Over the past couple of years, Bad Tom Smith Brewing and Blank Slate Brewing Company have established themselves within about a five-minute drive from each other. Last fall, Streetside Brewery completed the easternly craft beer triumvirate, opening a mere three-minute walk from Blank Slate and featuring playfully named brews like Raspberry Beret and a Stranger Things-named beer called “011 (EL)” (if you haven’t seen the series… oh my god, why haven’t you seen the series?!). The more breweries the merrier. Hit up all three — no two beers taste alike. Bad Tom Smith Brewing Company, 4720 Eastern Ave., East End, badtomsmithbrewing.com; Blank Slate Brewing Company, 4233 Airport Road, East End, blankslatebeer.com; Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., East End, streetsidebrewery.com.
2. Molly Wellmann (Japp’s)
3. Nonta Perkins (MOTR Pub)
2. Justin Simmons (Sundry and Vice)
3. Bennett Cooper (16-Bit Bar+Arcade)
Popular Northside brewery/venue Urban Artifact attracts a crowd with fresh beer and mostly free live music — it even has a Swing dance night on certain Sunday afternoons, and longtime local favorites the Blue Wisp Big Band perform every Wednesday. Its appeal also expands beyond the expected age range for a “bar.” The brewery has a huge selection of board games and allows kids in with accompanying adults, so some evenings can turn into genuine family affairs, especially on warmer nights, with parents letting their kids run around in the yard between the converted church and the rectory buildings. And you thought the only options for “beer-assisted family game night” were at home or at an overcrowded Dave and Buster’s. Urban Artifact, 1660 Blue Rock St., Northside, 513-620-4729, artifactbeer.com.
Shopping locally is a great way to avoid those nightmarish day-after-Thanksgiving (aka “Black Friday”) sales at the mall or chain retail outlet stores. And if the person you’re buying a present for is a big music fan, Cincinnati musicians are now regularly providing some cool Black Friday options for your gift list. Timed to Record Store Day’s nationwide Black Friday alternative, local record shops in 2016 offered exclusives from local artists like Country singer/songwriter Jeremy Pinnell (who reissued an expanded vinyl version of his stellar OH/KY album) and Wussy (which put out the rare Funeral Dress II acoustic album on vinyl for the first time). Legendary downtown bar Arnold’s Bar and Grill and Neltner Small Batch Records also teamed up for a great local-music holiday compilation (issued on vinyl), featuring Christmas-themed songs by Honey and Houston, The Part-Time Gentlemen, The Tillers and many other superb Roots/Americana acts.
