Cincy Brewcast

I have been wanting to do this show (or some version of this show) for literally years at this point. Warped Wing Brewing Company might be very much a Dayton Brewery, but it’s easy to see that they, and their beer, most definitely play a role in Cincinnati Beer. We’ve had their beer on the show a few times… and it seems like it’s finally the opportunity to get them on and talk about the brewery in a little more depth.

The brewery recently opened up their Barrel Room and Smokery in Springboro, and it’s close enough to Cincinnati that… well… the line get’s blurry enough.

I sat down with owner’s John Haggarty and Nick Bowman to explore not just what this new location is all about, but also to dive into their story a bit to give you an idea why this brewery is as fantastic as I think they are. We drink a few beers, share a few laughs and hopefully shed a little light on their story (and give you a few reasons that you need to head up to check out what they’re doing!)

You can always find out the latest information about Warped Wing by hitting them up on their website, and their social media. If you pay close attention, you might be able to find the latest news right here too… hmmmm…

Just a heads up… this is a long one. To my defense, though, I’ve been planning on this conversation for a very long time – and there was a lot of ground that we needed to cover, and an hour just wasn’t going to cut it when I sat down with Esoteric Brewing Company.

We talked about who they are, as people, and as a brewery too. We drank a few beers and might have even convinced them that they need to start their own podcast, too. All in all? I think it’s an absolute success! For more information about Esoteric, although you could read about them on TheGnarlyGnome.com – you can’t do much better than hitting up their website or following them on social media!

As a reminder – this podcast, and pretty much everything I do wouldn’t be possible without folks like you. If you want to help you can always go to the support page here – or to the store and buy something. The absolute biggest help, though – is also the easiest. You can tell someone about the site, about the show… about the Gnome. Listen, Share, Repeat!

You’ve probably heard about this place. Certainly if you have your ear to the ground about Cincinnati beer, you have. Cartridge Brewing Company is located in the historic Peter’s Cartridge Factory, also known around these parts as the Powder Factory – and it’s been a big project that a lot of folks didn’t think would ever see the light of day.

Here we are, though… in the light of day for a brewery that is going to make a lot of people very, very happy. We sat down to explore their story a bit, dive into some of the beer and talk about how it all has come together. The best part? We only scratched the surface… I have a LOT more that I want to talk to them about, so you know you’ll be hearing more in the future!

This isn’t how I planned for this week’s episode to work out. I had a heck of a week in leading up to it, though. From a cancellation, and then two events that I didn’t make it to… nothing on the “gnome-front” seemed to work out how I intended. With two sick kids, and a tired wife… sometimes things aren’t easy. Yet, here we are. It’s another week and a quasi-episode to satisfy my urge to make a podcast for you.

I drink a beer, and give a quick chat about what makes a taproom, a beer… anything, really – “good”. It’s been on my mind for a while, and it’s not going away any time soon… so be prepared!

Sometimes, to get a really good look at the bigger picture, you have to spend some time with the “little guys”. Paradise is certainly not big. Their small brewery in Anderson makes some incredible beer, though – and it’s always a blast getting to spend a little bit of time with them.

We talked about how they got started, and then dove into what they thought about the current beer scene, the current state of the world, and what it means for a brewery their size vs some of the bigger guys in town.

Any chance I can get to sit down at Adena’s warehouse to talk with Michael Amann about beer, I’m going to take… and it seems like there is plenty to talk about. We of course hit on the topic that you’re all probably sick of hearing about – but dive into some other stuff as well. Seasonal creep is a big one that I’ve been wanting to touch on with all the folks that love to talk about it this time of year – is it a real thing? Does it matter? Why does it only happen this time of year?

If that’s not enough for you, we drink a tasty rum barrel aged beer from Wooden Cask – a NE IPA from Streetside, and then drink a seltzer that is unlike any other one I’ve had before… not just because it’s pretty expensive (for fizzy water…) – there’s a lot packed into this show – it’s a fun one!

I talk a lot about our local breweries, bars and taprooms staying scrappy as 2020 kicks all our butts. Higher Gravity is a fantastic example of what that means. This Northside bar/bottleshop is an amazing example of staying diligent, and paying attention at how you adapt to the changing industry as the world around you seems to burst in to flames. They are selling this years Beervent calendars, which makes for a good excuse to grab a beer on a warm evening to talk about how they’re managing not only staying open and safe, but how they’re prepping for a second location at the same time.

These guys are great people and amazing stewards of craft beer in this city – enjoy this one… I know I did!

I know that a lot of you don’t want to talk about this Pandemic anymore, and I respect that… I really do. But it’s hard not to cover it when we’re all worried about our local spots and how they’re doing during it all. We get some much needed reassurance from Garret Hickey and Steve Schmidt from Streetside Brewing Company.

To keep things happy, enjoyable and not virus-related we also down a bunch of Demogorgan and talk about their barrel-aging program and some of the fun things that are coming down the line from that.

It’s a great show, packed full of great beer, and great friends… you’ll like this one!

If you follow me on social media, you’re probably plenty sick of hearing about Oktoberfest beers by now. I’ve been drinking a TON of them. The style is at least in my top three, if not my absolute favorite, and becomes an absolute obsession for me this time of year. For the second year in a row I spend the fall seeking out as many local examples as I can get my hands on and trying to figure out which one is really the “best” for me.

This is what I call my great Oktoberfest Quest – and this year is pretty spectacular. I limited the competition to just packaged versions of Oktoberfests, because… well… it’s a lot of beers. I spent a bunch of evenings working my way through a bracket of them all, putting them head to head until we were left with the final four – which is what this episode is all about. (you can see the whole bracket here if you’d like)

I brought in some help (big thanks to Marco Penilla from Cellar Dweller for hanging out with me and making sure that things stayed fair, and to my wife for being a great tie breaker and beer pourer to keep things blind) – and we finished up the competition in epic fashion… leaving Listermann as the Grand Champion and with the title this year as the Best Packaged Cincinnati Oktoberfest.

If you’re looking for all the information about THIS year’s Oktoberfest celebration – check out this!

I have such a deep, deep love for watching the journey that different Cincinnati Breweries go on to start from an idea to opening their doors for us to enjoy. It’s definitely been a journey for these folks, too… Rebel Mettle. They have been working for years to turn an idea into reality – creating a space that captures the bit of rebellious nature in all of us, and it sure seems to me that they’re on the right track.

Their grand opening is in a matter of weeks (9/12/20) – and it seemed like perfect timing to finally sit down with them and paint a picture of what things are going to be like in their taproom. We (of course) drink a few beers along the way dive in deep to the ethos that makes it all come together!