You’re getting ready to plan your weekend, make some choices about where you’re gonna snag a beer or two, right? I hope that Cincy Brewing Company is on your list of places that you wanna check out, and I don’t want you heading in blind – I want you to know what to expect, and what not to expect when you do stop in. As the diehard drunk beer blogger that I am, I’ve scouted things out for you!

Who’s Cincy Brewing Company

This is a little complicated of a question for me to answer. You’re going to hear one of two things, most likely, if you ask a local beer geek about these folks. You’ll either get the fact that they are located in the old Rivertown location in Lockland, or you’ll get the news that the equipment, the tables, and the head brewer are all from former local brewery Tap and Screw who shut down their Madisonville taproom in July of 2018 after three and a half turbulent years of trying to get rolling.

Cincy Brewing Company certainly pays fair respect and homage to both of these breweries. While they are their own, new place, you can’t help but feel the “ghosts” of the places that came before them (I know… I know… Rivertown isn’t dead, they just moved…).

New ownership, and a new idea of what a taproom and brewery can be will hopefully bring Cincy Brewing Company into today’s ever growing and exciting craft beer community.

The Space

Like I mentioned before, Cincy Brewing takes over the former Rivertown space, so as you can expect… it’s a lot like Rivertown was. There are pieces that immediately take you back to the experience of the old brewery, for good and for bad. There’s no air conditioning in the main taproom space, the bar is a little bit too high… It gets a little loud when busy. These are all things that might be considered a negative for some of you, and for others might immediately bring you back to some of your early taproom experiences.

The brewery itself is tucked away in a separate room in the back of the building, and there is a large open space behind the cooler that will give you some room to spread out and play games, or hang out with your friends and family. The side room is enclosed and provides a nice, calm, quiet and air conditioned space for you to hang out. (Again… you’ll remember what became the arcade room from Rivertown).

The Beer

I’m going to go easy on this – these guys are new… and it’s never fair to be too critical right off the top of a new brewery’s opening. The brewery currently has three beers on tap (until next month or so) They’ve got:

• Mad Anthony – Red IPA
• Lincoln Heights – IPA
• The Pike – Belgian Light

Of the three beers, I enjoyed the Red IPA the most. Not as hoppy, I think this falls in line with an ESB a bit (except for the higher abv, obviously). Nice and balanced – it’s a nice beer for the upcoming fall months that it’s hard to ignore are quickly approaching.

To help supplement the taps that are a little empty currently, the brewery has applied for (and recieved) their A1 license which allows them to not just serve up wine, but also guest taps, which means that they are bringing in a couple beers from Wooden Cask (this also completes that fun cycle a little bit deeper, as Randy Schiltz from Wooden Cask was one of the two founding owners of Rivertown)

Final Thoughts?

I hope that every person who sets foot in Cincy Brewing Company appreciates the pieces of them that harken back to what was. From Tap and Screw and Rivertown… it’s all part of what made this community what it’s become, and I hope that Cincy Brewing Company is not only able to find their place in what it is now – but keep showing the respect to what made it what it was.

Is it worth a stop this weekend? Yeah, I’d say so… but wear some shorts if you get hot easily.