Cincinnati Zoo
It’s officially our first day in Ohio; and there is no better way to celebrate than by visiting the Cincinnati Zoo to see the world famous hippo baby Fiona, and the slightly less well known rhino baby Kendi. And yes, this was the home of Harambe; may he rest in peace. The zoo was roughly 10 minutes from our downtown hotel, but we knew better and left early. However we did not leave early enough. Cincinnati Zoo was swamped by the time we showed up to the compound, and we were detoured all around the park until we finally reached an empty parking lot. So go super early when you visit, especially if it’s a holiday weekend.
The zoo itself is massive and could be an all day affair. We spent three hours in the park and nearly saw everything, but we really rushed between exhibits and didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked to with our favorites. Fiona was being a lazy hippo and napping in the sun. We waited a good 15 minutes for her to get up and play in her pool, but alas the 1 ton baby was dead set on snoozing all morning. Kendi was in the back of his exhibit and we almost missed him because his natural camouflage blended in so well with the sudo-rockwall.
One exhibit you should definitely check out was the nocturnal animals house (The Night Hunters Exhibit). This exhibit places natural nocturnal creatures into a dark environment; which increases our chance of viewing the animals running about instead of just snoozing in the day.
You usually see this kind of exhibit with bats, but rarely for little-big cats.
A zoo is a great morning activity for Beerventurers who like to breakup their alcohol activities with Animals and Education; and CIncinnati has one of the most well kept, and well stocked zoos we’ve ever seen. After the zoo be sure to visit one of the local breweries below and raise a pint for our fallen brother; Harambe.
Taft Brewporium
Our first stop of the day was a massive warehouse loaded with fun and games. Taft Brewporium of Cincinnati, OH is non-descript outfront but is home to a plethora of fun activities to either beat the heat or the cold. This brew house is loaded up with darts, skeeball, shuffleboard (tabletop), corn hole and basketball. This may be one of the most game friendly stops we’ve ever had.
Adding to the fun and games was beer. Lots and lots of beer; 30 taps of beer ranging all across the style spectrum. We snagged a flight of 4 and took a seat at the lengthy bar to taste test Return of the JedIPA, Sour Vice, Pride & Passion(fruit) and Nellie’s Keylime Caribbean Ale. Nellie’s Keylime was unfortunately our least favorite. We (Andrew) had high hopes (too high) because we (Andrew again) absolutely love Keylime everything. It’s really our (still Andrew) pumpkin spice. Even with a moderate expectation, this wheat beer only showed hints of a keylime and isn’t something we would likely purchase had we have known.
Despite our unique tastes, Melissa and I independently scored Return of the JedIPA, Sour Vice and Pride & Passion(fruit) the exact same untappd scores; solid 4s. Usually there is some wiggle room between us, but in this case all 3 of these beers were great representations and certainly recommendable. Return of the JedIPA had a warm 8% abv, and very flavorful citrus and floral notes. No juice bomb.
Sour Vice was a tart, but not overly tart, Berliner Weisse. There was not a whole lot of unique character after the initial tart but I think we both concluded that it was the right amount of face-pucker. Pride & Passion(fruit) might have earned a few style points from us because of it’s name. The passionfruit + guava loaded ale was brewed to celebrate the local LGBT pride in what they lovingly refer to as the Queen City.
Taft Brewporium (Spring Grove Ave) is the full scale production brewhouse and not the Taft Ale House located on Race Street. We didn’t get a chance to visit the ale house, but we hear it’s a beautiful converted church with exquisite dining options. The Brewporium also has food, but we’ve been informed that there is certainly a difference between the two establishments menus.
Come get your game on at Tafts Brewporium & Super Fun Warehouse; where 4 out of 5 baskets are sunk. But seriously, make sure you have time to play games this is probably a killer happy hour spot.
Urban Artifact
Speaking of Churches, our next spot was another old, and partially renovated church. Urban Artifact of Cincinnati appears to be a a cult at first glance, until you realize it’s just an old church with a bar full of killer beers in the basement.
The menu of beers was extraordinarily interesting; potentially even more so than Braxton Labs for comparison of this trip thus far. The 12 draft system had 11 choices; many of which were sours or fruit beers. We would have loved to have tried all of them, but we could only sit for a flight of 4: Gyroscope, Keypunch, Pinwheel and Mixtape Vol 1.
The Pinwheel was probably our least favorite; which isn’t saying a whole lot. The gose was loaded with pounds of kumquats, making this gose have a distinct citrus profile instead of the classic tart. Despite being our least favorite; it earned a solid 4 on untapped as it was a sour with style.
Keypunch was another attempt at a keylime; except this time Urban Artifact succeeded where Taft Brewporium had failed us. There was an explosive amount of keylime flavor in the front and perhaps some seasalt in the back providing some balance to another gose. My mouth is salivating just reminiscing about the beer.
Gyroscope was a raspberry + vanilla fruit beer that weighed in at 7.5%. This body was certainly rich in fruit and vanilla; I doubt I could finish one on my own. Melissa on the other hand certainly hand no trouble polishing it off.
Mixtape Vol. 1 is a red wine barrel aged sour. The murky brown color was off putting at first, but the body was had the same consistency of the Gyroscope, but the flavor was of hearty oak and wine. We’re not the biggest wine fans, but we can appreciate this fine vintage.
Our bartender Phil also doubled as an excellent tour guide and took us up into the old church where they still host weddings; albeit a bit more lively than a classic church wedding. Instead of pews, there is a mish-mash of 4 legged chairs and the building has so much character that it could fall down any second. If you’re a fan of old churches, sour beers and live around the Cincinnati area you should really consider this as you wedding and cocktail venue.
Without a doubt this was Melissa’s favorite stop of the trip; sour and fruit beers. If that’s not your thing you might consider skipping this brewery; but be warned this place certainly ranks as a must hit for Beerventurers and Beersnobs alike. Also, we’re not sure when, but in the near future there is a brewery opening up right across the street. So if you’re visiting you might be in luck you get a 2-for-1 spot.
We found a bit of God in a glass from Urban Artifact so we said 4.8 Our Fathers out of 5.
Brink Brewing Company
Fresh out of church, it was time to hit a more traditional brewery. Brink Brewing Company was our next stop on the Cincinnati excursion. This brewery has a great gathering space for large groups; complete with a communal table and even wider 6-seaters for party games and food. There is also a patio out back but we didn’t get a chance to check it out. The scrabble draft menu board posed 15 beers for us to try, but our flight could only hold 5.
Starting with our least favorite, but certainly no slouch was Debbie Jean – Cherry Lemonade. This blonde ale was crisp and refreshing beer with a distinct cherry color and subtle nose. However the cherry, and the lemonade were not as impactful in the taste profile. When we first saw the color, we had anticipated more of a Shandy, so our own expectations were not met here. Don’t let that stop you from trying it out for yourself.
Next up, the Moozie Milk Stout. This rich, chocolate milkshake of a stout boasts a Bronze Medal from the Denver Beer Competition, and a Gold in the US Open Beer Championships. It’s not hard to understand how the beer won awards for this beer as it’s really well done, but there was nothing really distinct that makes Moozie standout from the other thick, chocolate stouts we’ve had previously.
Heaven on Earth- Belgian Tripel is one of those Pink Boots Society Collabs that we’ve seem to be encountering more often. This Mosaic + Citra hopped Belgian Tripel was a bit overly sweet for my tastes, but the candied sugar is what helps mask the potent 9.6%. I’m pretty sure if Melissa keeps encountering sweet treats like this from the Pink Boots Society reps; she may just become a member of the Brewing Community at a professional level.
If the last brewery was for Melissa, this brewery is certainly for me. Our last two beers were both Milkshake IPAs; but I’m not certain if the same base beer was used. Shake Senora is a Blackberry & Mango with a wicked kick of blackberry. The modest citra IPA base was heavily saturated with a lovely berry + vanilla profile. I’m sure the mango was in there somewhere, but the blackberry was the more dominant flavor. The hop bitterness was also mostly eroded.
Lime? Sure, Burt was the other Milkshake IPA that is described as a “lime sherbert milkshake style IPA with tangerine.” Now that the Sure, Burt joke is out of the way, this tangerine infusion had a bit more IPA bite + bitter than Shake Senora. As the IPA fan, this pick was more aligned with and satisfying to my taste buds. I’m also a huge fan of lime in general; so I may have been biased.
Brink was not on our original route for the day, but the trip from Urban Artifact to Fibonacci made it a no-brainer stop. The quality and uniqueness of the beer makes Brink a great stop, and no longer just an amazing Disney original movie from the 90’s. Brink carried team Pup-n-Suds to victory with a solid score of 4.4 out of 5. And if you don’t get that reference, stop what you’re down and go pirate Brink!
