From A Box At The Levee To A Space On West Sixth… This Is Going To Be Cool.
Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography: Provided
UPDATE: The West Sixth Covingtonhaus taproom is officially open, as of 1/11/24! Make sure that you head down to check out their new space and drink a few beers!
“A taproom in a shipping container? That can’t work.” I was sitting over a pint of beer with a fellow craft beer fan talking about the location that West Sixth was planning for Newport on the Levee, and I’ll admit, they were right – it didn’t last forever. The West Sixth Box Park taproom is permanently closed, now… but not because of some failure that was predicted by my friend that day.
The taproom is closed because winter is setting in, and by the time they have opened their doors back up… they’ll have a new space ready to go. Their first real foray into the Cincinnati beer scene is coming… and I think we should probably talk about it.
First “Real” Foray?
You read that right. I hope that most of you know this, but if not, West Sixth is no stranger to Cincinnati. Since opening its Box Park “taproom” in 2021, the brewery has quietly been surveying our local beer scene from a shipping container in Newport on the Levy. This little taproom-in-a-box sparked many rumors that the brewery, headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, was thinking about opening something a little bigger.
It’s not a crazy thought. Cincinnati loves beer, and while we’re not always super welcoming and accepting of “outside beer,” we seem to have adopted West Sixth into the first round of peripheral breweries that we still support quite a bit. I think part of the reason that they’ve found some luck here while others have floundered comes down to timing. When they started distributing their beer here in February 2015, we had just started experiencing the explosion of craft breweries. We were eager. We welcomed them in and have been drinking the beer ever since.
From Newport To Covington
West Sixth’s Box Park taproom relies on a few things to make it work. The most significant factor is the weather. They’re located in the Box Park at Newport on the Levee, which means they are only open in the summertime, right next to a couple of other bars, including the little tiki bar in the Box Park – they need sunshine to have a great day.
The bigger factor is the Levee itself. The Levee can have very different crowds daily, especially depending on what events are going on. Folks need to park in the garage, walk up to the box park, and decide to snag a drink from that spot rather than other spaces.
It leaves a lot up to outside factors. You’re probably not going to get many drinkers who head to Newport specifically to snag a West Sixth beer. I’d argue that there are likely a lot of pretty serious beer drinkers in Cincy who don’t even know they’re there.
After years of observation, contemplation, and searching… It all came together.
Covington Haus
When they came across the space at 100 West Sixth Street in Covington, the West Sixth team probably found it challenging to ignore the obvious connection to the brand. They could have just ended with that, opened a basic taproom, and called it a day, but they didn’t. They dug into the building’s history to inspire what this new space would look and feel like.
The building started as a firehouse, as evidenced by its beautiful arched windows and intricate stonework. Most recently, it was home to Flying Axes and, before that, a sports bar called Tickets. However, its real history is when it was known as ‘Covington Haus’. This restaurant was led by the late Mick Noll, whose family gave their blessing to use the name.
The Noll family spent much time, energy, and money saving the building and restoring it into a restaurant in the 1970s. It was a German-American-themed space that served up stuff like schnitzel, bratwurst, and a whole bunch of beer. More importantly, the restaurant became a gathering spot for locals. It’s ingrained in the history of Covington, and the fact that West Sixth is leaning into this is absolutely wonderful.
What To Expect
Details of the new taproom are still sparse (I’m waiting to have a chat with the folks at West Sixth to learn more) – it remains to be seen if they’ll be brewing on-site or not (I’ve heard both that they will and that they won’t) – but we know that the new taproom space will be on the first floor of the building. The upstairs is occupied by ‘Second Story,’ which is a great cocktail bar if you haven’t been (RIP Radiodown… IYKYK). They’ll have 20 taps pouring West Sixth beer, and if you can’t find something out of those, you might be doing something very wrong.
Although the brewery has been holding tight to keeping the details of the onsite restaurant secret, so far… I have a lot of faith in them to create something that not only works for their brand, but that pays homage to Covington and the entire Greater Cincinnati area as a whole. It’s a tough line to toe, but If you’ve ever been to one of West Sixth’s other locations (they currently have four other locations in Kentucky).
The brewery initially slated an opening for “Fall” of 2024, but considering how close we’re getting to it being “Winter” of 2024 – I’d say we’re either about to hear a lot more about this location, or they were a little off on their estimate. Regardless of which way it’s headed, stay tuned here because as soon as I have more details, I’ll share them with you!