally gravitated toward the new thing at the time called “craft beer” that was made right here in my hometown. Right from the beginning, it was never about quantity, it was always about quality which Cincinnati brewers knew all about.
In those early days of this craft beer explosion (circa 2013, 2014), Caroline and I made a point to go out to as many local breweries as possible. I mentioned it several times on the podcast but I had the opportunity to visit a lot of local breweries during my friend’s 30th birthday party, which I lovingly call the “stupidest day of my life”. This happened back before Cincy Brew Bus was a thing so we were crazy and literally rented a school bus. We started at Listermann Brewing because at the time that was the brewery that opened the earliest (10 AM) and the tour didn’t end until probably 11 PM. We went to A LOT of breweries that day. I ended up doing a similar but paired-down brewery tour for my bachelor party in 2015.
These two “tours” gave me the opportunity to visit most of the craft breweries that were in Cincinnati at the time. I haven’t returned to a lot of the breweries that we went to since because three incredible breweries opened up on the West Side just minutes from my house: Brink Brewing, West Side Brewing, and 13 Below. As old married couples tend to do, we fell into the habit of basically only going to these three places to get our craft beer. Don’t get me wrong. We would venture out of the bubble occasionally but not often enough.
In 2020, as we all know, the world got a little weird. Some might argue that it’s only gotten stranger since then but I’m going to be a little more optimistic. We are in the second golden age of Cincinnati’s beer history. Not since the late 1800s did Cincinnati have this many options for local “craft” beer. Of course, Prohibition completely destroyed that legacy. In these uncertain times, it is important for craft beer drinkers to support local breweries now more than ever.
That brings me back to my New Year’s Resolution for 2022. I will, of course, continue to support my neighborhood breweries here on the West Side. But I want to get out and experience some of the wonderful beer that Cincinnati has to offer because as 2020 has taught me, nothing is guaranteed.
The Gnarly Gnome put together an official list of Cincinnati Craft Breweries. I am going to use his list (with some modifications) when determining locations that I’ve been or haven’t been to. I’ve included breweries that we’ve been to that have been either closed either permanently or due to relocation. I’ve also included Fifty West’s Chillicothe location because they are a Cincinnati-based brewery.
| Cincinnati Breweries That We’ve Been To | Cincinnati Breweries That We Haven’t Been to Yet |
| 1. 13 Below 2. Bad Tom Smith 3. Braxton Covington 4. Braxton Labs (closed) 5. Brink 6. Cellar Dweller 7. Christian Moerlein Lager House 8. Christian Moerlein Taproom (closed) 9. Darkness Brewing 10. DogBerry 11. Ei8ht Ball Brewing Co. (closed) 12. Fibonacci 13. Fifty West Brewpub 14. Fifty West Chillicothe 15. Old Firehouse Brewing (closed) 16. Fretboard Brewery 17. Hofbrauhaus Newport 18. Listermann 19. Listermann Trail House 20. Little Miami 21. Madtree 1.0 (closed to the public) 22. Madtree 2.0 23. March First Brewing 24. Mt. Carmel 25. Nine Giant 26. Rhinegeist 27. Rivertown Lockland (moved locations) 28. Sam Adams Taproom 29. Sonder 30. Sons of Toil 31. Streetside 32. Taft’s Ale House 33. Taft’s Brewpourium 34. Urban Artifact 35. West Side Brewing 36. Woodburn Brewing | 1. 16 Lots 2. Alexandria Brewing Company 3. Big Ash Brewing 4. Bircus 5. Braxton Cincinnati 6. Braxton The Barrel House 7. BrewDog 8. Cartridge 9. Cincy Brewing Company 10. The Common Beer Co. 11. Dead Low 12. Esoteric 13. FigLeaf 14. Firehouse Grill and Brewery 15. Fretboard Brewery & Public House 16. Grainworks 17. Great Crescent 18. Happy 2 Brewing 19. High Grain 20. Humble Monk 21. Karrikin 22. Lost Bridge Beverage Co. (Opening 2022) 23. Madtree, The Alcove (Opening 2022) 24. MPH Brewing 25. Municipal Brew Works 26. Narrow Path 27. N.E.W. Ales 28. Nine Giant – The Fermentorium 29. Northern Row 30. Off Track Brewing (Dunlap Café) 31. OTR Stillhouse 32. Paradise Brewing 33. Platform, Locoba by Platform 34. Rebel Mettle Brewery 35. Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House (Monroe) 36. Rolling Mill 37. Swine City 38. Third Eye Brewing 39. Wiedemann’s Fine Beer and Taproom 40. Wooden Cask Brewing 41. Warped Wing Mason – (Opening 2022) |
According to the list, we’ve been to 36 breweries over the years but we haven’t been to 41. Not quite a 50/50 split but decently close. Nevertheless, Caroline and I have our work cut out for us. To clarify, just because the breweries are in the “haven’t been to” column, doesn’t mean that we haven’t had their beer before. It just means that we haven’t traveled to the brewery and enjoyed the beer on tap.
The plan throughout the year, as we travel to one new brewery a month, is to write about our experience and publish it on this platform.
These blog posts will be based on the following criteria:
- Location
- History
- When did they open?
- Other fun facts
- Taproom atmosphere
- What is the taproom like?
- Outside area
- Dog-friendly
- Traditional vs. new world beer style
- Beers that we tried when we visited
- Food
- In house or delivery options
- Events
- Pack n’ play rating
- Kid friendly?
- Is there sufficient space in the taproom for a pack n play?
Caroline and I have a decent idea of which 12 breweries we want to go to but it’s definitely not set in stone. So which of the 40 breweries in the right-hand column should we go to this year? Let us know in the comment section on our various social media pages!
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