The American Museum Of Brewing Is Coming!

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photos By: The Gnarly Gnome

10/1/2025

Hopefully, this goes without saying, but Cincinnati is a beer city through and through. Craft beer built this city, and it runs deeply through its veins. Thanks to people like our very own Brewing Heritage Trail, drinkers have a better understanding of the past, present, and future than they ever have before. That doesn’t mean there isn’t more room to grow in education and awareness around town… which is probably why I was thrilled to hear the news that the organization is taking it to the next level with a new project to help do exactly that. It’s time to start getting excited, because the American Museum of Brewing is coming to Cincinnati!

About The Museum

It’s one thing to tell the story of OTR and the beer scene that built the neighborhood before Prohibition. That’s something the Brewing Heritage Trail has become really, really good at doing. It’s an entirely different thing to start telling the story of how brewing shaped American culture.

That’s part of what this museum is hoping to accomplish. They aim to honor the legacy that Cincinnati holds in the broader beer landscape, while also establishing what they are calling a world-class institution dedicated to the craft, the people, and the history that made it all possible.

In short, this museum will tell you the entire story of beer in this country – and show you exactly the role that Cincinnati plays in that story.

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to see this project happening here in Cincinnati. Not only does it bring tourists to town and increase the role that Cincinnati plays as a ‘Beer City’, it further helps to remind modern craft beer drinkers of the picture that we played in history. I’m in love with this – and I hope that you’re as excited about it as I am.

The Sneak Peek

While this museum will take a bit of time to get up and running, the Brewing Heritage Trail folks aren’t going to keep us waiting – they’re pairing the announcement with an event that will showcase not just a little bit of what the museum will look like, but also help get the word out, too.

This pop-up exhibit that is being held during the weekend of River Roots Festival is called ‘Tapping Into Tradition: How Immigrant Labor & Innovation Created A Brewing Boomtown’. It’s not only free and open to all ages, but it will also show you exactly what you can expect from this museum when it’s up and running.

The exhibit will be located in the historic Jackson Brewery’s lagering cellars in the hear of OTR, and it will showcase exactly how the hard work of immigrant labor fueled the brewing boom here in Cincinnati and the profound impact that played in our history.

If that’s not enough, there will be a beer garden on site, too, where you can try two different beers produced by Carillon Brewery up in Dayton. If you’ve never been there… change that. These folks are brewing beer by hand. 1850s style… They have a wood-fired, gravity-fed system that gives you an incredible peek back in time at what brewing might have looked like. Of course… There will also be some other craft beers and soft drinks, so there will be something for everyone.

Huge, huge shoutout to the folks at the Brewing Heritage Trail for the work that they do, and have been doing for years. If you want to check this temporary exhibit out, book your time over here on their website and show them that you’re behind this plan!