Cincinnati Area Folks

I'm headed to Mason, OH Memorial Day weekend for the dreaded graduation party... Where can I go to get a decent beer? Any decent brew pubs in the area?

I live in the Mason area .... I generally drink my own beers or craft brews. Sorry I can't help with any brew-pubs.

Apart from drinking after golf, or happy hours with guys from work, I generally don't go to bars.

Who is graduating, from where? My daughter is graduating from Kings this year.

Everything Mt. Carmel Brewing puts out is good, but doubtful you'll find them in a pub.

Can't help you with a good pub in that area, but if you want a homebrew, send me a PM.

Flip Daddy's has a lot of decent beers on tap and good food in Mason. BJ's in Tri-county mall is a brew pub and has decent beers. Brazen Head Irish Pub is OK also.

Head to Springdale and go to Cock and Bull, lots of good beer there.
Fox & Hound also has a huge selection in Mason.

Calder said:

I live in the Mason area .... I generally drink my own beers or craft brews. Sorry I can't help with any brew-pubs.

Apart from drinking after golf, or happy hours with guys from work, I generally don't go to bars.

Who is graduating, from where? My daughter is graduating from Kings this year.

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It's my girlfriend's niece... I have no idea which H.S. I just know that they live in Mason.

chalmer9 said:

Head to Springdale and go to Cock and Bull, lots of good beer there. Fox & Hound also has a huge selection in Mason.

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shoman89 said:

Flip Daddy's has a lot of decent beers on tap and good food in Mason. BJ's in Tri-county mall is a brew pub and has decent beers. Brazen Head Irish Pub is OK also.

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Thanks guys... that gives me a place to start!

I definitely recommend taking the extra 30min drive and going to Hofbrauhaus in Newport KY. I frequent there a lot! You wont regret it.

SmokeNbrew said:

I definitely recommend taking the extra 30min drive and going to Hofbrauhaus in Newport KY. I frequent there a lot! You wont regret it.

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Does that one sell anything besides Hofbrau? I went to the one in Vegas and they only had the original Helles, a Hefeweizen, and a "seasonal" Hefe-Dunkelweizen mix.

It's a brew pub that sells some quality German style brews and food - definitely worth a visit!!

Also look into Moerlein, they make some really good beers and the brew-pub by the ballpark is always hopping.

fox & hound was awesome, if you wanna venture a bit south from mason, hit up "Mayday" in northside, used to be my #1 place when i lived there. Also "northside tavern" has some great beer on tap (from what i remember) just more of a "hipster-esc" place, but a really really nice bar

here is a shot from the "middle room/pool area"

BigB said:

Does that one sell anything besides Hofbrau? I went to the one in Vegas and they only had the original Helles, a Hefeweizen, and a "seasonal" Hefe-Dunkelweizen mix.

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Well this one has a few more than that on tap, but regardless Im sure you know Hofbrau is a major brewer in germany similar to our (US) top three is (bud, miller, coors)....but they brew onsite. Which alludes me to the reason for posting--
Im friends with one of the brewers who has been there since they opened, and with that said its on par with our homebrew- just thought you may appreciate the 'flavor' more than the rest. Especially after the 250mi drive, =) You'll feel at home brother...

*edit* Ive been drinkin a lil homebrew tonight, so Im sorry if I aint makin sense- but to answer your original question, no, they only sell their house brand....Hofbrau.

ah, Christian morelan just opened a brew pub on the waterfront! forgot about that

another one to check out is the comet over in northside, great food, and a very large tru cooler with a large beer selection... also beer to go.

And if you do take a trip down south, another beer place is "party source" they have a ginormous walk in cooler with a **** ton of beer.

Another one, up north in hamilton is jungle jims, great place to find brews and home brew supplies!

the last 2 are places to pick up beer, but not drink at.

I want to thank everyone for their input. I decided to pub crawl a bit as my girlfriend volunteered to be the designated driver. We went to Hofbrau in Newport first. Loved the biergarden and I got the last glass of Maibock they had (perfect timing!). I also really enjoyed the Dunkle. After we left there, we went over towards Christian Morelain's (sp?), but there was a Reds game, so we didn't stop. Then we went to Rivertown Brewing Co...apparently their taproom just opened about a month ago. The beer was good, but all tasted kind of the same. After a quick shower at the hotel, we drove over to Hyde Park- What a neat little neighborhood! There we stopped at Teller's for a beer and a snack. Nice place, but a little pricey... Beer selection was good though. Then after a short walk in the neighborhood, we went over to the Cock and Bull. They had an awesome beer selection and was the highlight of the trip! Finally, on Sunday, prior to the party, we stopped at Dingle House. Food was ok and beer selection was ok. But overall, a very fun little trip! I was going to stop at Party Source to pick up a few beers that are hard to find in Michigan, but I didn't feel like driving back south again. Plus, I was unsure of whether they would even be open on Sunday.

Mr Big B-

Buddy, glad you enjoyed your stay. All the better with a DD. Glad you you went to the Hofbrau. Always a fav of mine. Im gonna take note of your other stops tho, so I can give em a try.

BigB said:

I want to thank everyone for their input. I decided to pub crawl a bit as my girlfriend volunteered to be the designated driver. We went to Hofbrau in Newport first. Loved the biergarden and I got the last glass of Maibock they had (perfect timing!). I also really enjoyed the Dunkle. After we left there, we went over towards Christian Morelain's (sp?), but there was a Reds game, so we didn't stop. Then we went to Rivertown Brewing Co...apparently their taproom just opened about a month ago. The beer was good, but all tasted kind of the same. After a quick shower at the hotel, we drove over to Hyde Park- What a neat little neighborhood! There we stopped at Teller's for a beer and a snack. Nice place, but a little pricey... Beer selection was good though. Then after a short walk in the neighborhood, we went over to the Cock and Bull. They had an awesome beer selection and was the highlight of the trip! Finally, on Sunday, prior to the party, we stopped at Dingle House. Food was ok and beer selection was ok. But overall, a very fun little trip! I was going to stop at Party Source to pick up a few beers that are hard to find in Michigan, but I didn't feel like driving back south again. Plus, I was unsure of whether they would even be open on Sunday.

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Went back to Cincinnati area again this past weekend. This time I brought a few friends along and we grabbed a hotel in Newport. We went back to the Hofbrau and hung out in the biergarden. My god, they had the Oktoberfest on tap that they shipped in from Munich- awesome. Again we had an absolute blast. Plus the locally brewed Dunkel and Hefe were excellent. The Newport location is 10 times better than the Vegas location. We are already thinking about another trip for the Maibock release.

Make sure you venture to Cincinnati for Bockfest in early march. Even if you don't like bocks there are other beers available and almost every bar will have some Bockfest related special. As for the Christian Morlein lagerhouse, I'm not a huge fan of their beers. I was there a month or two after they opened and thought that the food was $7-8 too pricey and the service wasn't that great. They also have quite a few typos on the plaques in their lobby, not that it has any impact on their beer. Their Munich Helles is the only brew of theirs I like almost without exception the rest of them have a weird taste that I can't place. It's not one of the easily identifiable defects but it's noticeable and I don't like it.
There's also the Montgomery Inn Boathouse, which not surprisingly overlooks the Ohio river. Famous ribs and other upscale barbeque along with a decent beer selection.
You should also make an effort to swing by Listermanns, a great HBS. They had just started selling their own brews when I had been there(in march for bockfest) and were in the process of scaling up their equipment. I got a tour of their facility which at the time was just chalk outlines and their existing equipment. I imagine they've got a considerable amount if not all of it in by now. I can't speak to the quality of their beers, but it was cool talking to the staff.
If you're into cigars and pipe tobacco Straus tobacconist in downtown Cincinnati is one of the oldest(3rd?) in the country.
Findlay market is also well worth the trip if you're there on a weekend. It's the oldest continually operating farmers market in the state. There are some permanent shops as well as seasonal vendor booths.