The last year or year and a half has been really fun if you enjoy watching breweries grow, and who doesn’t?  We’re seeing how each of our local breweries expands and evolves, with new locations, bigger taprooms etc.  Fibonacci is no exception to that with their announcement of the addition of a beer garden, an urban farm and a new taproom too.  It’s all part of a much bigger picture that encompasses who they are.  It’s also the perfect time to sit down with Bob and Betty to share it all with you for an episode of the Brewcast.

We tackled it all,  and there is plenty to talk about.  From the obvious expansion plans, to their upcoming birthday party, from mulberry beers to pink boots collaborations…. there is a TON of fun stuff going on right now!  If you want a great sneak peek at what it means to grow up when you’re a tiny brewery you’re not going to want to miss this episode!

It’s been far too long since the brewcast has visited Cincinnati’s first brewery/cidery/distillery, March First. Since our last visit, the taproom has opened and the brewery has started to grow into a fantastic addition to our craft beer scene here in Cincinnati – but how does it all work?  We sat down with the folks from M1 to dive into the concept that gives consumers just about any beverage they can dream up, under one roof.  What does having a distillery onsite do for the beer side?  Are there pluses and minuses to this wide range of variety?  And what’s next for them?  We explore it all!

There’s always a ton of things going on in this city, events… releases… beer drama.  It doesn’t matter which week you explore, each one is as exciting as the previous.  This is what makes an episode like this fun.  Due to a short notice cancellation, I had to scramble to put this show together (without a topic), and lucky for me, Braxton Labs was gracious enough to host us in their space, and extremely lucky for me Ben Conniff from the Reel Movies Podcast as well as the upcoming Craft Crew podcast who lent his voice and opinions to the broadcast.

We poured a couple flights and worked our way through the show “old school” style, just talking about whatever comes to mind.  Ben’s experience podcasting made everything come together as smooth as a silky nitro stout, and the time flew by.  It was a great episode, and while you should certainly go listen to Ben on his other shows, I can’t wait to have him back on this one too!

It seems like we’ve been waiting for this to happen forever, but Alexandria Brewing Company has opened their doors for business, and it’s time that the Brewcast sat down with Andy and Brad for a flight of beers – their beers!  The topic of conversation drifted from the beers themselves, to the way that Alexandria as a city, and the greater Cincinnati area in general has responded to this newest brewery to open in the midst of an ever expanding craft beer community.

It makes for a truly happy heart to see projects like this succeed, and to think of how they can keep growing in the future!

If you haven’t heard about Fretboard lately, you haven’t been paying attention.  They’ve been making a whole bunch of noise locally with not just a couple big personnel pickups, but with a tap lineup that gets people talking with a near perfect mix of traditional styles and fun boundary pushing flavors.  They’re only six months in, and they want people to know that they mean business.  All this adds up to the perfect recipe for an episode of Cincy Brewcast!  We sat down with Brad and Danny to talk about the journey to get not just Fretboard to where they are, but the journey to get the people involved where they are too.  We drank a few beers along the way to get a glimpse behind the idea behind what they do, and why they do it.  Fretboard is a brewery and a live music venue in one… and the second half of the show gets a little noisy – but it wouldn’t be Fretboard if they didn’t get a little loud, would it?

I always feel like a fish out of water when I’m trying to throw a last minute show together.  Couple that up with the face that this week’s episode is a “solo show” and what you get is a short version of the brewcast, filled with a bit of rambling.  I did manage to crack into a bottle of Rhinegeist’s new sour beer, the beginning of their outer reaches series called Infinite Dawn, and immediately fell in love with what they’re doing!

I also talked a little bit about some of the projects that I’m working on, and about some of the exciting stuff that’s currently happening around town in this ever changing craft beer community.  The show will return to “normal” next week… but for now – enjoy!

Rhinegeist – Infinite Dawn

Rhinegeist – Webpage

Alexandria Brewing Company – Webpage

Drinking With The Gnome – Webpage

What a whirlwind of a show!  It seems extremely appropriate that right after discussing how Cincinnati can become more of a draw for beer-tourism that the city should win an exclusive party from Untappd.  If you missed the post about the event the important stuff you need to know is that in the month of March our city was one of the top 7 cities for Untappd check-ins.  Digging a little deeper into that, MadTree was the top checked in verified venue in the city which is why the party was held there.

We were joined with an all star panel for the show, Christopher Walker from Have a Drink Show (you know them by now, right?) helped me keep the show running by co-hosting, and Mike Stuart from MadTree joined Greg Avola from Untappd to help us on the content side with a great interview.  We talked about Untappd, what makes it work, where it’s come from, and where it’s going along with digging into a couple of the most heated debates about the platform (let’s settle those vintage arguments finally).  With the Brew Professor himself at the table it only Made sense to chat about this mysterious Sensorium series that the brewery has been teasing lately.  In a world where Untappd reins supreme for beer check ins (with all the good and bad that comes with that) it was fun to have a brewery’s voice there as well to show their side of what the app does for them.

It was a great show… make sure that you not only listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Google Play – but for the love of beer, share the show with your friends too!  Let’s keep this thing growing!  There is a lot of fun stuff in the works, and I don’t want anyone to miss out!

There has been a couple big stories lately that have gotten the discussion of beer tourism, and what Cincinnati is doing right (or wrong) about it kicking into a different gear lately.  From the announcement that Rhinegeist is now one of the biggest breweries in the country to the big news that Sam Adams is finally opening up their long awaited Cincinnati taproom it all brings up the question of whether or not Cincinnati is really a beer city that would make people travel here to experience it all.

I just got back in town recently from a quick trip down to North Carolina, and thought it would make for a good opportunity to not only have the beer tourism discussion, but to drink a few beers that I brought back with me too.  Craft Beer Joe joined me on a dark, stormy night from the depths of the Gnarly Gnome Tavern to help make it all come together!

This was a test of some new streaming stuff that I’m working on, and we fired up Instagram live from our dining room after a long weekend out of town, with a sick baby (and a sick gnome) to drink a couple beers and talk about what’s been happening in the latest Cincy Beer releases.  we field a couple online questions, and just roll with an old school, low key brewcast.  It’s a primer for next week’s NC beer fridge cleanup with Craft Beer Joe!

There has been a lot of changes with Cellar Dweller/Valley Vineyards in recent months.  Their longtime head brewer Steve Shaw left to help start up Wiedemann, and they picked up a great talent with CJ Katsetos to put a new spin on their brewing program.  New beers, new spins on old beers… there’s a lot to talk about (not to mention the history of Cellar Dweller, the history of CJ himself).  We covered as much as we could on this episode to kick off season 4 of Cincy Brewcast.

Stay tuned to the blog… I’ve got plenty more to say about this “new” or revamped Cellar Dweller that we’re seeing.

Guests This Week