Don’t call it a restaurant. Cincinnati riverfront’s new Moerlein Lager House is not just a restaurant — this becomes brazenly clear as soon as you step into the 15,000-square-foot (without even including the underground service level) beer mecca.  

It‘s time for Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, so who better to check in with than Cincinnati’s premier brewmaster, Greg Hardman. Hardman, since purchasing the historic Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. in 2004, has reinstated Cincinnati’s great brewing tradition by restoring many classic brands and crafting new beers, like my favorite, the Moerlein OTR Ale.   

When the thermometer hovers in the mid-'90s for nearly a week straight, you might expect to find the CEO of one of Cincinnati's oldest brewing names escaping the heat by cooling off with a frosty beer at the oldest continually operated bar in the city. You might not expect Christian Moerlein CEO Greg Hardman to be engaged in a Bobby Flay-esque meatball throw-down with the owner, however.