Craft beer drinkers in and around Cincinnati are very familiar with Braxton – the classic story of a homebrewery that started in a garage and eventually turned into one of the fastest-growing breweries in the country.
The group opened their first space in Covington, Kentucky in 2015, and eventually expanded to the Braxton Labs space at The Party Source in 2017 before opening the Braxton Barrel House location in a former Remke Market in Ft. Mitchell in 2019.
Braxton has always had the feel of being a Cincinnati brewery without technically being in Cincinnati. Until now that is.
Earlier this summer Braxton announced that they were taking over the former 3 Points Urban Brewery space in Pendleton. It seemed like a perfect fit for them, as the brewery is less than two years old and is in a fast-reviving part of downtown.
3 Points focused on pairing light colors and art along with beer, and Braxton kept a lot of those same elements in the renovated brewery space. There really wasn’t much to change in terms of how the space is laid out, with a big bar and high-top tables with large garage doors in the front part of the building, and booths and a stage in the back part. Braxton also added an awesome living wall and there’s even a temporary outdoor patio space with the street closed off.
The way that it’s set up makes two distinctively different experiences possible, and that’s something that all of Braxton’s other spaces also have.
The beer is what you have come to expect from Braxton – from their core offerings like Tropic Flare New England IPA and Storm Cream Ale to seasonals like Oktober Fuel Oktoberfest and Graeter’s Pumpkin Pie Ale. They also have some offerings from Braxton Labs and Dark Charge variants from Braxton Barrel House on tap as well. And of course you can get one of their Vive hard seltzers – including the new Pumpkin Spice flavor.
I really enjoyed their Table Saison, a light drinking saison at just 4.4%.
Braxton Cincinnati is both a culmination of the brewery’s other three operations as well as wholly its own thing. Hopefully in the future we’ll start to see exclusives brewed in Ohio from their 10bbl brewhouse.
Braxton Cincinnati is definitely worth the trip for Cincinnati craft beer fans.