It’s not all about the beer at Cincinnati. The zoo and the historic walking tours were great ways to round a trip to the city. If soccer and football are your thing, take in a FC Cincinnati or Bengals game. As we were out of season, and I’m terrified of heights we opted for an elevator ride to the top of the Carew Tower; the second tallest building in the city. The Carew Tower is a great way to see the city and the river; which is an ugly brown color. Hope our beer is super purified before we consume it as the Ohio River is one (if not the) most polluted body of water in the US.
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery (Cininnati, OH)
We’ve hit Rock Bottoms before, so we’re just going to cruise through this review. This is a chain brewpub that is loosely controlled by corporate; they give style guidelines to the local brewers. As long as the style is given a green light, the individual brewers can make the styles as they see fit; as long as it sells. This location has been around for roughly 20 years which quite an accomplishment for any establishment. Our favorites at this Rock Bottom were the 3 Pepper Ale herbed beer (heavy on the jalapeno flavor), White Tiger Hefeweizen, and Tall Stacks red ale. Rock Bottom is right in the heart of the city and is open 11am to 11pm, so there is no excuse to not hit it. They are a solid 3.25 out of 5. They serve up some good beers, but there isn’t a whole lot of room for palate exploration when you’re controlled by corporate.
3 Points Urban Brewery (Cincinnati, OH)
#Gentrify. Our next brewery, 3 Points Urban, brings us to a not so nice part of town (still in Cincinnati). The Brewery itself has a Veza Sur (Miami) feel, and you can tell that a lot of time, effort and money went into this establishment. Seems like a big coin toss because as far as we can tell the area is in the midst of a gentrification and areas like this seem to be a crapshoot for investments.
Not even in full swing yet, 3 Points Urban had it’s soft opening the weekend we were in town and there were six drafts available – lucky us! Of the four we tried, there was really only one that did it for us: Sure Shot IPA. Loads of hops, clean finish. Despite the weak entries, we’re always confident that a brewery will hit their stride after the opening woes settle down. We’re taking our usual approach and not rating 3 Points this go-around.
Are you a local? Let us know how 3 Point is doing.
LiL’Charlie’s Restaurant & Brewery (Batesville, IN)
Okay, so we decided to do a thing while in Ohio. We crossed the border and dipped into Indiana. LiL’Charlie’s Restaurant & Brewery of Batesville, Indiana is roughly an hour away from Cincinnati proper and is the only brewery in this part of the state. Yeah, we took a hard detour just so we could claim another state visit 🙂
The brewery is certainly a locals joint. In addition to their own line of micro brews, they also carry all the usual macros, wine and a full bar. Charlie’s was voted Best Restaurant, Best Place for Dinner, Best Steak, Best Hamburger and Best Live Entertainment in 2017 – according to their own website. The beer did not earn a ‘Best’ of trip, but this local powerhouse did brew up some tasty brews.
Our flight of four contained the usual suspects; a blonde, pale ale, hefe and brown ale. Best of flight was the Long Ride Hefeweizen. It was a long ride out here, and a long ride back all for one brewery and we can’t confirm that the one hefe was worth the trip but the lunch here is pretty fantastic.
LiL’Charlie’s is not breaking any ground and wouldn’t be worth the trip out and back if you’re staying in Cincinnati proper. But if you find yourself out near Batesville, Indiana and need a bite and drink you’ve found the best (and only) brewery in the area. LiL’Charlies earns 2.75 cheesy pretzel bites out of 5.
13 Below Brewery (Cincinnati, OH)
Our last stop of the day and our trip is 13 Below Brewery back in Cincinnati. On the (polluted) Ohio River sits a brewery in a marina. Yeah I said marina. Crazy enough there are tons of boats on the Ohio river. Brave souls if you ask me.
The brewery itself is a large, garage styled facility with plenty of bar and picnic table seating. Our last flight of the trip consisted of Fluss Bock, West Coast IPA, Wedding Day and Submerged. Best of flight was a tie between Fluss Bock and Wedding Day. Fluss is a traditional bock – light hops, dark/murky and malty. The 4.9% beer was a quenchable, but falls below the standard bock abv of 6-8% according to the internets.
And that’s O.K. because Wedding Day brought the booze. This 9.7% Belgian Tripel is guaranteed to make your bridesmaids cry in a bathroom because this drink is so smooth and hides it’s content rather well. Your wedding guests probably won’t notice how drunk they are until you hear the traditional ‘Listen, can I just tell you that I love you and you’re awesome and that…. *AERRRRUUUUCK*’ coming from the women’s room.
13 Below, which is 13 nautical miles below downtown Cincinnati, makes some good but average beer. If you find room in your trip, the detour will make your gut happy but I don’t think you will find anything unusual or beersnob worthy down this way. 13 Below is more of a 3.25 above in our opinion.
