Cincinnati Trip - Anything I NEED to know?

If you visit MadTree on the weekdays, it will be packed by 6. A week ago, I stopped by around this time and the two lots were completely full and I had to park across the street. Was told it is not so busy during the weekends.

 

Two words - Party Source

 

Rivertown Lambics. They're so good.

Party Source in KY and Dutch's in Cincy.

 

Cappy's in Loveland if over on the NE side for bottes, Listerman/triple digit for beers, and 50 West for beers/food.

 

Jungle jims has a huge selection of stuff you can't get in Minnesota. Thirsty dog, Troegs, head hunter, etc.

 

Where will you be? Pretty big geographic area to cover depending on what part of town you will be in.

North/NorthEast:
Bottle shops - Obryan's Wine (great selection and usually has harder to find items like Jackie O's barrel aged), Root Cellar, or Whole Foods.
Bars - Dingle House

Central/East
Bottle Shops - Dutch's, Kroger in Hyde Park
Bars - **** and Bull
Tap Rooms - MadTree (usually 15 or so beers on tap, many not available elsewhere), Rhinegeist, and 50 West

Depending on when you are here, Rhinegeist has a couple of good bombers around - Mosaic is a good Pale Ale, Sabertooth Tiger is a DIPA, and Gramps is a Barleywine (haven't tried this one yet), Cafe Ink (coffee stout).

Have a good trip. Great beer scene here. Might still be able to pick up some FatHeads Hop Juju. Great beer

 

I second Jungle Jim's and Listermann/Triple Digit. Jungle Jim's has stuff from around the world. They also have a tasting bar with some (usually local) stuff on tap. It's an international market, so you can find a ton of wine and food from around the world too. Very cool place. Chickow! and Nutcase from Listermann/Triple Digit are a must try IMO.

I haven't been, but I've heard, as joltinmatt said above, Loveland Cappy's has great service and a very good selection.

If you go to Party Source, they actually have E8ght Ball Brewing inside. They usually have a decent tap list. Go to E8ght Ball Brewing's site and scroll down and you can see what they have on tap for the current day. So, this is great if you want to check out a brewery and pickup something good. They have a great selection as well.

If you happen to be on the west side of Cincinnati, there is a (sort of) hidden gem called Jeff's Marathon. Yes, it's a gas station, but they have some decent stuff. Besides the stuff sitting out plainly in the store, a lot of the six/four packs are in the beer cave. They don't exactly get a ton of quantity, but the quality is there. I just got some Three Floyds from there the other day and that isn't easily found around Cincinnati, or at least not since I've searched. They get most of the latest releases too, but sometimes goes fast since it's a smaller operation.

As others have said, MadTree, Rhinegeist, and Fifty West are all great. Blank Slate is decent. You almost can't go wrong with where you go. Every brewery has at least a couple of really good options.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the city. The beer is great, the food is great, and most importantly, the people are great.

 

Based on my first experience there this weekend, I would skip Listermann's. Hopefully my bad experience was an outlier, but I can't see any reason to ever set foot in there again.

 

Rhinegeist. Ei8ghtball. 50 West. Mad Tree. Listerman's. In that order for me. Rhinegeist first bc I love the space.

Or do a Craft Connection your & let someone take you around.

 

Jungle Jim's has great prices on growlers. You need to use/buy their growlers though.
http://www.junglejims.com/images/new/pdf/TapList.pdf
The Fairfield store has 16 taps, Eastgate has 40! Lots of local options.
I bought a growler of Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA for $9 (plus $4 for the growler).

DEP's Fine Wine in Fort Thomas is another good growler option. 24 taps.
http://depsfinewine.com/beer/
In the past, DEP's has filled any growler you bring in.

 

I'll second suggestions for Jungle Jim's, Cappy's, and the Party Source. Either JJ's location is pretty much a tourist destination in and of itself, and the Party Source bills itself believably as the largest alcohol-dedicated store in the US - picture something about the size of a chain grocery store that carries nothing but every form of alcohol made, mixers, and some party snacks and supplies. There's a tiny place called the Root Cellar that usually has a ton of weird and rare stuff, probably because the beer selection is so disorganized nobody else could find it - and definitely check bottle dates there.

There's also Party Town, way down south in Florence, KY, the growler station of which currently has Dark Horse Plead The 5th and Bell's Consecrator going, and recently had stuff like Odin's Tipple, in addition to local beers. They've filled any growler (or howler, or pint jar) I've ever brought in.