Cincy Brewcast

I have been trying to get this one planned and scheduled for a long time now, and was thrilled to finally get the chance to sit down and explore Humble Monk Brewing with you this week! Humble Monk is located in Northside and while they lean heavily on Belgian style beer, you’ll quickly figure out that it’s not all they are about.

We talked about how they got started, what they’re all about and even took a little peek into the future for them to see how they envision themselves growing into an ever evolving beer scene here in Cincinnati.

It’s an exciting time down at Christian Moerlein, and I’m not just talking about it almost being Bockfest time again… no, they’ve got plenty of other stuff going on, besides that. I sat down with Greg Hardman and the new ownership team to talk about everything that’s been happening. The team discusses what it takes to bring Moerlein into the future of craft beer, and what that means for brands that we love around here (like Little Kings!). It’s a great conversation and is made even better by the Emancipator Doppelbock that was flowing.

The construction on CincyBrewcast studios continues… and the progress inspired me to schedule another ‘In Studio’ show, this time a couple of great beer friends, Josh Engel (Raging Hop, who’s with March First… I guess he’s not really Raging Hop anymore) and Danny Herold from Sonder Brewing in Mason. It was a bit random, and the way it all came together is even more random – but we got together to do a vertical tasting of MadTree’s Thundersnow.

With five years of the Scottish Ale on hand (we missed 2017 somehow… we weren’t really sure what to expect from the beer, which isn’t known to be one that a lot of people cellar on purpose – but without spoiling anything, I can say that we were pleasantly surprised!

This is always a special week for Cincy Brewcast each year. A celebration of Mike Cisneros, and a celebration of the craft beer community and all that it means. Big Cis is a big deal, and is always a blast to take part in. You can (and should) read more about the event and the beer here. This year’s event took place down at Alexandria Brewing Company again, and was insanely fun. From some really fun charity raffles to live music from Hunting Agnes… I hope you made it down to experience a great time! If not… here’s your way to get a glimpse at how much fun we had!

Back in the studio this week the Brewcast dives into a couple of beers and with Kat Finn in Studio a peek into Girls Pint Out and Pink Boots Society. We explore some different parts of the community and look forward to what we’re expecting the next year of Cincinnati beer to contain. While we don’t have any sort of crystal ball – we can definitely make some assumptions about where it’s all going based on where it is today!

I love the first chance that the show gets to sit down with a new brewery. It’s that first conversation where we get to dive into the story of place, or a person or an idea that turns into a new piece of Cincinnati’s brewing culture. Dead Low opened up for business in October of this year, and have already gained a good group of fans of not just the beer their brewing, or the great food that they’re cooking up – but of a taproom that is absolutely stunning as well.

In this episode, we dive into it all and try to dissect exactly what makes these folks who they are. We try a few beers and try to peek into the future to see where they’re going long term, and what makes a brewery successful in a city that’s getting as “beer-busy” as Cincinnati is these days.

Chef Tony from Brew City Sausage is not just a lifesaver for coming in at the buzzer for me this week, he also makes one of my favorite products that I’ve ever found, Brew City Sausage. This week’s episode we’ll explore his latest infusion – Utopias Infused Sausage)

We drank a ton of beer and chatted about what’s been going on in the world of Cincinnati craft beer. It s fun, it’s busy, it’s awersome.

It’s been another crazy week in the world of craft beer, and that means that I want to take a quick little journey outside of Cincinnati this week. I was joined by Justin and Danny from Sonder Brewing Company, but while at the start of the show we did dive into the cellar to drink some Cincinnati beer, the bulk of the conversation lies elsewhere.

New Belgium is selling themselves off to a foreign company – which means they aren’t going to be “craft beer” anymore – and I’m struggling to understand how I feel about that.

We take a deep look at what it means, and how it makes us feel… while we drink some great beers from Rhinegeist and Fifty West. A little peek behind the curtain… we were in Sonder Studios because we started the night by recording an episode of Sonder Stories – so you’ll wanna go ahead and subscribe to that if you haven’t already!

Hang in there… this is a fun one!

It’s always fun to take a little dive into the other sides of the beer community, other than just the folks that make the beverage that we all love. BC’s Bottle Lodge and it’s owners Brian and Caleb are doing an amazing job in creating a space where you can not just grab a couple six packs on the way home, but take part in a much bigger community at the same time. Their two locations, West Chester and Montgomery are both amazing spaces, with huge tap lists and customers that make everyone feel welcome, and like a regular.

In short… it’s exactly like some of the big factors that made us fall in love with all this in the first place!

It only made sense to me, on the second anniversary of their Montgomery location to sit down with the guys and take a peek at not only what got them to this point, but where they see it all going in the next couple of years too. We also explored what the roll of bottle shops, and bars play in an ever changing craft beer world.

I love Cincinnati beer, that should be pretty obvious by the fact that I have a blog and podcast that are dedicated to showcasing it. There’s another side to craft beer, though… and it’s a pretty big one. It’s everything else. There is a TON of great beer being brewed up outside of our hometown, and there’s a lot that can not only be learned from it… but enjoyed with it.

This week’s episode I sat down with Michael from Adena distributing to talk about not just what’s going on with them, but to get a bigger “top down” picture of beer that isn’t from here, and why it might be more important than we give it credit for.