New to Ohio (2016)

I'm not going to rank the breweries in Cincy, but I would put them in the same group as MadTree, Rheingeist (Despite the fact I don't care for their beer a whole lot, I think it's very consistant and nothing has been "bad"), Listermann / Triple Digit, Taft's, and Blank Slate. Those are all breweries I would call excellent or very good in Cincy.

Nine Giant is decent. Nothing there blew me away, nothing was bad though. I would go back again. Definitely a decent start.

The other recent brewery to open is Darkness Brewing (which is in Bellevue, but Greater Cincinnati area) I would avoid at all costs.

 

IMHO for Cincy breweries

Tier 1:
50W (The absolute best in this city to my palate. Exciting, fun, different, growing fast, best fests, best variety, solid across the board, coolest space for my tastes, best food)

Rhinegeist (kind of one-note, but almost always solid, nascent barrel program putting out decent things)

Listermann/Triple Digit (a lot of similarities in their dark offerings, but they do exciting things and put on fantastic fests)

Rivertown (their lambic and gueuze alone make them Tier 1 for me since they are top notch regional wilds)

MadTree (extremely overrated IMO - their specialties are very good but their flagships are mediocre and boring IMO)


Tier 2:
Urban Artifact
Blank Slate (and rising - I like this place, but too small to be higher right now)
Mt. Carmel (just too boring for me, but at least they are consistent)
Taft's (good food, great space, OK beer)
Moerlein (see above for Taft's)

Tier 3:
Cellar Dwellar
Fibonacci
DogBerry
Nine Giant
Bad Tom Smith
Others I may have forgot to mention

 

@KSOZE seems like we are mostly in agreement there. Except I would put Bad Tom and DogBerry in Tier 10 .

 

Definitely agree about DogBerry. Bad Tom I've "heard" is getting much better, but I can't attest to that as I haven't had recently.

And I should qualify the above about MadTree - PSA is great. I wish most of their other flagships/regulars were that solid. Unfortunately I think PsycHOPathy is one of the worst IPAs in the area. Too much alcohol presence, grainy/stale malt flavor, overly floral one-note hop aromas. I refuse to send as an extra to trading partners unless they request it.

 

I feel like Listermann/Triple Digit does not get a lot of love. The Chickow beers are fantastic, IMO.

 

Fresh PsycHOPathy is great. But it falls off in quality very quickly, I will attest to that.

I drive by Bad Tom on my way home every day, I refuse to stop. I gave them a few honest shots and just can't bring myself to spend money on their stuff.

 

I have heard so many different things about the place that I have a wait and see approach. If it is Mabel's(average eatery) married with a German beer hall... I don't even know how I feel about that. I just want a relaxing place to drink a few beers after work that doesn't remind me of Applebee's. I'm not worried about the quality of beer, I know that wil be great.

 

I heard Bad Tom recently changed brewers, potentially equipment, etc. so I'm willing to give them one final try. I went to that Bad Ass Beerfest they hosted last month in Amberley and was pleasantly surprised that three of the four beers I tasted of theirs weren't infected or bad or anything, so that looks like a step in the right direction.

 

It's 12.99 per bottle. I think that's a pretty fair price for what it is.

 

Couldn't this be stated for about 90% of the breweries in the US over the past 2 years?

 

I think he meant more towards bottling/canning/distributing so soon after opening, which would be a figure a lot less than 90%. Didn't they open earlier this year? The only other brewery in Ohio that I can think of that has done something similar is Platform, but I don't think it was as quick of a turnaround.

 

Bottle or can the regular IBUsive.... please.

 

TBH I also don't understand how Platform ramped up as fast as they did.

 

Have they ever done a wet hopped version of IBUsive? This sounds awesome.

 

Firstly, it was a joke. Second, it is only worth it if my mouth says so, and drawing on my history with this brewery, we may not find out.

 

I think they did in Portland, as much good as it does us.

 

It's not a dig at all at any brewery, I just meant that a lot of breweries open and within a few months are distributing right out the gate and all over the state(s)

All over the country there are numerous breweries signing distribution rights before brewing a drop of beer. It's a weird time.

 

I know. I think he was asking if it was brewed previous to that.