Hi guys, just got back from Cinci not too long ago and thought I'd give a little trip report since there wasn't a ton of Cinci info when I searched before I left. I stayed downtown so I hit up Rock Bottom pretty much first thing. Typical Rock Bottom, solid beer and a chain-ish atmosphere to it. I had what was one of the last pours of their O'fest and liked it. I thought their IIPA was very underwhelming, and preferred the IPA on tap to it. They had a dryhopped pale ale on cask that I thought was better than the IPA, to boot. Service was hit-or-miss, had one very friendly/engaging bartender, one sort of indifferent. Ran into the assistant brewer one night who stopped to talk briefly, which was nice. I stopped in Nicholson's one day for an early lunch. The place was empty so I got to talk to the bartender a bit. Nice atmosphere, great fries, but a somewhat disappointing beer selection. Overall, English/Scottish beers seemed to be well-represented, but out of the many taps, only one was a local brew (and that semi-local, as it was brewed by Alltech in Lexington, KY). When I asked the bartender, he flat-out told me that local beers didn't get much support in Cinci bars/restaurants. He mentioned he had just been in Nashville, where I'm from, and was shocked by the local support. If you haven't been to Nashville, it's a nice, growing scene, but it isn't earth-shattering or anything. Nicholson's is in downtown, very easy to walk to if you're down there. Next I drove out to Dutch's, which was... interesting. Seemed like a quirky, kinda-upscale place. Again, split service: one bartender was super-friendly, the other I practically had to wave over with both hands. And, again, no local love. Of the eight taps, I don't think a single was even an Ohio brewery. The bottle shop part had a good selection although I wasn't crazy about everything being out in the sun. Hyde Park seemed like a nice enough part of town, it would be easy to park yourself there and walk to several different venues. At this point I had hoped to continue out to Mt. Carmel Brewing and check them out, but I ran out of time before I had to be somewhere and didn't make it. On this trip I also wanted to go up to Rivertown, but again, ran out of time. Early that evening I headed back out to Hyde Park on a tip I'd gotten from the bartender at Nicholson's. He told me that if I was looking for local, head to Arthur's in Hyde Park, and they'd have all-local. Sure enough they did! Six taps, if I remember right; probably not less, but not more than ten for sure. Not only that, but it was a great neighborhood, after-work-pub type of feel to it. Some local regulars yukking it up, staff that was obviously friendly and comfortable, etc. The gf got potato skins which were ok, nothing crazy. I had a Blank Slate brew, Fork in the Road. Nice beer, great American hop aroma, not too chewy, really hit the spot. I would have liked to have some of the Triple Digit brews on tap, but I was about to drive and felt like having a 10%+ pint on top of the Blank Slate on top of everything from earlier in the day would have been a bad idea. Overall, the short time I spent in Arthur's was some of my favorite. The next day I headed to Listermann's so I could at list hit one local brewery. A nice tap list of about eight of their and Triple Digit's beer, but again, as I was driving about town I didn't feel like having a Triple Digit brew was in the cards. Other than the taps right out in front, they're a homebrew shop on one side and a production brewery on the other. I kind of poked my head in the brewery door to get a feel for their setup, but other than that, they're focused on pumping out the beer, not dealing with the public. Fine, no problems with that. The homebrew shop had a cooler with yeast and Listermann's bombers, so I picked up some IPA and took off. Sadly, the IPA was way, way estery/phenolic. Either their ferment temps got super crazy, or they've got a wild yeast floating around in that batch. After that, I headed to Mecklenburg Gardens to eat before I left town. Funny kind of place, they aren't kidding when they say it's a German restaurant. Only local tap was a Moerlein, I had one of those then switched to Bell's. The spaetzle was definitely above-average. If anyone is familiar with the Gerst Haus restaurant in Nashville, Mecklenburg seemed like a more authentic, better cooking Gerst, with a better tap list to boot. The patio seemed like it would have been really nice as well, but it was a touch chilly for that. On the way back south I hit up Party Source in KY - it seems like for cities like this, the BA "Places" page should include a link to the city on the other side of the river with a short explanation for the link - and was really happy, especially coming from a state like TN. Great selection, huge cold room, even a small grocery section where I looked for, but alas couldn't find, some goetta to buy on impulse. Overall, I was really bummed out by the beer scene in Cinci. Not many local breweries at all, not much support for them. I ignored Moerlein because we can get their stuff in Nashville, and in addition to them there's only a couple production breweries and one chain brewpub. For a city the size of Cinci, I was hoping for more. It seems like some startups are getting off the ground, though, which is good news. For those staying downtown, I'd recommend Rock Bottom if you've never been; if you have, you know what to expect and can make your own call. I liked the vibe of Nicholson's and from what little I had of the food I'd bet that's great as well. Dutch's was an interesting place, worth a visit if you also want to pick up some beer to-go (for those familiar with Nashville, reminded me of a little more upscale/less hipsterish 12th South Taproom). Arthur's had, by far, the best local selection I was able to find and a nice, neighborhood vibe. Listermann's isn't worth a visit for the brewery, but if you want to find some and can't in other stores, it may be your only choice. If you've got an itch for German parade music, you can't pass up Mecklenburg Gardens.
