What Makes Great Crescent Special?

Great Crescent sits a bit outside of what is usually thought of when you bring up the “Cincinnati brewery scene”, but that doesn’t mean they actually sit outside it. The brewery has a tight relationship with their smaller community around them, but they were one of the first locally to start canning their beers, and are brewing some amazing things that earn their spot on the list of local breweries. The space that they are in has it’s own historical ties to drinking, and is a wonderful use of a great building, and an even better location. It’s position away from the typical Cincinnati brewery makes it well worth the drive.

Great Crescent is also the first brewery to open a coffee shop inside their brewery… giving us drinkers something to do in the morning before it’s “socially acceptable” to have a pint of craft beer.

The Space

The Great Crescent building was built in 1843, and once held a distillery, then several other businesses over the years. It’s always nice to see (alcohol ties or not) a building that has a soul to it be resurrected into a brew space.

There is something even better, in my opinion, that makes Great Crescent’s space so special…it’s the actual location of the building. The town of Aurora has that perfect small town feel, that makes you feel as if you have stepped back in time, and from the brewery it’s only a short walk down to the river, where on a nice sunny day, you can sit and watch the boats pass for an entire afternoon.

The Beers

Here’s the part we all go to our brewery for… the beer. Great Crescent has some really great stuff to offer in this department. A great lager sits aside a nice Kolsch beer for the fans of lighter drinks, while an IPA and and a Dark Lager satisfy those with different palates, but to me the standout is by far their Coconut Porter… a wonderful porter with the sweetness from coconuts sitting front and center on it’s flavor profile. Certainly worth a taste for light or dark beer fans alike.