Drinking With The Gnome

On this week’s episode of Drinking With The Gnome, we take a journey out to Harrison, Ohio, to talk to owner Rob Watson about what makes this space work in an ever-crowded market like we have in Greater Cincinnati. We drink a couple of beers and explore how their evolution might be precisely what saved them over the last five years.

Huge thanks to Rob and 1860 for taking the time to make this episode happen. If you want check this great place out, make sure you hit them up on social media, via their facebook page.

Also, I have to give a huge thanks to Hunting Agnes, they provide the theme music for this show!

My favorite. It’s not a term that I throw around very often… tastes change, feelings change, and the desire for different experiences is a real thing. Binskis is my favorite bar, though. I can say that without hesitation (with the caveat that if owner Kiel Erdelac screws up and starts changing things… I might change, too) because I love this place.

Binskis is the perfect blend of a neighborhood bar, with just the right amount of “dive-iness”, community, good feelings, a proper sense of humor, and great drinks. It checks all the boxes.

I sat down with Kiel as they were prepping for their first anniversary to hopefully get a good peek at not only what makes them who they are but to give you a good look into why I don’t think they’ll be changing any time soon.

Drinking With The Gnome wouldn’t be possible without folks like you supporting it!  If you want to become a “Gnomie” please go to http://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support – or help out by sharing this episode with someone that you think would enjoy it!

The theme music for this show is a song called ‘Some Beers’ from Hunting Agnes – for more information on them find them on social media, or hit up http://www.HuntingAgnes.com

Huge thanks to this week’s guest, Kiel from Binskis Bar.

There’s always been something happening behind the scenes of craft beer – we’re starting to see it very visibly here in Cincinnati with some of our breweries who are getting “old” enough to start figuring out who they are under the surface. Still, places like DogFish Head and Sam Adams have been doing it for decades.

I got a chance to sit down with Sam Calagione of DogFish Head to talk about how sustainability and “bigger picture” things have always been a part of their company – and how, still today, they’re pushing to do things differently to have an impact on the world around them.

This was part of an event that Sam Adams put on in their taproom where they talked about a couple of their sustainable beer initiatives – and I’m going to get a couple of videos up on YouTube over the next week or two that are also from that event (including this interview) so… keep your eyes open to The Gnarly Gnome on YouTube!

Huge thanks to Sam Adams, Sam, and the whole team that put this one together for me… It’s changed the way I look at a brewery’s impact on not only their community but also on the world around them.

Cheers!

I love finding new places to grab a drink in Cincinnati. I love it even more when those places have unique, fun personalities and definitely that focus on community. It’s no surprise though that Victory Pints, up in Maineville, is this episode’s focus. I sat down with owner and founder Riley Mullins to explore what they are all about!

To start off, Victory Pint is not just a bar. They have food, but they aren’t just a restaurant. During the day, there’s a vibe inside the place that sort of feels like a coffee shop, quiet, calm… but for the love of God… they’re not a coffee shop, either. You’ll hear a lot of folks talk about board games, because all along the surface, they’re a place for board gaming – to play or to buy.

Victory Pints isn’t any one of those things. At their core, they’re about community. I’m blown away by how well they made it all come together, and am thrilled to share it with all of you.

If I’ve learned anything through this series of shows diving into winter drinking, it’s that the traditions that come along with the season are a massive part of it. On that note, this one is definitely a favorite of mine! I headed back down to the Moerlein Lager House at the Banks for their Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt for another live episode with a few friends, an open flame, and a hot poker for a great episode.

The fun process of Bierstacheln (or hot pokers in a beer) doesn’t just warm up your beer a little bit, it carmelizes the sugars in the glass and transforms your beer into something completely different. If you don’t believe me, make sure you hit up the link below to get your own to try at home!

Huge thanks to Hunting Agnes as always for the theme song to Drinking With The Gnome, make sure that you go check them out! As always, if you enjoy this show or any of my shows – you can head over here to support!

Oh boy… we had a fun one with this episode. With bad weather on the way, I broke with the plans for the month. Instead of recording live down at the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt, I headed up to ‘The Garage Bar’ (don’t start googling, it’s Chris from Shift Beers’ garage. We cracked open three bottles of peppermint schnapps to figure out what this tasty winter drink is all about.

It was fun – my wife got mad at me – and I think we learned, well… I don’t know that we learned anything.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did! Huge thanks to Chris for hosting one of my favorite episodes to date! A big shoutout also needs to go out to Hunting Agnes for providing the theme music for Drinking With The Gnome. If you’d like to support the show, you can do it over here!

One of my top two things that I like to have in my glass during the winter season makes its first appearance on the show this week. It’s called Glühwein, and it’s a warm, spiced, delicious wine. If you haven’t had the chance to experience it, yet – let this episode be the call to action for you to do just that!

We’re back down at the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt again this week, doing the third in our series of Winter Drinking shows live from the festival. It’s an absolute blast, and I was joined by a bunch of really great folks this week to make sure that it was!

This is definitely solidly in my wheelhouse. I’m a big beer nerd. I was joined by my buddy Marco, from Truth, Beer, Podsequences to take a peek into winter beer. The big question is “what makes a winter beer, anyways?” We explore that over a couple of pints, of course!

This is the second in a series of five episodes that are being recorded (and broadcast) live from the Cincinnati Cristkindlmarkt down at the Moerlein Lager House. Make sure you tune in every Thursday evening this month.

There are a few things to be answered before we jump in… namely, what makes a winter cocktail? We set up shop inside an igloo down at the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt at the Banks to answer that, and many other questions (and of course to drink a few drinks along the way.

I was joined by Julia Rohs, from Truth, Beer, Podsequences for this unique, fun, and undoubtedly chaotic episode of the show.

I could spend a lot of time writing about Zane Lamprey… but you’re better off just diving into some of the work he’s done over the years to get a better picture of why he’s important to who I am today. To say that he’s inspired what The Gnome has become is a bit of an understatement. Zane has been critical in shaping how I have created content over the years, and just as much into the directions that I plan on going in the future too.

For those reasons, among many others, I was thrilled when he agreed to sit down with me for an episode of Drinking With The Gnome recently while he was in town. We talked about a LOT, including what makes a good beer city, the differences between Bourbon and Craft Beer, and even the differences between light beers (or lack of) – it’s a really fun conversation, and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did recording it!