Over the weekend HalfCut opened their doors in Over-the-Rhine serving sixteen beers for either carry out growler fills or for sampling inside. There is no seating at the bar, instead you place your order at one end and then receive your beer and pay at the register located on the other end.

Beer Menu & Map

A  couple  six person tables are found in the middle of the small space as well as various counter level tables and rails for standing around. There is a stack of games in one corner for visitors to use while enjoying the beer.

Mural

One awesome features  is the to-go window where you can get growlers filled without even stepping foot inside the door. Also there is a small selection of bottled and canned beers for mixed six-packs, though draft beer is definitely the star here.

Inside

I can’t see myself ordering round after round at HalfCut, as it seems to be more geared towards sampler flights  and beer to-go. It’s a good spot for a quick visit and growler fills when you already know what you like.

As has become one of our Cincinnati traditions, we took in the Bockfest parade on Friday evening. We used to watch it from outside Mayberry, but they no longer exist. Instead we found a fish fry taking place outside of Old St. Mary’s in the parking lot and decided to enjoy a few Bock beers and enjoy the parade from there.

Waiting for the Parade

Goat Pulling Keg

Trojan Goat

Keg Walker

Dragon Goat

Rabbit Hash

What Does the Bock Say?

The parade was longer than I remembered it and overall Bockfest had a record year, so I guess that makes sense. Once the near hour-long parade was over we walked up to Bockfest Hall for a couple more beverages and some food. This year the hall was expanded outside with a large tent and a street closure, which was needed as the crowds inside the event center have been and continue to be very large. Fortunately the weather was great and we spent an hour or so outside enjoying the festival site and all that it offers.

I spent a good chunk of this past weekend down at the Duke Energy Convention Center for this year’s Cincy Winter Beerfest. Many of the things I’ve said in the past years are still very true, this biggest of which is to attend Friday night’s session rather than the much more crowded Saturday session. Saturday was easily twice as crowded as Friday, if not more. I think the snowy weather on Friday may have deterred some last-minute attendees from making the trip.

Friday Night VIP Crowd

My wife and I opted for the Connoisseur ticket for Friday night, which provides access to the Connoisseur Reception Area with appetizer bites from a dozen local restaurants each paired with a rare or super premium beer. My family was down on the main floor for the VIP hour, so we pretty much went straight down to join them for that time. However that caused us to miss out on a couple of the food and beer pairings upstairs, as those seem to go pretty quickly. Next time I will plan to take full advantage of the Connoisseur area by skipping dinner before and spending the first hour or so upstairs.

PortaBeer

Saturday I decided to volunteer my time to working the festival in exchange for free beer. I ran into some friends while checking in at the volunteer booth and they told me that they had been assigned to the ticketing area. I agreed to join them and soon found out that this could be one of the best kept secrets of the fest. Our job was to unwrap the sample glasses, fill them with the tasting tickets, and then hand them out as people entered the gates. However before that even started we were able to go around and sample beer from any of the open vendors for an hour or so.

Me And Penny Lane

A half hour before the gates opened we had to report to our position and get ready. It was actually somewhat tiring work and a lot of time on my feet, but it only lasted for a couple of hours. The gates opened to VIP ticket holders at 6:30 and then at 7:30 for everyone else. By 8:00 or 8:30 most people were already through the door. So at this time most of us were able to leave the post and offer to help the volunteers that were pouring beer.

From there I found a couple of booths that I wanted to sample and offered to help out. I spent the majority of my time at Oskar Blues and at Fifty West. A brewery rep from Oskar Blues gave me a couple of koozies for helping them out and I was allowed to get behind the wheel of Fifty West’s Penny Lane after assisting them (and drinking my fair share of Ghost of Imogene). I had just as good of a time volunteering for the fest as I did attending and I will be sure to offer my services again in the future. Long live beerfest!

Today kicks off the third annual Cincinnati Beer Week. There are so many events this year that everyone should be able to find something that interests them. I’m hoping to hit up the  Lagunitas Official Cincinnati Release  event at Market Wines tonight after Broomball. Lagunitas has been distributing in all other corners of Ohio except for Cincinnati. But that all changes today and the California based brewery will be appearing in all of your favorite better beer locations.

Bell’s Hopslam is a  remarkably drinkable rendition of the Double India Pale Ale style that has a pretty serious cult like following. Each winter when it is released in January it disappears from shelves as quickly as it came into the store. People have stalked delivery trucks just to be sure they could get their hands on some. Though with so many stores utilizing social media now, it is no longer necessary to do so.

Cases O’ Hopslam

Just look at what  O’Bryan’s Wine  got delivered last Monday. Roughly twenty cases. It disappeared before the day was over though. I personally bought an entire case.  I believe that most stores in Ohio are now out of Hopslam. However Kentucky didn’t release theirs until this week, and I’ve heard that the Party Source still has some available.

2014 vs 2013

I set aside a couple of bottles from last year’s release in my continuously growing beer cellar. Normally an IPA is something that you want to drink as soon as possible, as hop profiles fade quickly with age. With that said I had read some somewhat positive reviews of cellar aged Hopslam. Personally in my taste taste I much preferred the fresh variety, though my wife (not much of a hop head) preferred the aged. I let her have my second bottle out of the cellar. For a much more descriptive comparison, check out what the Brew Professor had to think in a similar taste test.

Ei8ht Ball Brewing is the newest brewery in town. They opened at the end of November and operate their brewing operations and tasting room from inside The Party Source in Bellevue. If you’ve never been to The Party Source, you are really missing out, as their selection of beer, alcohol, and wine is excellent. Now you have even more reasons to visit, 42 reasons actually.

Tasting Room

The tasting room has 42 taps for on premise consumption or for growlers to go. The brewery itself is currently only producing three beers of their own, but I expect that number to continue to grow. That leaves plenty of room for other craft beer from across the globe.

Logo Wall

On my first visit to Ei8ht Ball Brewing I sampled their imperial stout, K-Hole, which is brewed with  coffee, cocoa and lactose. I really enjoyed this dark beauty and hope to have many more in the future. It was also great to be able to enjoy the beer while shopping throughout the store. Hopefully they will add some kind of cup holder to their shopping carts to make it even easier. I know that I will definitely stop at the tap-room first on all future trips to The Party Source.

We had plans to attend the second annual  Christmas Saengerfest  this past Friday night, but the winter weather caused the organizers to cancel the event. Fortunately it was a two-day event, and everyone with a ticket for Friday night was invited to attend Saturday instead.

May Festival Youth Chorus

We started off our night listening to the wonderful sounds provided by the May Festival Youth Chorus  at Memorial Hall.  The May Festival Youth Chorus, was organized in 1987 to give high school students the opportunity to rehearse and perform challenging choral music in a highly stimulating artistic environment.

Awaken the City Gospel Band

From there we moved on to Awaken the City to hear their phenomenal Gospel Band. We saw the band perform last year  and had to take our family to see them this year. The band did not disappoint and once again by the end of their show the entire audience was up on their feet celebrating with them.

Moerlein Barrel Project

We got a late start on the evening and were not able to see any other performances aside from a few small choir performances from inside the relatively new Moerlein Tap Room. I’ve been in this location numerous times before, but had not seen the renovated bar and tasting room. I also spotted a row of barrels used for aging beer, which is very exciting for the continually expanding brewery. We had a couple of Moerlein pints to wind down a great night.

Florida based The Brass Tap, a chain of beer bars, opened their first Midwest location near the University of Cincinnati this past summer. The spot is in the newly finished U Square development that is a series of buildings with a mix of retail, residential, and dining.

U Square

Parking is available on the street outside of the bar, or in the garages that were built as part of development. Special event parking is just $10 when there is a big sporting event on campus, which is cheaper than on campus parking, and it leaves with you plenty of warm options for pregame activities.

Outside

This Brass Tap location features eighty taps, many of which are dedicated to local beer offerings. It is a very impressive lineup, better than anywhere else around campus, and near the top that the city offers.

Taps

No food is offered yet, but menus for a handful of neighboring restaurants (mostly in the U Square development) are available at the bar and I’m told that food orders can be made available for delivery. My only compliant is that they are not family friendly. In an effort to keep the underage college students out of the bar, no one under 21 is permitted inside. Instead head to the nearby  Adriatico’s if you are bringing the kids along.

I finally made it down to MadTree Brewing Company this past Sunday. I have been wanting to visit their tasting room since it opened in April, just a couple of days after my daughter was born. However I haven’t had much free time to do so with two little ones keeping us busy. Fortunately I needed somewhere to watch the Bengals game Sunday and it just so happens that there was an  Alzheimer benefit going on at the brewery at the same time.

Road Signage

The brewery is just a ten minute drive from my house, but road construction in the area has made it a little difficult for me to get there. Once the Kennedy Connector project is finished, it will be much easier for me and it should also bring a lot of extra traffic past the brewery.

Tasting Bar

The tasting area at MadTree is really quite large. There is a bar that wraps around the beer cooler and seats at least a dozen. Plus there are another dozen or so high top tables that each seat over a handful of people. The space was crowded on Sunday, not to the point that you couldn’t move, and it was great to see such wonderful support for the brewery and for the charity.

Fermenters

The brewery recently had a capacity expansion and their two new 60 barrel fermenters are the first thing you see from the tasting room. These brought the capacity up from 90 barrels to 210, a  133% increase! Needless to say, MadTree is doing very well in their first two quarters of operation. More details on the expansion can be found online compliments of the Brew Professor.

Big Winner

My parents joined Trey and I on this visit to the brewery and my mom put Trey’s name in for a variety of baskets. We had to leave at half time for his nap, but eventually had to drive back to pickup three baskets that he had won. The one that he was most excited about was filled with Coke and candy. I’d say it was a great first visit to MadTree and that I will be back again soon.

This past Saturday my family and I made a brief appearance at the first annual Fifty Fest down at Fifty West Brewing Company. Throughout the summer the brewery hosted smaller concert series leading up to this day long celebration at the end of summer.

Festival Grounds

In addition to numerous offerings from Fifty West, select beers from  Blank Slate, MadTree, Triple Digit, Mt. Carmel, and Rhinegeist were all available. The event also featured eights bands on two stages. My favorite beers of the short day were both from Rhinegeist, the limited  Monogamy: Mosaic and their latest seasonal Fiction.

Rhinegeist!

It was very family friendly. My family especially enjoyed the nice hillside lawn where we spread out a blanket and had some lunch while listening to the music of Los Honchos. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was hot outside and we had a few other things to accomplish throughout the day.

Family Shot

I hope the event returns next year!