Cincinnati Recommendations?

Cincinnati has a relatively great craft beer scene when it comes to breweries and bars. Staying downtown is great because you're either a 10 minute walk or 5 dollar uber ride from some great breweries. Rhinegeist/Madtree are the two biggest breweries in Cincinnati. While Madtree is not downtown, Rhinegeist is and the environment is really cool. Big, open warehouse with lots of space. Also have a rooftop that they just opened up this year. Not to mention they offer some wonderful beers.

Also downtown is Tafts Ale House. This is an old church turned into a brewery. Great option to hit during the lunch hours because they serve some amazing food as well as some solid beers.

Christian Moerlein is one of the oldest breweries in Cincinnati. They have a taproom downtown as well as the Christian Moerlein lager house. The lager house is more of an sit down restaurant that offers the Moerlein beers as well as some great options from other breweries around town or out of state.

Bar wise, I don't get out as much as I used to, especially downtown. Arnolds, Kruegers Tavern, and knockback nats are some of my favorite places to go.

Down on what we Cincinnatians call "the banks" is where Moerlein lager house is. It also has a Yardhouse which I think has 200 different taps or so from beers around the U.S and some from outside the U.S.

 

I'll second Rhinegeist and Tafts. I'll also add The Lackman. Really the whole Over the Rhine neighborhood is worth checking out. There a couple dive bars in that area as well, names just aren't coming to mind at the moment. It's a very underrated city for beer in my week long experience.

 

The over the rhine (OTR) area is loaded with really good craft beer bars. I went into one last year and asked what they had good on tap in an IPA and they served me Alpine Duet.

 

The best bar downtown/OTR is Libertys. Do yourself a favor and check them out. They always have a great taplist. My favorite bar to kick it at on a really nice day downtown is Neons. Huge outdoor patio and great brews on.

Don't miss out on Tafts Ale House either solid food and great beer.

 

If you want to get a wide selection of Cincy brews in one spot, I would hit up The Brass Tap in Clifton, by UC. Weekdays 3-7 they do $3 locals, which is really nice.

In terms of breweries downtown-ish, I would highly recommend Taft's Ale House. Rhinegeist is the biggest brewery in the city and are not far from Taft's.

Dives that I would recommend are Knockback Nats, O' Malleys in the Alley, and Neon's. The smoked wings at Knockback Nats are probably the best wings I have ever had. All 3 have some craft beers on tap.

 

It's worth the drive to 50 West!

 

Dead and Co is gonna be so much fun

 

Moerlein Lager House, Yard House (chain), O'Malley's in the Alley, Blind Pig and Arnold's downtown proper.

Moerlein taproom, Taft's Ale House, Rhinegeist, Half Cut, Liberty's and Neon's Over the Rhine.

 

Rhinegeist, Madtree, and Taft Ale House as folks have already mentioned are great. I'd add to that Nation Kitchen and Bar along with Half Cut.

If you get over to the NKY area:

Try out Braxton Brewing Company and for a dive bar try out Wunderbar. (both in Covington) Ei8htball Brewing in the Party Source has a large selection as well.

 

Staying at the Millennium Hotel Cincinnati Fri June 24-26. Golf at Reeves golf Course then Reds game on Sat the 25th. Should I assume most of these recommendations would also apply for me also?

 

25th is Rhinegeist anniversary party - tons of great one-off beers slated on tap all day for that - should be a good time

 

Are there any recommended must drink beers I should try next weekend?

 

Yes

IPA- 50W Punch You in the EyePA, Fat Heads Head Hunter, Brew Kettle White Rajah

 

Next week is actually Cincinnati Beer Week, so you should see lots of cool stuff around town!

I would look for Mad Tree Citra High. It's my favorite hoppy beer in Cincinnati.

 

I'll be spending a couple days in the area next month. Besides the bars/breweries listed above (thanks for the info) is there a good retail shop fairly close to the airport?

 

Depending on where you are staying, you could take about a 10 minute detour and go to "The Party Source" in Northern Kentucky or Party Town in Florence. They both have really good selections.

Depending on what part of town you will be in, Cappy's in Loveland is the best beer store on the Ohio side of the river, hands down.

 

Thanks, it looks like Party Town will be the closest.

 

If you have time I would make the detour to Party Source. They have a brewery inside (not a great one in my opinion, but tons of guest taps). Apparently Party Town does as well, but it's nano and everytime I go they haven't had anything on.

 

I'd second suggestion of party source over party town....