Ei8ht Ball Brewing

Inside The Party Source but sort of separate, here comes Ei8ht Ball. This is basically a bar, or maybe a brewery taproom. They do brew onsite, and the tanks are visible.

The atmosphere is nothing much, just a room with a clean-looking bar and a bunch of tables, but the beer selection is superb: 42 taps including seven house brews and a bunch of big beers. I counted five different Mikkeller handles (including George), Dark Horse Plead the Fifth, Three Floyds, To Ol Final Frontier and more.

The bartender was super nice, and I love the order-by-number clear digital screen menu. The 4-oz tastings don't hurt either when you want to try a bunch of different beers without committing to a full pint.

An outstanding place, no doubt, despite the lack of ambience.

Ei8ht Ball has closed. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2017/01/19/ei8ht-ball-brewing-close/96780028/

Great brewery to soon close by the end of the week---been there many times
and loved the service, nice service, and outstanding selection of brews.

Hit them up while you can----this is it.

Cheers Ei8ht Ball, you will be missed.

Located in the back of a party store (alcohol, cigars, party supplies), and even has a connecting door. A long and impressive list of beers on tap - 42 in count. 21 house brewed beers, with a total of 12 different styles represented (some barrel aged or variants. There are also 21 guest taps, with "unknowns" like Draai Laag, obscures like Haandbryggeriet, and heavy hitters like Deschutes, Prairie, and Mikkeller). Decent seating with a 10 seater bar, with 12 other tables. Worth the visit if you're in Cinci or northern Kentucky.

Edit. As I'm leaving, I find out they're closing at the end of April. So...maybe come while you can. Oddly enough I was gonna say their prices were really good (and told the bartender the same) and he explained why because they're closing and have everything half off. So, yeah...that.

 

42 taps with 13 for house beers. Small taproom but their selection of guest beers is superlative. 19 of their 29 guest beers were rated 91 or better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After years hearing about The Party Source, I finally found some time to make the drive to Kentucky. Nestled in the back past some of the longest beer and liquor aisles you will ever see is Ei8ht Ball Brewing. The day I visited, they were almost full on a Saturday afternoon, with about 42 beers on tap, including 8 of their own. The selections ranged from some hard to find locals, to top national offerings like TenFidy, to some interesting international choices. It's a cool vibe, despite essentially being in a liquor store. Don't go to The Party Source without checking out Ei8ht Ball.

Great place but not enough service

 

 

Incredible selection. Absolutely the most insane prices I've ever seen at a bar, and I lived in NYC for years.

This was a fun little hole in the ground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 Ball is inside the Party Source. This is strictly a beer bar. When I went to 8 Ball 40 beers on tap no fillers. The beers brewed by 8 Ball on site are brewed competently. My favorite beer currently by 8 Ball is Word - scotch ale. If you cannot find a beer you want to drink on the menu you don't like beer. Growlers of beer are available. All growlers are counter pressure filled with CO2. The bartender that evening was Peanut. Peanut is a super friendly and knowledgeable bar tender. No food was available. Overall this was a great experience. I am looking forward to watching this brewery grow.

I have been doing a yearly trek to the Party Source for eight years now. I was excited to learn of a brewpub going in last year. I finally made it back for the 2014 visit. I met a buddy and his friend there. It is located in the way back. It is fairly small with 8ish tables and a bar. Their tap list is amazing. They do a great job of covering all styles. They had about 6-8 house beers and the rest of the 42 taps were guest beers that are always rotating. They had stouts to porters to IPA's to pale ales to sours to reds, etc.

I started with an eight beer sampler. Then a four beer sampler. Then a couple pints. I was very impressed with the selection. I met a gentleman at the bar that was very knowledgeable on beer and was a regular. We had a couple great conversations. I immediately recognized the guy from their website. His name is Peanut. He joined our table after he got off and was quite the entertaining host. They do not serve food, but a Chicago hot dog truck pulled up outside shortly after I arrived. My buddy inhaled one and enjoyed it.

Now, my favorite part of the evening was while Peanut was at our table. Two huge plates of bacon were placed on the empty table beside us. It looked like vultures swooping in on a carcass. Peanut said it was 30lbs of bacon. I had a rasher or two. I liked the place, but once the bacon hit the table this place jumped up further on my list.

Overall, I had a great time with great friends. I made a couple new friends, and the beer was great with Jacobins being my favorite. And did I mention bacon?

 

Attached to Party Source (which is easily the best place to buy beer in the Cincinnati area), this strictly beer bar is definitely a "don't miss destination" if you find yourself in Cincinnati. Forty taps including around 5 or 6 of their own beers depending on the day. They always have a wide range of both domestic and imports available on tap, plus a few special/rare bottles. Also worth mentioning is that anything they have available in the store can be brought to the bar to be drank (there is a "corkage fee"). Every Monday is "Rare Keg Monday" and thus far they have mostly not disappointed, usually rare domestic kegs. Staff is friendly, and very knowledgeable. They do offer some appetizers (think pretzels and beer cheese, and cheese/sausage plates), but I have not tried their food. Not the kind of place I'd want to spend an entire evening, but I always enjoy having a few beers or a flight after work, or on the weekend when I stop in to shop for beer.

Stop #416 on my world brewery tour.

Ei8ht Ball Brewing is a must do if you're visiting the Cincinnati area and are into good beer. It's part of Party Source which is a booze mecca and has one of the largest beer selections of any beer store I've been to.

What I liked about Ei8ht Ball: Lots of outstanding, unique beers on tap. Easy to get a flight of 8 ($20) by simply marking a number on the chalk paddle. They list and constantly update the beers on TV monitor which is cool unless you order a beer while they're changing the board which is what I did but no biggie. Peanut (long gray beard) was our bartender. He's a Cincinnati beer institution unto himself. You can get a beer and wander the store. Be careful as you'll probably wind up buying too much stuff. Rare keg's each Monday tapped at 5.

Areas for improvement: All the beers, except two, were above 6%. Put a world-class helles/czech pilsner/kolsch on tap to demonstrate how you keep tap lines clean and manage delicate beer freshness. If you want to drink more than two pints, this is really not the place. The light 70's rock can put a guy to sleep on a President's day afternoon.