West Side - The Gnarly Gnome

All About West Side Brewing

It doesn’t matter if you’re a die-hard “East Sider”, or die-hard “West Sider” like so many folks here in Cincinnati are. Heck, you can even be like I am and not really fall into either category. It doesn’t matter, because West Side Brewing manages to find a way to become the “every person’s brewery” in a way that doesn’t feel forced, doesn’t feel cheap, and makes you want to spend a lot of time in their taproom.

They opened their doors for business back in 2017, and in the years since built up a solid reputation around Cincinnati for the type of brewery that we can all rally behind.

What To Expect From West Side Brewery

The West Side taproom is going to feel really familiar, and comfortable to you if you’ve spent any amount of time in a craft brewery before. It’s a wide-open, warehouse-style taproom that’s almost split into two different spaces by a big u-shaped bar down the center of the space.

The lower part of the taproom is filled with tables, and big windows that can open up to the street outside and is a little more of the quiet space where you can sit with your friends, and family, or on a date night to have a one-on-one conversation.

The upper part of the taproom is a little louder. It’s where you can find stuff like Giant Jenga and Cornhole. This is where you go when you want to get a little rowdier.

What About The Beers?

The beer at West Side leans heavily into the traditional side of things. They have perfected a no-frills outlook on things. You won’t find a lot of fancy names – crazy artwork, or anything that strays outside of their usual personality too much. With all that being said, though… that’s not all that they are. You’ll see West Side drift outside of that comfort zone, plenty. Just when you think that you’ve got them nailed down they’ll surprise you with a release that is exactly like the folks over on Tik Tok like to get all wild about.

They’re comfortably unpredictable sometimes, and I love that about them!

The Complete West Side Timeline

6/30/17 – The taproom opens for business!
6/2/18 – West Side’s first cans are released.
4/2020 – The brewery revamps its branding, and dials in its “look” even more.
4/2022 – West Side starts a massive 2.4 million dollar expansion to their production space and taproom.
10/2022 – In a move to be a little more open to other types of drinkers, West Side introduces a custom Bourbon to the taproom.