Mellotone Beer Project Is Open, Take Advantage Of The Happy Feeling That Brings.

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome

11/21/24

I might be a glass-half-full kind of guy. Maybe even to a fault, if I’m being honest. Even when I’m hit with stories that are a little sad or have the potential to be slightly depressing, I find myself leaning much harder into the stuff that doesn’t make me feel that way. I’ll be the first to admit that some of the brewery closures or sales that we’ve seen over the last year or so have been tough for me. A lot of these breweries or taprooms are places that opened their doors since I started writing about Cincinnati Craft Beer. It’s hard not to feel something for a place that you’ve been closely following since they opened their doors. I know that you probably have places that you feel that way about, too.

When Taft’s Ale House announced they were closing in November of 2023, it stung.

The Ale House Was Special

When Taft’s opened up their multi-multi million dollar brewpub on Race Street in OTR, it changed the game. 2015 hadn’t seen Cincinnati Breweries that started with the power behind them that this space did. Rhinegeist and MadTree were still babies, growing rapidly on shelves around town (and in their taprooms) – but a brewpub of this scale? It was mindblowing.

When they announced that they were closing, even though Taft’s is still around in a very big way, it was a loss.

Their brewpub is stunning, and the converted church with its towering ceilings, Rookwood tiled brewhouse, and speakeasy feeling basement bar is something that the city NEEDS. It was one of those places that you would send out-of-towners who wanted to get a picture of what Cincinnati beer was all about, and with a social media post and a week or so of saying goodbye – it was just gone.

Letting It Go

I wasn’t sure if another brewery would be able to take over the brewpub. It’s a huge space in a very high-rent neighborhood. I was ready to let it go, painfully, expecting some event space or the like to take over.

This is the reality that we have to face when we fall in love with spaces—sure, brands can live on in other spots, people can get jobs in new breweries, and beer can always be made somewhere else—but I don’t want to gloss over the fact that sometimes spaces also mean something to us.

I think back to some places like the original Rivertown brewery in Lockland, the original Mt. Carmel brewery taproom in the old farmhouse, Ei8ht Ball in the back of The Party Source – memories ooze from the bars in these places – and the space itself is important to lot of folks.

Losing Taft’s Ale House’s space was a hard pill to swallow.

Enter Mellotone Beer Project

My eyes lit up one afternoon while scrolling through social media one afternoon when I came across an update from the upcoming Mellotone Beer Project. I’d been keeping an eye on this project from Dennis Kramer-Wine (formerly of Rhinegeist) and Alexandra Nowell (formerly of Three Weavers). They’d been really quiet on the progress of things, and the last I’d heard from them (when I ran into Dennis over a beer one evening) was that they were still working on finding the perfect space for the brewery.

It was a simple address change on their page – 1429 Race Street. I’d recognize that address anywhere.

The news didn’t take long to get out, the upcoming brewery would be taking over the Ale House, the whole space – upstairs would become an indoor beer garden with pool tables, first come-first serve seating, darts… etc. The main floor is all brewpub – a scratch kitchen featuring locally sourced ingredients and what they’re calling an “uncomplicated beer selection”. The basement of the building is becoming a space that they’re calling ‘Undertone’ with a small stage, a quieter atmosphere… the way Nellys felt when Taft’s opened.

To say this news makes me excited is a bit of an understatement.

Grand Opening

The brewery has been teasing a November Grand Opening for months, and if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if I’d heard more, I wouldn’t have to run ads on this website to pay the bills.

It’s official, hot of the presses from The Business Courier – Mellotone Beer Project is hosting its grand opening this weekend, Friday, November 22nd. What’s even better about that is that they’re also soft opening, well… right now. They announced on social that they’d be opening their doors from 5 pm until 11 pm on Thursday the 21st.

Get yourself down there ASAP. Remind yourself of all the good things that are still happening in craft beer in Cincinnati and beyond. It’s easy to get caught up in the negative and forget that our craft beer scene is still growing and improving. A chance like this is a great way to remind yourself of that (with a great beer in hand!)