30 Greater Cincinnati Taprooms and Breweries to Grab a Drink
Look, we probably don’t need to do much to convince you to drink a beer (that is: if you do drink alcohol, don’t have a gluten intolerance, etc.). And our city is overflowing with local options. While it’s easy to toss back a six-pack at home, there’s nothing better than seeing where your beer was born with your own eyes and grabbing a fresh pint from the taproom bar. Cincinnati is #blessed to have a thriving craft beer community where drinkers win when they patronize the spaces that make our city so very hoppy. Here is a list of some of the essential breweries and taprooms for fans of local beer.
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Photo: Hailey Bollinger
7885 E Kemper Road, Springdale
Named for the first day our home was recognized as a state, March First Brewing opened in 2017 and boasts an impressive variety of drinks made on the premises, including beer, cider, whiskey, schnapps, vodka, rum and hard seltzer. If you stop by to sip on some brews, stay and have a bite to eat, the brewery offers snacks like pretzels and beer cheese plus pizza and sandwiches.
Photo: Savana Willhoite
7605 Wooster Pike, Mariemont
Fifty West brewing not only offers delicious beers but tons of activities to enjoy, like several sand volleyball courts, cornhole and pickelball, plus an ice skating rink in the winter. The brewery hub also has a Burger Bar serving up a menu of bread-and-butter diner specialties like classic cheeseburgers, flat-top hot dogs and loaded crinkle cut fries. Don’t miss the 12 specialty burgers named for the 12 states that U.S. Route 50 runs through. Grab a house-made root beer or orange soda to wash it all down, or choose from a wide range of Fifty West canned, bottled or draft beers.
224 Fairfield Ave., Bellevue
What started as homebrewing experimentation between friends led to the opening of Darkness Brewing. The spirit of adventure is still quite alive in the Bellevue taproom, located just down the street from Party Source. Their specialty is dark beers, but they offer a variety of different brews ranging from pale ales to golden imperial stouts and session ales. Aside from their brews, Darkness has a wide variety of board and card games, live music, a petite art gallery and a food truck located right outside the building.
Photo: Phil HeidenReich
3301 Madison Road, Oakley
MadTree’s massive 10,000-square-foot beer garden is a fun family hangout. With tons of MadTree-exclusive taps, ambient lighting and an industrial brick façade leftover from the building’s factory days, there’s more than enough space to accommodate all the beer-drinking, cornhole-playing, beer-loving humans that hang at MadTree on the regular.
5959 Kellogg Ave., California
Dead Low Brewing is located within walking distance of Coney Island and Riverbend Music Center. The massive space features a taproom, beer garden and kitchen. They serve up beer, cider and seltzer brewed on-site, as well as a made-from-scratch food menu featuring burgers, sandwiches, pizza, wings, and salad; there's also a dedicated kids menu and several vegetarian options.
Photo: Khoi Nguyen
9964 Crescent Park Drive, West Chester
Founded in 2015 by brewers Tony Meyer and Chris Frede, two science professionals turned stay-at-home dads, DogBerry was built on a search for happiness and a passion for sharing good beer. With fresh ingredients from local and regional producers, DogBerry's menu, which includes over 10 beers on tap, provides truly local flavors. Their taproom offers a space for beer lovers to enjoy their small-batch brews plus a rotating offering of food trucks.
Photo: Brittany Thornton
322 Elm St., Ludlow; 39 W Pike St., Covington
Ludlow, Kentucky's nonexistent craft beer scene sent in the clowns, leading to the launch of Bircus Brewing Co., a branch of an original concept from Ghent, Belgium. Pronounce it like 'beer-cuss,' a hybrid of beer and circus, as the brew shares the limelight with carnival performances at the taproom. Performers can do everything from breathing fire to flying on the trapeze. The brewery recently opened a Covington location where they offer up their popular wood-fired pizza and weekly drink specials.
Photo: provided by Rhinegeist
1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine
Rhinegeist, known for being one of Cincinnati's most popular craft breweries, has a massive taproom attached to their warehouse where they create their delicious brews. While the inside is cool, the true beauty of the space can be seen up on the rooftop bar where you can get a cold drink and see the city.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
5905 Hamilton Ave., College Hill
This College Hill brewery is loaded with features that encourage interaction, including a 20-seater community table, reclaimed-wood bar and a gigantic Scrabble board that’s very popular with patrons after a few pints from the brewery’s wide-reaching tap list. They host "Brink for A Cause" events where 10% of all sales for an evening go to a charity or organization, check their website for upcoming events.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
4811 Vine St., Saint Bernard
Wiedemann's is located inside of a converted funeral home in Saint Bernard. While that may seem odd, it is one of Cincinnati's most charming brewery/taprooms. The full kitchen offers enough to encourage an entire day to be spent sampling their crushable, modernized interpretations of Wiedemann beer brewed since 1870. Their wide-ranging menu includes pub grub favorites like chicken wings to more localized flavors like the Goetta melt sandwich, plus salads and grilled cheese.
