Upon suggestion from a good friend in the world of Cincinnati beer (Garrett Hickey from Streetside… Thanks Garrett for taking away the last little bit of free time that I had left in the year), it seems appropriate to use the changing of the year as an opportunity to look back. Since we are also making that slide into a new decade… why not? We are going to take a few minutes to explore our beer scene and how it’s changed in the last ten years.
Cincinnati is incredible. Our beer scene is fantastic of course, but this city? This city is something really special. If you look at all the changes that we’ve gone through as a city in the last decade, it’s mind-blowing. (You remember OTR in 2010… right?) I can’t even begin to scratch the surface on all that, but I can put a good effort into shining a light on at least our beer scene in the last 10 years.
Look, Mom, We Have Breweries!
It’s hard to remember what the beer scene was like in Cincinnati back in 2010. Barrelhouse was breathing it’s last struggling breath as it closed down. Rivertown was brand new. Mt. Carmel, Listermann and Great Crescent were the only locally owned craft breweries in operation. Beyond them, the only other places making beer were Miller up in Trenton (we don’t really talk about them… do we?), Rock Bottom, Hofbrauhaus and Sam Adams (the production brewery that was hidden in plain view).
Compare that to today, we’ve technically got 68 breweries in town (that’s a complicated number – read more about how many breweries we really have here). Things have blown up in the best way possible. Our city has birthed a titan in the industry like Rhinegeist, and nano breweries like Fibonacci or Mash Cult – it just keeps getting more and more exciting.
The reason for that is simple… taproom laws.
Stay… Have A Beer Or Two!
In 2010 you couldn’t have a taproom in Ohio. If you wanted to operate a brewery, you were forced to either run a brewpub or operate as a production only space… and it wasn’t cheap. In 2013 the state finally passed legislation that not only made it legal but made it affordable to operate a small brewery with a tasting room. A brewing license used to cost almost $4,000 – the new law made it a quarter of that.
The floodgates opened in Cincinnati. Just look at this chart that shows the number of breweries in town from the 90s until today. You can clearly see the change. Cincinnati was finally poised to become the beer city that not only were we destined to be, but that at one time (pre-prohibition) we had already been. 2013, 2014… things started happening in a major way – and our community exploded. MadTree, Rhinegeist… what it meant to be a brewer in Cincinnati changed almost overnight, and it still continues even today.
The Fallen
It’s not all roses and rainbows, though. Places close. It’s interesting to note that none of the breweries that were open in 2010 have closed (except Barrelhouse, but as I said, they were struggling at that point and barely still hanging on. However, there have been a few places that have opened up and closed inside those ten years. We’ve been forced to say goodbye to:
- Blank Slate
- Quarter Barrel’s two locations
- Ei8ht Ball
- Tap and Screw
- Queen City Brewery of Cincinnati
- The Old Firehouse
All of these broke some hearts when they were gone – but a couple of them really shook the community pretty hard when they didn’t make it. You can still see aftershocks of the effect that some of them had on Cincinnati’s beer culture today.
Each place that closes their doors does so for a little different reason, and each one of those closings hopefully provides a warning to the other places in town. A learning opportunity. We can continue to grow, we can continue to get better if we learn from the past.
Yeah, Sure – I’ll Drink While I Shop!
The world of grocery stores and gas stations/convenient stores have changed dramatically in Cincinnati. When I think back to a decade ago, I can’t even imagine how I got through my grocery shopping each week. Didn’t I get parched?
The rise of growler stations in gas stations is something that I would have never imagined at that time, either. You can fill your gas tank, grab a six-pack and a crowler of the latest release from a brewery across town all in the same stop – and that’s freaking amazing.
The best part of all of this? It’s become normal, now. It used to be a novelty. It was surprising when you walked into a store with a bar in it… now we complain about how many taps they have. It’s incredible.
The Beer Itself
I wish I had been keeping some sort of stats on what beers were on tap around town back in 2010… but I didn’t have that sort of forethought. If my memory serves me correctly, though, I remember a lot of traditional styles. Sure – Rivertown was just releasing their first Lambic, but they were pretty far ahead of their time… that was far from ‘normal’ here in Cincinnati.
Around town, there were a lot of Light lagers, American Wheat Beers, Standard Porters, and Pale Ales. Boundaries weren’t being pushed, yet. We didn’t need it yet, we didn’t crave pastry stouts and NE IPAs. Things were exciting if only because we were thrilled to have beer being made in our city. It would take a couple of years before the craziness started.
You can walk into almost any brewery in Cincinnati and find boundary-pushing styles. Unique takes on tradition and something that you haven’ that before that you’ll fall in love with.
The World Takes Notice
The craft beer world around us is starting to notice Cincinnati. No longer are we just a city that had a vibrant, growing beer community before prohibition killed it off. We are doing great things again and heads are turning. If you don’t always believe the clickbait lists that show us slowly moving up the ranks over the last ten years of “Best Beer Cities” – maybe some competition medals will convince you? This decade?
- 18 GABF Medals from 8 different breweries.
- 7 World Beer Cup Medals
- 10 FoBAB Medals
Total this decade, our breweries have pulled in a total of 312 different medals and awards – showcasing that it’s not just our attitude and swagger that other people are noticing. We’re making damn good beer, too,
Where Does It Go? What Do We Do?
What’s the point of all of this? Hang in there with me for a moment. It’s easy to forget what this is all about. As we each take our individual journies through life, we can easily get caught up in ‘self’ and forget that without each other… it’s nothing.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions… but I love the reflection that it provides. Our paths cross as we take our trip through our lives. Drinking provides us opportunities to let our paths intersect for a short period of time as we take part in something that binds us together. We can experience life for a moment together. When I look back at my journey (and all the intersections that have been made in the last decade) I’m eternally grateful for how this community has changed the path I’m on. Even when I’m home alone, cracking open a beer that was brewed here in Cincinnati – I’m tied to something much bigger than whatever else is happening around me.
Yes… the last decade has been eventful, and yes, the next one will be even crazier. When you sip that next beer, though… don’t forget that it’s part of a much bigger story.
This city will keep growing, and things will keep changing. We will go wherever it takes us, and we will do whatever we need to as we keep playing our role in the story. I can promise that whatever that means… there will be a drink in my hand.
Cheers, Cincinnati. Happy New Year, happy decade… let’s do this.