Episodes

I LOVE a new brewery, especially when that new brewery is run by an older brewery that I already love. I love it even more when that team manages to create a new space that takes all the things we already love and gives it a new personality. If you’re not putting it together yet, that’s exactly what’s going on at Gilligan’s Brewery in Wyoming, Ohio. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Henry, their marketing manager, to have a beer and figure out exactly how and why the brewery plans to keep...

When Mellotone Beer Project announced that they’d be taking over a VERY familiar brewpub space here in Cincinnati, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew their head brewer and co-founder, Alexandra Nowell, knew what she was doing from her time in the industry, but what I have found since is a space that manages to brew traditional styles really, really well, without being afraid to put their own spin on them. It’s easy to let craft beer get a little too full of itself, and this place knows exactly...

Higher Gravity On Continued Evolution And How They Stay Great. This week’s episode of Cincy Brewcast takes us back to Higher Gravity. Higher Gravity has two locations: the OG spot in Northside and a space in Blue Ash at Summit Park. Their Summit Park has a full coffee program, and both locations have great cocktail menus. They sell amazing, well-curated beer, a variety of wines, seltzer, and THC beverages. It’s incredible how they’ve continued evolving while still staying who they are. I wante...

It should feel a little familiar if you’ve been a fan of this show for a while, now – Big Cis brings together old friends to celebrate a beer that is in itself a celebration of craft beer itself. This year’s tapping of Big Cis coincided with Cincy Beer Week, which only made it that much more special – and I hope that resonates with everyone else the way that it does with me! To everyone that keeps all of this still going, and makes it feel as great as it does… thank you!

The long quest to find the mysterious “Party Tree” comes to an exciting conclusion for me with a short hike through the woods with the one and only Matt DeMaris. I really wanted to get him on the podcast to talk about this year’s Honor Bus, his Vets & Brews charity work… and of course to have him lead me to this legendary, mysterious spot in the woods. If you want to learn more about Matt and Vets & Brews… you can find them online right here. More importantly, if you want to support the honor b...

In this episode of Cincy Brewcast, I sit down with Garrett Hickey from Streetside Brewery to dive into the latest happenings in the world of craft beer. We kick things off by discussing the recent gold medal win for Streetside’s Black Cats English Brown Ale at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Garrett shares insights into the brewing process, the significance of the award, and the unique characteristics that set Black Cats apart from other brown ales. We also touch on the broader implicat...

This is the end of a fantastic Oktoberfest season for me. For the fifth year in a row, as soon as the first local Oktoberfest beers hit shelves, I started my quest. It’s a journey to find the “best” Cincinnati Oktoberfest beer that takes me through a massive bracket, head-to-head matchups between every single packaged Cincinnati Oktoberfest beer, and culminates in a live event to let the final four battle it out in a blind, head to head face off. There are always a lot of great beers (32 of the...

There are several things that make an Oktoberfest great – and Sonder has it absolutely dialed in. Every year, we take a few minutes during their festival to make a podcast (probably an excuse to hang out over a few beers as much as it is anything else) – and this year, we explored a little bit about those things that make it so great. We drink a few beers and share a few laughs… it’s a good one! If you like this show, if you like any of the stuff that I do, you can always support by going to ht...

There’s been a lot of confusion in the local beer circles about what’s going on with Bircus. They got a lot of folks a little worried when a ‘For Sale By Owner’ sign appeared on the marquee of the Ludlow Theater. I headed down to Ludlow, Kentucky to talk to Paul Miller (The Chief “Goof Officer”) of Bircus to get it all settled. Paul lets us behind the curtain to talk about how the brewery’s move down the street and the long-term growth plans of the whole idea of Bircus call for a new evolution....

There has been no shortage of moments in time when Listermann has gone through big changes, and the last year has been the latest. With new ownership on board to run things, a new kitchen program is coming to life – and a ton of new classic-styled beers to sit next to the fan favorites… things are exciting. If anything sounded like a great time to sit down with owner Terrie and head brewer Payton… that certainly does, doesn’t it? We talk about how they are trying to stick to things that folks l...

The folks at Happy 2 Brewing in Anderson don’t have any major aspirations to be the next big Cincinnati brewery. In fact, they seem to be happy just being in a neighborhood spot located in a little pizza shop, making beer that they really enjoy. I’m a firm believer that this is a model more places should adopt. Small pockets all over the city can support a taproom model like this, and I hope that we see a lot more of it going forward! I sat down with brewers/owners John and Dave Maddrill to le...

The world of craft beer in 2024 is very confusing sometimes. It’s easy to get caught up in a lot of different things that can distract you from why you fell in love with all of this in the first place. What I love the most about Gravel Road Brewing Company in Middletown, Ohio, is their focus on doing the things that they fell in love with back when they first started drinking beer. They’ll never be the biggest or the trendiest place in town – but along their journey, hopefully, they always feel...