It’s been a busy month in the Cincinnati craft beer scene, as a trio of new breweries have opened, while we also got the announcement of the closure of a longtime location. Here’s what has been going on in the Cincinnati brewery world:
GlendAlehouse Brewery opens
A couple has opened a small brewery in their former home, giving the Glendale neighborhood its first brewery. GlendAlehouse Brewery features multiple areas for gathering, as well as a patio outside. They also serve pizza from the pizza oven they installed out back.
Their beer trends toward traditional European styles and was very good. The location feels very warm and inviting, and they did a great job of creating a neighborhood brewery that people will flock to. It’s definitely worth checking them out, and they are just down the street from Third Eye, which is an added bonus.
Gilligan’s on the Green opens
West Side Brewing partnered with a development group to open Gilligan’s on the Green in the Wyoming neighborhood. The former BBQ restaurant was originally a fire house. It’s large and appears to be more of a brewpub feeling than a traditional taproom vibe. West Side has begun brewing specific beers for Gilligan’s, with a focus on Irish styles to match the food. West Side beer and cider is also available.
Bocce Brewing Company also opened inside Gabby’s Cafe across the street in Wyoming a few months ago. They only have one beer at the moment, but it looks like they may be expanding in the future.
Third Eye opens Hamilton location
Speaking of Third Eye Brewing, they are capping off their banner year that featured big wins at GABF and the World Beer Cup by opening their second location in Hamilton. The new location will expand their brewing capacity fivefold – from around 2,000 barrels to more than 10,000 barrels per year.
A former Pepsi bottling plant, the Hamilton location is 28,000 square feet and features a large taproom as well as a dedicated event space.
Taft’s Ale House is closing
Taft’s Ale House has long been a centerpiece of the Cincinnati brewery scene, and it was a unique option when the brewery opened in a renovated church in 2015. Now eight years later, Taft’s has announced that they will close their original location later this month after never recovering from the Covid-induced slowdown. They are keeping their St. Bernard and Columbus Brewpourium locations open, and their contract brewing business is also expected to be unaffected.
This is the second long-running closure in recent weeks, as Fifty West announced their original brewpub location will be an event space only going forward.
Bonus: FOBAB
HighGrain and Listermann won awards at this year’s Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers earlier this month in Chicago. HighGrain won a silver medal in the Other Pale Beer category for Boost, while Listermann won bronze in the cider/perry/mead category for Wealthy Financier. It’s the first FOBAB medal for HighGrain and sixth for Listermann.
Second bonus: Yellow Springs Columbus is opening
Yellow Springs isn’t exactly the Cincinnati beer scene, but they’re a Southwest Ohio staple and one of my favorite Dayton-area breweries. They are on the cusp of spreading their wings to the Capital City, as their new location in the Clintonville neighborhood in Columbus opens this week.