With the exception of one, our next five breweries were all in a row. If you’re planning a Beerventure in Cincy; Streetside, Bad Tom, Fifty West and Little Miami are all in a straight shot, and you can earn a bonus stop at Mt Carmel if you have time.
Streetside Brewery (Cincinnati, OH)
Away from the bustle, Streetside Brewery offers a much calmer brewery atmosphere when directly compared with Rhinegeist. Solid music selections, diverse beer selection and the unique choice to have light brights at the tables made for a relaxing afternoon.
There were 20 taps available for consumption and we grabbed some of the bartender recommended: Upside Down, S’More Fun Together, GRL PWR and Danky McDankerson.
- Upside Down was supposed to be a maple syrup, cocoa nibs and vanilla stout brewed in collab with Platform Brewery (Cleveland Ohio); but it ended up being rather bitter and not very maple-ey.
- S’More Fun is an imperial brown ale brewed in collab with Quaintrelle Confections (Cincinnati Ohio). It was sweet, and my was it potent; 10.2%. Made for a hell of a s’more if you ask me.
- GRL PWR was a pretty looking deep rose colored gose. It wasn’t overly sour, and it had a firm cranberry body; very good in our opinion.
- Last was my top pick and best of flight if not solely for its name; Danky McDankerson. Naturally, Dank just means NEIPA anymore, and that’s all this was. Just a well built NEIPA.
Streetside overall was a good stop, with good beer and in a much quieter part of town. We had high hopes for the Upside Down, and that was a bit of a let down. The S’More, GRL and Danky were above average. Grab a flight and make 3.5 light bright penises out of 5 at Streetside.
Bad Tom Smith Brewing (Cincinnati, OH)
Bad Tom Smith Brewing of Cincinnati is a down and dirty brewery named after a murderer. Yeah, pretty sure this is a new one for us. I won’t be able to sum up the story here and do it justice so take a spin over to the website for the details.
This grungy, murderer based brewery has an interesting group of patrons that we’re not used to in the brewery world; leather clad, skull helmeted, Harley riders. I can see the appeal of this brewery for a place like chopper riders; it felt like a biker bar except instead of cheap Coors and bottom shelf whisky, it was loaded with crafts. There was also and excellent smokehouse serving up some delicious meats and of course we showed up on rescue pet adoption day. Biker brewery and a puppy drive – this is a very unique combo for us.
We grabbed a flight of four and went to work.
- Black Kettle Chocolate Stout is described as a roasted barley, chocolate malt, heaping amount of cocoa powder, nibs, vanilla bean and cinnamon sweet stout. However, the cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla wasn’t as potent as the roasted barley. The stout was certainly more malty than anything and we were slightly disappointed in the end result.
- Hazy River NEIPA was certainly hazy. This Simcoe, Falconers and Citra hopped NEIPA was juicy and completely unfiltered. However when stacked next to Dankerson from Streetside, I felt that Streetsides NEIPA was the tastier blend.
- Jackson Hustler Belgian Wit is a classic “Belgian malt and German Noble hop” beer that was crisp and refined. Probably our top contender for wits this trip; it was incredibly refreshing to have a with a side of pulled pork.
- Last up and the best in flight was the Jailbreak Churro Brown. More and more brown ales are becoming less murky water and more substantive in nature. Jailbreak Churro was a literal liquid churro in a creamy, sweet, carbonated body. If you’re big into browns this will be your must drink beer (this and S’More from Streetside). If you’re not big into browns, this just may reset your expectations.
Bad Tom Smith may have been a “coal hearted killer from Breathitt County”, but he now makes patrons happy one delicious glass at a time. Bad Tom earns a solid 3 life sentences out of 5. Also, please remember to Adopt, not shop!
Fifty West Brewing Company (Cincinnati, OH)
Fifty West Brewing Company offers more of a fine dining experience rather than a traditional brewery experience. If you want the brewery experience, we recommend the Fifty West Production Works; their brewery across the street. But you can still drink all of the delicious beer in their upscale brewpub. It was dinner, so we grabbed a flight of 6, some food and went to work.
- One Way Street Polaris (pale ale), Paycheck’s Porter and Doom Pedal (witbier) were the baseline representations of their styles; one Way Street scoring the lowest on the flight.
- Ocean City Gose stepped things up a bit with its vibrant color and that lovely gose nose. We noticed that there is a hardline love or hate relationship for this beer on untappd; we fell closer to the love.
- The last two up were our tie for best on flight: Irish Cream Coffee Please and Coast to Coast IPA. Irish Cream was a passionate blend of coffee in a rich, creamy sweet stout. We can only imagine if served warm, you wouldn’t notice that it isn’t the real thing.
- Coast to Coast combined East and West characteristics into one danky, resiney, hoppy brew that is easily described as “crushable.”
If you’re not hungry yet, you can rent bikes, kayaks and canoes from Fifty West, or join their running club for an out and back to build up the appetite. Sometimes you need to earn those pints the hard way. Fifty West Brewing Company has some well rounded beers, and great food; but there won’t be anything too extreme if you’re looking for adventure in the bottom of a glass. We ran 3.5 miles out of 5 with Fifty West; had to walk the rest.
