17 June 2007

Beer Run - Cincinnati, Ohio

I've just returned from a two-day trip to Cincinnati, where I took in a concert and baseball game. The concert and baseball game were my original reasons for visiting Cincy, but a couple of detours proved to be just as rewarding.

The first detour was Jungle Jim's International Market, where Gina and I went a little overboard buying beer. How overboard? Here's the list:

Heritage Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Wooden Shoe Bock Beer
De ProefBrouwerij Lochristi, Belgium, Lozen Boer - Abbey Style 10%
Barrelhouse Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Duveneck Dortmunder Style
Unibroue, Belgium, 16
Barrelhouse Brewing Company, Cincinnati, Boss Cox - Double Dark IPA
Lion Brewery, Sri Lanka, Lion Stout
Van Steenberge, Belgium, Gulden Draak
Bells Brewery, Comstock Michigan, Kalamazoo Stout
Bells Brewery Label, Brewed and Bottled by Kalamazoo Brewing Company, Comstock Michigan, Third Coast Old Ale
Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH, Dortmunder Gold - Golden Lager
Left Hand Brewing, Longmont, CO, Blackjack Porter
Left Hand Brewing, Longmont, CO, Milk Stout
Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO, Denver Pale Ale
Great Divide Brewing, Denver, CO, Wild Raspberry Ale
Dogfish Head, Milton, DE, Raison D'Etre
Dogfish Head, Milton, DE, Midas Touch - Handcrafted Ancient Ale
Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY, Witte
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, MI, Bam Biere
Michigan Brewing Co, Webberville, MI, Celis Grand Cru - Belgian Style Ale
Anderson Valley Brewing Co, Boonville, CA, Boont Amber Ale
Anderson Valley Brewing Co, Boonville, CA, Hop Ottin IPA
New Holland Brewing Co., Holland, MI, Sundog Amber Ale
Atlantic Brewing Co,, Portland, ME, Bar Harbor Real Ale
Summit Brewing Co., St. Paul, MN, Maibock
Windsor Brewing Co., Windsor, VT, UFO Hefeweizen - UnFiltered Offering
Bison Brewing Co., Berkley, CA, Bison Chocolate Stout
Speakeasy Ales and Lagers, San Francisco, CA, Prohibition Ale
Mendocino Brewing Co., Saratoga Springs, NY, Blackhawk Stout
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, PA, Blithering Idiot - Barleywine
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, PA, Merry Monks - Belgian Style Golden Ale
Breckenridge Brewing Co., Breckenridge, CO - Vanilla Porter

Needless to say, Jungle Jim's has a fantastic selection - by the time I had worked my way through the domestic breweries, I knew I was going to have trunk space issues. We barely browsed the foreign selections, though I did manage to pick up a few old favorites. If you're in Cincinnati, don't hestitate to visit Jungle Jim's. It's well worth your time.

Our second detour was sort of by accident. Before leaving Indy I pulled up directions to various Cincinnati destinations, one of which was a pub that I found through Fox Soccer Channel's Pub Guide. Although it looked promising, I shook off that thought, and went about printing directions to our hotel, the concert venue, and the stadium.

Friday night we left our hotel on route to the concert, but when we arrived at the address of the venue I realized I had made a mistake - we were at the Pub instead. After an hour or so of what seemed to be aimless wandering, we managed to find the concert venue... and Saturday we managed to find Hap's Irish Pub again.

Hap's has a fair beer selection (the Guiness family of beers, Newcastle... that sort of thing), but the staff and patrons were top notch people. Hap's is another Cincinnati instituion I can recommend without reservation. If you're ever in the neighborhood, check it out.

5 comments:

  1. We usually make a trip out to Jungle Jim's for beer and hot sauce every time we're in Cincinnati. Another great place to find beer in the area is the Party Source, just over the river in Bellevue, KY.

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  2. Holly crap Mike, that's a heckuva beer run. I take it they sell by the bottle as well.

    What concert venue were you heading to? And what beers did you consume at Great American? In the past, they've had great selections of German beers (if you knew where to look). Cincy is a great German town.

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  3. That is indeed quite a haul. It would take me five years to drink all of that beer. I still have two Brooklyn Brewery Double Chocolate Stouts left in my fridge that I bought back in April. Some beer geek I am.

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  4. We were headed to the 20th Century Theater on the mysterious and hard to find Madison road. Ok, the road was neither mysterious or hard to find, but we did our best to make it that way.

    All that beer was bought by the bottle, except for a 6 of Vanilla Porter (which is fine and quite smooth until it gets warm)... and it only came up to about $110 between the both of us. Which I suppose is a lot of money to spend on beer, but we had budgeted it as part of the trip.

    At the ballpark we had... I forget. But I bet Gina remembers.

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  5. next time you're in town, you should check out some other establishments with much better beer selections. I would recommend Nicholson's downtown and better yet, Jean Ro Bistro, also downtown, which has a great selection of Belgium beers and microbrews (all on tap!).

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