OTRberfest Adds A New Fest To The Best Season!
Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
8/29/2024
What happens when a bunch of folks who deeply love their neighborhood come together and dream up a way to celebrate it during what has become my favorite beer-drinking season?
You get what is being called OTRberfest.
This takes all the stuff that we have come to love about the many Oktoberfests around Greater Cincinnati and brings it headfirst into Over The Rhine with a community-based addition that I think you’ll love.
It’s a lot to take in, though. With events going on across two different taprooms and three different days, there is a ton of great beer to drink and even more incredible experiences that you’ll want to – well… experience. Let me walk you through how you can spend the weekend and not miss out on any of the essentials.
Go ahead and mark your calendar for Friday, September 6th, through Sunday, September 8th. We’re going to need all the time we can get.
Kicking It Off On Friday
How do you kick off this OTRberfest properly? When I tell you it’s by heading over to Northern Row to snag their latest Peach Brandy release, you need to trust me. This Peach Brandy that they’ve been making reminds me of some of the absolute best German Schnapps that I’ve ever had.
The festivities kick off at noon, and I can’t think of a better time to swing in and sip on a flight of their aged and non-aged peach brandies. Seriously… don’t miss out on this. This stuff is incredible.
From there – you can knock back a few German-style beers at both Northern Row and Rhinegeist – and there will be plenty of German food to go around at both spots as well. Imbibe heartily, but don’t forget that you’ve got a full weekend ahead of you!
Saturday Is A BIG Day
All day long on Saturday, you’re going to be bouncing back and forth between the two taprooms, which happen to be conveniently located around the block from each other (really… it’s an easy stumble from one to the other). From both locations, you can take some historic beer tours around the neighborhood (and you absolutely should). I recommend knocking out some touring early to get yourself good and thirsty.
Northern Row will be hosting some fun German beer tastings all day, and Rhinegeist has a ton of great German styles (both their own and guest taps, too) on all day as well. You won’t struggle to find an excellent lager beer in OTR over the weekend. If you find yourself inside Rhinegeist’s Festgarten, keep your eyes open for the folks from CinBev who will be onsite not only sharing some history (did you know that both Rhinegeist and Northern Row are located in former Christian Moerlein brewery buildings?) as well as a few of their own beers that they’ve been brewing right down the road.
Make sure you take in the available activities between beers, too. Over at Rhinegeist, there’s a Cream Puff eating competition brought to you by the awesome folks at Schmidts Sausage Haus, a stein-holding competition, and live music from the Cincy German Band, too. Northern Row will be adding their own fun with a best-dressed competition (break out your lederhosen and dirndls, folks!) from 2-5 pm and some live music from The Polka Warriors from 3-6 pm.
When I tell you that Saturday will be spent bouncing back and forth to try to get it all in, you can see what I mean!
Sunday
The festivities continue on Sunday, although they’re a little more laid-back. Your day starts pretty early with Goat Yoga at Rhinegeist (there are two sessions at 9:30 and 10:45). Then, you’ll want to beeline over to Northern Row for some breakfast since they’re doing Kegs and Eggs with $5 pints from 10 a.m. until noon.
You can take it easy on Sunday, but I still encourage meandering back and forth a few times (it’s a proven way to work off some of the beer and sausage). Things will keep rolling until the festival comes to a close at 9 p.m.
Why You Should Add This To Your Already Busy Oktoberfest Schedule
Cincinnati is an incredible place to spend the Oktoberfest season, and we certainly don’t have a shortage of great events that I think you HAVE to make it to. Add this one to the list. OTR is a really incredible piece of the fabric that makes up Cincinnati. The neighborhood is a direct link to our German past – and it’s incredibly fitting to have part of Oktoberfest be spent IN that neighborhood.
It’s also incredibly important to point out that this festival doesn’t diminish any of the other Oktoberfest celebrations around town. Get out there, and get to as many as you possibly can!
Prost! – and of course… Be Gnarly while you’re festing!