We decided early on this summer that this would be our summer of beer. The plan was to take as many weekends as we could and travel to some close by cities to check out their local beer scenes. Of course, like life is want to do, we have had some big life shake-ups happen, but we ultimately decided that we wouldn't let it change our plans too much. Last Saturday was our first beerventure, as I have taken to calling them. We went on a day trip to Cincinnati to visit some local breweries and of course go to
Jungle Jim's. Anyone from this area who is a craft beer lover should never go to Cincinnati without a visit to the craft beer mecca that is Jungle Jim's, it is worth it just for the
Ballast Point Sculpin alone, in my humble beer drinker's opinion.
Our first stop of the day was
Rivertown Brewing Company. We recently had their Pomegranate Lambic and their regular Lambic at the Wild Funk and Sour fest in Indianapolis. They were both excellent, so we were excited to try more. Just a note, if you go to visit, which I would highly recommend, it is in a bit of an industrial area, so don't think you are lost. The bartender was super nice and knowledgable and I should have gotten his name. He explained that they were a brewery before breweries were allowed to have taprooms, so they weren't even thinking along those lines when they opened. Still, it was a nice space with ample seating and I liked being able to see all the brewing equipment.
I had a flight of 4 and Sean started with a flight of 4, but ended up with a flight of 6 after first being jealous of someone else's Nitro pour and second being jealous of one of my choices. My 4 were as follows (going from left to right in the picture below) Hop Bomber (Rye Pale Ale), Hop Baron (IPA), Lil' SIPA (Session IPA), and Raspberry Oud Bruin (Flanders).
It was a very hoppy (by choice) flight except for the last beer. None of my choices hit me in the face with the hops, which was nice since we were just starting out. They were all very well rounded with good flavors. I was impressed by the Lil' SIPA too because I often find that session IPAs lack the flavor that I want in my IPAs. This one kept that flavor AND the drinkability that comes with a session. Now on to that Oud Bruin. I LOVED this beer. I know that sours aren't everyone's thing, but they are my thing. This beer, goodness, it was sour and tart with a hint of raspberry flavor and an even smaller hint of raspberry sweetness. It was fantastic. Sean had an amazing beer called Death that was an Imperial Ghost Pepper Stout. I was a little afraid of it, but it was really nice. It hit you with a tingle and some heat at the very end. He also had the Roebling on Nitro, which was creamy and chocolatey. We picked up two bombers while we were there, the 2013 Lambic and Funk Vessel, which is a collaboration with New Holland.
Our second stop of the day was
Rhinegeist brewery, which is located in the OTR (Over the Rhine) Brewery district. The brewery and taproom are located in the skeleton of the Morelen bottling plant. It is easily one of the most impressive breweries/taprooms I have ever seen. It is a huge open space on the third floor of a massive building. There was ping pong, corn hole, foosball, massive tables. It was just....impressive.
We didn't go for a flight this time. I had Spike (American Wheat Ale) and he had Fiction (Belgian Pale Ale), afterwards I realized I should have ordered a Truth instead because how funny is that? What would you like today? I'll take a Truth and Fiction. I know, probably only funny to me, but still.
The beers were above average and the space again was fantastic. My Spike was good, but I couldn't find anything in it that really made it stand out in my mind. His Fiction had some nice malt and yeast flavors. Rhinegeist is definitely somewhere I would want to take folks from out of town. Oh, and I lost at corn hole, which would surprise no one that knows me. Final score 21-14, which is at least a bit respectable.
Two stops in and we were starving, so we went down the road to The Eagle, which is also in the OTR neighborhood. It is a great space located in an old post office. We ended up sharing a seat at the bar. From what I read the wait times can get long, so I consider our shared bar seat lucky since we only had enough change to put an hour on the meter up the street. Sadly, I only ended up with a picture of the pickle jar we ordered. I'm really going to have to get better at this picture taking thing.
They had a nice tap list and even nicer fried chicken, which is what they are known for. The pickles we ordered as an appetizer were crisp and fresh, the chicken was out of this world and served with a spicy honey. It was crispy, juicy, spicy and the honey had some heat and a little vinegar kick to it. We also had a side of fries that were piping hot and perfectly seasoned. I really want to go back sometime and eat without a time constraint.
Our third and final stop before our required trek to Jungle Jim's was
MadTree Brewing Company. To be honest, we may have tried to cram too much into one day, because by the time we got here we were tired. We also spent a long time at Rivertown, the beer and conversation were that good, so it was later when we got to MadTree. The space was nice, but crowded, with a full view of the brewery from the taproom. I had the Sol Drifter (American Blonde Ale) which was nice and easy to drink with just a hint of Strawberry. Sean had the Gnarly Brown (American Brown Ale). We are planning on hitting up MadTree again on our next visit when we are a little fresher.
My overall impressions of the day were that Rivertown had the best beer, Rhinegeist had the best space, and I need a second trip to MadTree to form an opinion. There are also quite a few breweries that we didn't try on this trip that we are going to try to hit during our Summer of Beer including 50 West, Blank Slate, Mt. Carmel, Listermann, Bad Tom, and probably others that I am forgetting/don't know about. Geez, after that list we could probably spend the whole summer of beer in Cincinnati! That's not the plan although we are planning a second trip up there sometime this summer. We are also planning to hit up Nashville, TN for a day, Bloomington, IN for a day, and hopefully Asheville, NC for a few days. We are also going to Louisville, KY, where we've been to several times, but we do love Against the Grain. Anyone have any other suggestions of places close to our home port of Lexington, KY we should hit up?
(Disclaimer: I am brand new to this blogging thing. I know my spaces are off and my format sucks, hopefully I'll figure it out. :) I am also brand new to writing down my opinions on anything, beer included, so my opinions are my own and might be poorly stated, but I'll figure that out too. In conclusion, please be kind.)
