It Turns Out… We’re Making Some Great Booze, Too!
Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
4/8/2025
If you’ve been around here for a little while, you know that my first true love of drinks will always be beer. That doesn’t mean that I’m not likely to have a cocktail or a well-crafted healthy pour of a spirit in a glass in front of me, though. The problem is that I’m such a nut for drinking local that, for a long time, there just weren’t great options coming out of the spirit world here in Cincinnati.
Those days are gone. We’ve got some really great distilleries around Greater Cincinnati making some stuff that is turning heads locally and well beyond.
The 2025 US Open Whiskey and Spirits Championship just wrapped up, and if you didn’t make the assumption by now, we have some medals coming to our local spots!
The Top Distillery In The US
Before we get too local with things, I have to give a quick shoutout to Gervasi Spirits up in Canton. Their distiller, Shae, cut his teeth here in Cincinnati and is one of my favorite beverage producers that I’ve ever met. He’s not just talented; he’s creative and passionate, and he’s a really, really great guy to put the icing on the cake.
With that… I can’t help but smile when a press release like this one rolls into my inbox, and I see they brought home eleven different medals, including one for the top US Distillery. It’s well deserved and keeps cementing the fact that I really, really have to get my butt up there to see what he’s been up to.
Locally Speaking…
I know, I know… I’m supposed to be talking about stuff here in Cincinnati. There’s some great stuff to talk about on that front, too. Three of our local distilleries brought home five different medals – and they’re extremely well deserved, too.
Let’s start with one that I’ve been getting really antsy to get my hands on. Northern Row has been patiently waiting for their Bourbon to be ready – and judging by the Silver medal that it won, it’s going to be pretty good. The small batch, 100 Proof, Bottled In Bond, Whiskey, is called “Northern Liberties,” and I can’t wait to get some into my face!
The OTR Stillhouse over at Knox Joseph Distillery, meanwhile, brought home a Gold Medal for their single-barrel straight Whiskey.
Over in Fairfax, Karrikin is showing that they’re kicking things into a new gear as they brought home three different medals for a few really great spirits. Their ‘Blaze’ is an agave-based spirit, and it took Bronze, while their Rye Whiskey brought silver, and their ‘Orion’s Reserve’ brought home a gold medal. If you haven’t already been watching what Karrikin is doing, you might want to start right about now!
Why You Should Care
There are a lot of folks who don’t really care about medals, and that’s perfectly fine. There are also a lot of grumpy folks who will tell you that there’s a bias in a lot of these competitions… that’s also fine if they feel that way, too.
What I’ll say is this… It feels good to see. It puts drinks on my radar (and definitely other people’s radars, too) that might not be otherwise.
That’s a good thing, and it only helps to bring more positive attention to an industry that I absolutely love.
Use this to inspire you to swing by one of the places you haven’t been before or by one of the places that you haven’t been in a long time.