Pretty interesting that both madtree and rhinegeist started about the same time and are both expanding at the same time. It's exciting! Being a brewer now, I pretty much only buy obscure stuff I haven't tried or my new local favorites.

I think the simple fact that Rhinegeist’s beers are $1 more than they should be must be giving them a huge profit margin. Most breweries in the area have (or at least had at the time) a $5 standard beer price, Rhinegiest charges $6.  The ingredients and processes aren’t all that different cost-wise from brewery to brewery, so they’re cleaning up. Their six packs are also $1 more than a Moerlein six pack.

^Yeah the price of their beers is always annoying. I can get Rhinegeist at most bars cheaper than at their actual brewery.

 

But I don't think that's what's giving them so much success. I think they had a very strong business plan from the beginning, became the "cool" brewery by hosting impressive events in their space, created a very identifiable brand (that skull/ghost logo is pretty much the only image they use and people are quick to recognize it), and dominated social media. I didn't even notice that they weren't at The Party Source until they announced they were expanding into Kentucky. I never looked for them, but I was shocked they weren't there and yet they were so successful.

 

I also think they've done a good job expanding into other Ohio markets with weaker brewing scenes (Columbus and Dayton).

The only beer I like from Rhinegeist is Truth.  That is a tasty beer.  But yeah I agree, way too expensive.  $6 a pop makes for an expensive night.  Though if you only have 2 or 3 Truth's, you won't need much more after.

 

For IPA lovers, Truth is a nice beer.  I like it off the tap better though.  Drinking from the can, it is so so.

I think the simple fact that Rhinegeists beers are $1 more than they should be must be giving them a huge profit margin. Most breweries in the area have (or at least had at the time) a $5 standard beer price, Rhinegiest charges $6.  The ingredients and processes arent all that different cost-wise from brewery to brewery, so theyre cleaning up. Their six packs are also $1 more than a Moerlein six pack.

 

The prices at Party Source are absolutely ridiculous.  $9.99 for a 6-pak of any of the local beers.  Nobody's going to start drinking this stuff regularly at home until they get the prices down around $5.99. 

 

The prices at Party Source are absolutely ridiculous.  $9.99 for a 6-pak of any of the local beers.  Nobody's going to start drinking this stuff regularly at home until they get the prices down around $5.99. 

 

You're a little out of touch with the craft beer scene, I think. That's pretty much the going rate for craft beer six packs and they sell at about the rate that they can produce the stuff. Lowering the cost can't happen for such a small operation like a craft brewery. Some fluctuate a little (I believe Moerlein is $8.99 and Hudepohl [some may argue it isn't "craft"] is $5.99 or $6.99).

No I don't buy this stuff because I think it's a rip-off.  Water is cheaper. 

I agree about Party Source's prices on beer. They seem to be a few bucks higher than the Stop & Go in Clifton, which is my normal go-to beer spot as Jimbo keeps an excellent selection in stock all the time. Even the beer and wine store in Findlay Market has a lower price point than Party Source on most of their beer selection.

The only beer I like from Rhinegeist is Truth.  That is a tasty beer.  But yeah I agree, way too expensive.  $6 a pop makes for an expensive night.  Though if you only have 2 or 3 Truth's, you won't need much more after.

 

For IPA lovers, Truth is a nice beer.  I like it off the tap better though.  Drinking from the can, it is so so.

 

I like their Zen. And of course Truth. Cougar is terrible IMO.

I agree about Party Source's prices on beer. They seem to be a few bucks higher than the Stop & Go in Clifton, which is my normal go-to beer spot as Jimbo keeps an excellent selection in stock all the time. Even the beer and wine store in Findlay Market has a lower price point than Party Source on most of their beer selection.

 

I've always wondered how Jimbo keeps his prices down when he's always got one or two uniformed CPD officers in there. 

Yea truth is good, also panther porter is one of my fave porters ever.

^ Panther is very good.

 

I'm a huge craft beer fan and understand the prices will be higher, but I can't figure out why the locals can't offer lower prices than craft beer coming from California. Local bars should have all the local breweries and offer them at a lower price.

It's probably mostly economies of scale. It's likely cheaper for Stone, Breckenridge, Founders, Bell's, etc to ship their beers anywhere in the country than it is for a little local guy to ship theirs across the tri-state area because of the shear size of those larger craft breweries. They are more efficient brewing, they have greater name recognition, they ship their beer in bulk instead of by a single batch. I imagine distributors have a pretty competitive bidding for some of the really large craft breweries like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium.

I agree about Party Source's prices on beer. They seem to be a few bucks higher than the Stop & Go in Clifton, which is my normal go-to beer spot as Jimbo keeps an excellent selection in stock all the time. Even the beer and wine store in Findlay Market has a lower price point than Party Source on most of their beer selection.

 

I've always wondered how Jimbo keeps his prices down when he's always got one or two uniformed CPD officers in there. 

 

There's a Police Substation in that Stop and Go

Rhinegeist by far is my favorite local brewery. Although I discovered a few weekends ago that the Lager House has the best Bloody Marys I've had in Cincinnati.

 

I wish I liked their beers more.  Their branding and taproom are amazing.  I even heard rumors of the rooftop being opened up. Shame almost all the beer is horribly unbalanced towards the hoppy side - bringing their ideas of graphic design to a local Cincy business is great, shame that their beer is from one of the worst cities in the country for beer IMO which is San Fran (again I don't like hops).

With all these great breweries here in Cincinnati I can only dream that it was easier said than done to ship beer in the mail.  It almost makes me feel bad for those Cincinnatians who have moved away and are missing out!

I have to agree that Rhinegeist has some of my least favorite beers in the city. I'm not the biggest fan of their beers, but their design, business strategy, and "cool" factor are phenomenal.

 

I'm happy they did this, but I'm astounded by their numbers. They expect to double their staff. I would imagine this means they are tripling their output since there is a certain level of employees needed for basic functions that don't need more employees as it expands.

 

Rhinegeist steps up for streetcar

 

In the wake of a tax abatement from the city, the brewer will contribute about $5,000 to the streetcar. They’re the first business to contribute.

 

Cincinnati City Council Monday approved a property tax exemption for the Over-the-Rhine brewery that’s valued at $65,524 over 10 years.

 

In exchange, Rhinegeist will invest $2.2 million in their Elm Street business and create 30 full-time jobs, doubling the staff, according to Deputy Trade and Development Director Jeff McElravy.

 

The plan: Expand the brewery.

 

Rhinegeist opened 18 months ago, initially brewing 300 barrels of beer a month – or 3,600 barrels a year. It’s now on pace to brew 20,000 to 25,000 barrels of beer a year, the Enquirer reported earlier this month.

 

The company's 250,000-square-foot brewery at 1910 Elm Street – which was once a Christian Moerlein bottling plant – draws 3,500-4,000 people a week.

West Side’s first craft brewery to open

 

The first craft brewery on Cincinnati's West Side will open its doors on Friday, the Enquirer reports.

 

Tap & Screw Brewery will open in the former Tom &Jerry's Sports Bar at 5060 Crookshank Road in Westwood.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2014/12/west-side-s-first-craft-brewery-to-open.html

West Chester nanobrewery opens today

 

A West Chester nanobrewery developed by two scientists-turned-stay-at-home-dads is set to open on Thursday.

 

DogBerry Brewery at 7865 Cincinnati Dayton Road is set to open at 4 p.m. and stay open until 8 p.m. The brewery's taproom has 10 taps, all of which will be pouring at the bar's opening.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/01/08/west-chester-nanobrewery-opens-today.html

I'm pretty sure a dogberry is what accumulates if we don't get our poodle's hindquarters groomed often enough.

As for the name, it turns out that Dogberry is the name of a night watchman in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” But Meyer and Frede had no such literary allusions in mind when choosing the name.

“It’s incredibly lame,” Meyer said. “This business essentially started at both of our homes. He lives on Dogleg I live in Twinberry, so we combined the two.”

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/09/09/stay-at-home-dads-to-open-microbrewery-in-west.html

I'm pretty sure a dogberry is what accumulates if we don't get our poodle's hindquarters groomed often enough.

 

All of these breweries are struggling to come up with names since nobody is willing to just use their last names like they did in the 1800s.  Apparently somebody's wife came up with "Madtree", which of course means nothing at all, and I hate the name Rhinegeist because I've always hated the word zeitgeist.  It's like somebody takes one film or art history class and hears that word for the first time, then goes through a phase where they have to drop it at least once per party or bar outing. 

I'm pretty sure a dogberry is what accumulates if we don't get our poodle's hindquarters groomed often enough.

 

All of these breweries are struggling to come up with names since nobody is willing to just use their last names like they did in the 1800s.  Apparently somebody's wife came up with "Madtree", which of course means nothing at all, and I hate the name Rhinegeist because I've always hated the word zeitgeist.  It's like somebody takes one film or art history class and hears that word for the first time, then goes through a phase where they have to drop it at least once per party or bar outing. 

 

Nothing worse than "juxtapose".

I'm pretty sure a dogberry is what accumulates if we don't get our poodle's hindquarters groomed often enough.

 

All of these breweries are struggling to come up with names since nobody is willing to just use their last names like they did in the 1800s.  Apparently somebody's wife came up with "Madtree", which of course means nothing at all, and I hate the name Rhinegeist because I've always hated the word zeitgeist.  It's like somebody takes one film or art history class and hears that word for the first time, then goes through a phase where they have to drop it at least once per party or bar outing. 

 

Nothing worse than "juxtapose".

 

Ah yes.  I heard that word 10X per critique day in college and have maybe heard it twice in the ten years since. 

 

What happens when Madtree and Angry Orchard merge?  Pissed off nature.

I'm pretty sure a dogberry is what accumulates if we don't get our poodle's hindquarters groomed often enough.

 

All of these breweries are struggling to come up with names since nobody is willing to just use their last names like they did in the 1800s .  Apparently somebody's wife came up with "Madtree", which of course means nothing at all, and I hate the name Rhinegeist because I've always hated the word zeitgeist.  It's like somebody takes one film or art history class and hears that word for the first time, then goes through a phase where they have to drop it at least once per party or bar outing. 

 

I'd never thought of that.

 

Of the top 50 Craft Breweries in the US in 2013, here are how many are named after the founders.

 

6. Bell's Brewery, Galesburg, MI (Larry Bell

11. Matt Brewing Company (pre-prohibition brewery)

34. Odell Brewing, Fort Collins (Corkie Odell)

41. Karl Strauss (named after a person who helped set up the brewery but wasn't the founder)

49. Gordon Biersch (combination of two founder's last names)

 

So many of the new breweries sound like tech companies.

I don't see any problem with the naming of breweries. I can't honestly think of many industries that use founders' names. Law firms, businesses before 1920, and some diners/restaurants come to mind. Beyond that it seems like everyone names businesses after something or someone else (not directly related to the brewery). Or just something they think sounds cool.

 

These breweries are also rarely solo operations and take a partner or multiple partners at opening. The only breweries I can think of in Cincinnati that were started solely by an individual are Blank Slate and Listermann (which actually was named after the founder).

^Car dealerships as well.

I'm just tired of businesses being named "Queen City ______" or "Cincy______".

^Car dealerships as well.

 

Tom Raper.

Hmm. Interesting. I love Rhinegeist and Madtree, I think they're great, memorable brewery names. Who's going to remember West 6th? At least they aren't as bad as Toxic in Dayton. I mean really, what was he thinking? Nice guy though, and I love his Belgians.

On the other hand, as a brewery that wants to be a local/regional brewery with no aspirations of national distribution or expansion into other states beyond OH-KY-IN, naming your brewery after the street you are on makes sense. Everyone knows where you are.

 

Also, I don't think Toxic is a bad name for a brewery. As long as you are up front about the name. I think Dogberry is a terrible name because it mistakenly makes you think of dog poop. Toxic is in your face and could have some pretty cool names/labels. Also, they do have a story behind the name. The people you are trying to appeal to aren't going think because you named your brewery "Toxic Brew Company" that your beer is going to be bad.

A new brewery is set to open in Pleasant Ridge this spring. It will be called Nine Giant Brewing. Here is an article in WCPO.

And more about it...

 

Brewery signs on to boost redevelopment in Pleasant Ridge

 

 

Nine Giant Brewing has signed a lease at the corner of Montgomery Road and Ridge Avenue in the heart of the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood business district. The announcement comes years after community leaders celebrated the formal establishment of a Community Entertainment District for the area.

 

According to Urban Fast Forward, the agency in charge of leasing at the site, the signing is part of a larger redevelopment effort called Sixty99, which is being spearheaded by Gene Levental and will eventually include more than $350,000 worth of upgrades to the 87-year-old building.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/01/16/brewery-signs-on-to-boost-redevelopment-in.html

... Rhinegeist ...

I also think they've done a good job expanding into other Ohio markets with weaker brewing scenes (Columbus and Dayton).

 

I've never seen Rhinegeist in any Columbus store. Is that expansion just in bars?

 

And, just because I'm curious- why do you say Columbus has a weaker brewing scene?

I have never really seen any Columbus beers in Cincinnati. I've seen Warped Wing (Dayton) occassionally, and Land Grant once at MOTR (though the owners have ties with someone there, so that's likely why they stocked it [not to say it was bad, just the reason it was there]).

 

I admit I haven't spent a lot of time in Columbus, but from the bars I've been to (Short North and German Village area), it seems like most of them have the Columbus IPA and maybe another local brewery, but nothing else. I'm sure there are some great bars that host a lot of local beers, but it doesn't seem as widespread as Cincinnati's bar scene has them.

 

That being said, I've been to Seventh Son, and they have some great beers! Perhaps I just need to spend more time in Columbus. It's just the impression I've received.

Here are all the new breweries coming to Cincinnati in 2015 – so far: SLIDESHOW

Feb 2, 2015, 7:00am EST

Andy Brownfield Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

The class of 2015 in local breweries is shaping up to be a big one, and it's only the second month of the year.

 

Breweries planned for and opening in 2015 include Kickstarter's most successful brewery ever, a science-themed brewery and a suburban nanobrewery.

 

Click the photo on the right to see a slideshow of the local breweries expected to open this year. Let us know if there's anyone we left out!

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2015/02/here-are-all-the-new-breweries-coming-to.html

According to the notes of the next Historic Conservation Board, there is a proposed microbrewery at 132 West Court Street. This is two doors down from Washington Platform (between Elm and Race, north side of the street).

 

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/historic-conservation/historic-conservation-board/feb-23-2015-packet/

 

Very little information is provided about this.

 

Fun Fact: this building was built for the Gerke Brewery and there is a cellar underneath the building for storing beer. The brewery itself was down Central Parkway where the current Turner Construction building stands. No idea if there are plans to utilize the underground space for the brewery. Right now you have to take scaffolding down two stories to reach the bottom.

This is the website for the building, it has been around for awhile now but only as a concept. I'm glad it's starting to come to fruition. The plans show it utilizing the cellars, hopefully they can pull it off.

 

http://koolcellar.com/floor-plans-and-sections/

1) Never create a website that has music play automatically

 

2) Come up with a better name. Though on second look, it appears "Kool Cellar" is not the proposed name of the brewery.

 

That being said, I wish them the best of luck! And hopefully that space underground can be utilized!

 

Also, it appears the basement is not part of the brewery plans. It isn't mentioned at all in the application and it specifically says that the brewery is on the first floor.

This is the website for the building, it has been around for awhile now but only as a concept. I'm glad it's starting to come to fruition. The plans show it utilizing the cellars, hopefully they can pull it off.

 

http://koolcellar.com/floor-plans-and-sections/

 

 

It would be a true Beer Cave. 

 

There's a faint odor on Race St. tonight- have they begun brewing beer at Taft's Ale House?

Taft's has started brewing.

Taft's has started brewing.

There's a faint odor on Race St. tonight- have they begun brewing beer at Taft's Ale House?

 

Yeah but what you are actually smelling is the growing stench from City Hall. 

 

 

 

COVINGTON – Braxton Brewing Co. has announced its much-anticipated opening date: March 27. The brewery has also revealed new details about its tap room and announced its first two flagship beers.

 

Brothers Jake and Evan Rouse; their father, Greg, vice president for production at dunnhumbyUSA; and locally renowned brewmaster Richard Dubé, the former vice president of brewing and quality at Christian Moerlein, are behind the new brewery at 27 W. Seventh St.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2015/03/06/exclusive-braxton-brewing-announces-march-opening/24463519/

Kentucky House Bill 168 has passed, which will prevent out-of-state breweries from owning a beer distributor in Kentucky. (Kentucky-based breweries were already prevented from owning a distributor in Kentucky.) This is really bad news for Rhinegeist that just invested a lot of money into opening a beer distributor (called Riverghost) in Kentucky. They will either have to sell it or shut it down.

It seems like they made a pretty bad business decision to go in before the dust had settled on this matter. They opened Riverghost in December. In January the house bill was first introduced. I don't follow KY politics much, but there had to be rumblings of this for months before the issue was presented to the House.

 

Hopefully they can sell their interests profitably to a new owner who will share their vision.

Cranley: Halt brewery crackdown

 

Cincinnati's brewery renaissance has meant more than good beer – it's also potentially polluting area waterways.

 

A plan by the Metropolitan Sewer District to crack down on brewery operators and charge them extra for their wastewater has upset brewers so much Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley is calling for the city to delay implementing the surcharge.

 

Specifically, Cranley wants the city officials to examine the methodology used by the Metropolitan Sewer District to determine the amount of the surcharge.

 

Cont