I spent the majority of the last weekend down at the Duke Energy Convention Center for both nights of the fifth annual Cincinnati Winter Beer Fest and the first 5B: Believers in Better Beer, Bites, and Blogging Conference, which  I hope will become an annual event. In addition to great presentations and conversations, the 5B offered cheap admission to both nights of the Beer Fest. I will write more about the conference in future posts, but for now I will keep my focus on the Beer Fest itself.

A couple of things I saw that need immediate attention are the overall lack of organization to the entire event, and the extreme crowds that were present on Saturday night. Fortunately there were so few people in attendance on Friday night, that I was able to sample nearly everything that I wanted in just one night. Top beers for me included the Tazza Mia Espresso IPA from Rock Bottom Cincinnati, as well as the X-Hop IPA from Fat Head’s  and D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer Double Imperial Stout from Hoppin’ Frog. It was also nice to have some special release beers from local breweries Rivertown, Listermann, and the soon to open Blank Slate. I also have come to the conclusion that I do not care for cask conditioned IPA’s.

Packed House For Beer Fest

On the organizational front, it all starts with the terrible website that is in place for the event. Not only is it flash based, but navigating the site to find information is nearly impossible. No where is it mentioned if food would be served inside. A map of the festival was promised on one page but was never posted, or if it was I could never find it. Once inside the event center, there were signs directing people where to go based on their ticket type, but I was given the wrong type of wristband on the first  night and completely missed the  connoisseur session that I had paid extra for. I had assumed that it would be inside the main festival floor, but when I finally tracked down a map I could not find the connoisseur section listed. Turns out it was on a separate floor away from the rest of the festival.

Obviously I will likely still attend an event like this in the future, but it doesn’t hurt to hope for some improvements that are much needed. And if a stricter limit isn’t placed on the number of tickets sold for each night, I would definitely opt to skip the Saturday night session. It was much too crowded and every single booth had at least a ten minute wait for a beer. Plus a number of breweries ran out of beer before closing, some even packing up their booth and heading home early. I joined them and was back home by 10pm on Saturday night after having tasted less than ten beers on the main festival floor.

Cincy Beerfest Cake

After tonight, the first ever Cincinnati Beer Week will come to a conclusion. Though I didn’t make it to as many events as I had originally hoped, I did wind up at the North Peak Brewing Night at the Righteous Room and the Evening with Bell’s (incluidng Hopslam Firkin) at Market Wines. The one event I really wanted to check out but didn’t find the time for was the 12 Taps of Dogfish Head at The Lackman. I’m sure there were some other really great finds hidden in the list too, that I hope to read about as the week winds down.

As for the two events that I made it to, here is a brief recap on the offerings. Before the North Peak Night, I had tasted both their Diabolical IPA and the Vicious American Wheat IPA before and found them to be alright. The real winners of the night for me were the December seasonal Dubious Black Chocolate Stout and the November seasonal Furry Black IPA. And at the Evening with Bell’s I found myself wishing for regular Hopslam, which I seem to remember enjoying more than the cask conditioned. However their Batch 10,000 American Strong Ale and Hell Hath No Fury Belgian Strong Dark Ale were both great!

I hope they decide to make the beer week an annual tradition. I would definitely do my best to attend more events next year.

This past Sunday was sunny and warm in Cincinnati. We took advantage of the situation for a little bike ride on Little Miami Trail. It was the first time that we used the bike trailer that Kim’s mom bought for us. Before doing so we had to run to Target to get Trey a bike helmet. As we suspected, his head was too big for the infant helmets, so we had to get one that was labeled for ages three and up.

Unfortunately Trey fell asleep on the way to the bike trail, and since the new trailer makes hit sit upright, I don’t think he enjoyed the ride as much as we had hoped. He seemed to tolerate it for the first few miles, but after we let him out to run around at our turnaround point, he did not want to get back in. After getting him strapped in again and trying to calm him down, we eventually stopped a few minutes later so Kim could stay behind with him and I went to get the car. Despite the failed return trip, I still think once the even warmer spring and summer days are here, he will really like biking.

Kim posted some other photos from our biking trip, as well a ton more from the last few months, over on kimandedjr.com.

Over the weekend I finally made it to my first Bearcat basketball game of the season. In my days living near campus, I rarely missed a home game. So it was definitely cool to be back to the arena where I spent so much time as a student. I actually think this may have been my first time catching a game since those college days, but I could be forgetting something. I brought along Kim, Trey, and a couple of Kim’s brothers. We bought the cheap tickets, and I was pleasantly surprised by the view. Turns out a friend of ours from the college days had tickets nearby and since it wasn’t overly crowded we were able to enjoy the game together.

The game itself was close through the majority of the first half, with the largest leads being only five points. DePaul was winning 38-36 at halftime. The second half was much of the same with neither team really taking a large lead. That was until the final minutes of the game where the Bearcats finally extended their lead to ten points. At the final buzzer the score was 74-66 Bearcats. It was an exciting game and we all enjoyed it. My only complaint about our seats was that it was very warm up near the rafters. Small price to pay for an evening of exciting basketball action.

Yesterday was the start to the first ever Cincinnati Beer Week. Basically there are a ton of events going on at various watering holes through the city in the week leading up to the annual Cincy Winter Beer Fest. I was hoping to hit an event last night but I caught a bad cold and was stuck home. Fortunately I’m already feeling better today so I’m hoping to hit at least one event over the weekend.

This past Saturday again took us to the Mt. Healthy area to pickup our car that was being serviced the day before. After dropping it off the day before we took advantage of the situation and stopped for lunch at Pit To Plate BBQ. On our repeat visit to the area we decided to drive a little further north into Fairfield for some pizza from Cassano’s Pizza & Subs. The name sounded a little familiar when I found it using the mobile Yelp app, and with a lot of favorable reviews I figured it was worth a visit.

Cassano's Pizza King

Cassano’s is a chain based out of Dayton, Ohio, but this operation of Cassano’s has been independently owned and operated since 1982. As other reviewers have said, it appears that the inside of the place hasn’t been renovated since opening. Upon walking in you can view the open air kitchen area on the right through some tinted glass and immediately past that is the counter where orders are placed. On the opposite side of the restaurant are about a dozen or more booths and tables. There are also some beverage coolers toward the back of the space that I didn’t notice until I went searching for the restroom.

My wife and I agreed to order just one pizza, a large “Mom’s Big Cheese” – pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, onion, green pepper, and double cheese on top. After I paid for our pizza and drinks, we found a spot at one of the booths and within ten minutes our pizza was ready.

Mom's Big Cheese

Our sixteen inch pizza was cut into a ton of small square slices. The crust is really thin, crisp, and salty. The sauce was good and there was a ton of cheese covering all of our toppings. Both my wife and I really enjoyed this pizza. It reminded me of Donato’s, which is based out of Columbus, Ohio. And not only because of the similar way the pizza are cut, the taste was also familiar. With that said I preferred the finished product from Cassano’s over Donato’s. I don’t know if I would make a special trip for this pizza, but if you are in the area (Jungle Jim’s perhaps) this would be a great stop for lunch.

There was no time for rest in my men’s hockey league. After winning the playoff championship last Sunday, we were back on the ice this past Sunday. Our opponents for this game would be the regular season champions. Though they lost in the semifinals of the playoffs, they are still a team that I can recall only beating twice. They are always at or near the top of the league, and when the game started I knew we were in for a rough one.

We only had seven skaters show up for the game, and no goalie. Fortunately another goalie from the league was at the rink early and was able to fill in for us, even though we still had to play the first few minutes without a keeper at all. Somehow our opponents did not score during that period of time, and our team was actually the first one to get on the scoreboard. About halfway through the game one of our defensemen got his third penalty of the game and was kicked out for the remainder. That means that we had to finish the game with just one substitute player on our bench. Amazingly enough our opponents only managed to put one goal in the net, which was not enough. We won the game 2-1, which was an amazing accomplishment for our entire team.

Last night was our second to last broomball game. We were taking on another team in the same position as ours, a must win game if we want to have any chance at getting into the playoffs. Broom Goes the Dynamite, our opponents, had one very skilled player on their team, who was able to get a deflected shot into the goal in the first period. We were down 1-0 at halftime, but not out. Halfway through the second, I  one-timed  a great pass from my buddy Ken and was awarded my first goal of my broomball career. As the game winded down, it looked like the result would be a tie. However, the opponents good player snuck in another goal with just a few minutes left to play. Though we had some good shots and scoring chances as the game wrapped up, unfortunately we lost 2-1. Our chances at the playoffs are pretty much gone, but we still have one game left to play next Monday at 6:30.

Friday afternoon I found myself driving out toward the Mt. Healthy area for service on one of our cars. My wife dropped off the car, and since the service was going to take a number of hours, I picked her up in our other car. Taking advantage of the situation, I suggested we stop at the nearby Pit To Plate BBQ for lunch. I had tried one of their pulled pork sandwiches at this summer’s Taste of Cincinnati and really enjoyed it.

Outside Pit To Plate BBQ

It’s pretty obvious from the outside that this building used to be a Hardee’s, but the decor on the inside plus the smokey smells that greeted us once we opened the car doors let you know that you are in for a much better dining experience than Hardee’s could have ever dreamed of providing. Upon entering the main side door, the first thing I noticed was the bar at the back of the room, and then I was quickly drawn to the amount of southern trinkets mounted to every possible surface of the interior. It was a little overwhelming to me, but it does help disguise the fact that we were sitting in the home of a former fast food chain.

Inside Pit To Plate BBQ

It was pretty quiet for a Friday afternoon, and we only ever saw one employee who was taking care of both those at the bar and the few tables in the restaurant booths, such as ourselves. She was over quickly to take our drink order and dropped off some water to us right away, including a plastic cup for our one year old son. After another couple of stops by our table, we were finally ready to order. I went with the pulled chicken sandwich with coleslaw. My wife decided on the pulled pork sandwich with beans and also insisted that we try the jalapeño corn bread. Both plates were also served with a bag of Grippo’s chips and pickles.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich

The food was served to us very quickly. The pulled chicken was piled high and had some really large pieces of meat included. The taste was great and I ate it open face style so that I could sample all the six plus bottles of BBQ sauce that were on the table. Just as I remembered from the Taste of Cincinnati, their mustard based Gold Rush sauce was really good. They also had another sauce that was a mix of the Gold Rush along with their Mild and another. It also was really good. They had a spicy garlic, which was too much like wind sauce, and a vinegar based that I also didn’t care for. My coleslaw was just average. It was a little too runny for my tastes and a little sweeter than I normally like.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

My wife’s pulled pork sandwich was again filled with a lot of very delicious meat. I had already sampled their pulled pork before so we did not split our sandwiches like we normally do. I did however take a bit of each of her sides and again I felt that they were just okay. The beans weren’t nearly as full of flavor as the ones I recently had at Eli’s BBQ, and the cornbread again was nothing special. It did pack quite a bit of jalapeño punch, but the bread itself was a little bland. I really enjoy the meats at Pit To Plate BBQ but I feel that the sides could use some work. With that said, I still like it better than City BBQ, which I’m still a fan of, so Pit To Plate is definitely not to be missed for BBQ in Cincinnati.

After mass this past weekend, my wife and I decided to get crêpes, but we wouldn’t be going to our downtown favorite It’s Just Crêpes. Instead we headed to the relatively newly opened Fave in Hyde Park. Fave is mainly a self-serve frozen yogurt place, similar to Orange Leaf  that also recently opened in the area. You walk in, grab a cup, and fill it up with any combination of their eight flavors. There is also a variety of toppings you can add on top. Then you take it to the register and pay a set price (55 cents) per ounce. I’ve yet to give this a try, but it seems like it could get expensive very quickly. While we were there, a customer was rang up for over $6 in frozen yogurt alone.

Inside Fave

Anyway, Fave also has a small offering of crêpes. My wife and I actually tried to get crêpes  a few weeks earlier, but turned around when we found ourselves third in line with just one iron working and only one employee inside. It seemed like it would have taken a long time, and even when we returned on this visit to find nobody else inside, our order of two crêpes  took at least ten minutes to prepare. Again just one employee was there, though later anther did show up in time to ring up our order.

Pizza Crêpe

I ordered the pizza crêpe with pizza sauce, Chihuahua cheese, pepperoni, and basil (though I don’t remember any basil in mine). My wife went with the BBQ – chicken, onion, bell pepper, and BBQ sauce. Overall the crêpes were good, but I felt that the shell may have been cooked too long and it was a little thicker than I was used to. With so few ingredients inside the crêpe, the  thickness  of the shell blocked out most of the flavor in my crêpe. My wife’s had a better flavor mix, but I wonder if maybe a little less batter was used would that let the ingredients shine through more?

I think Fave would be best off picking one item to specialize and then doing it really well. If the yogurt alone will keep them in business, I say they expand on that. If not, I think a well done crêpe spot would be perfect in Hyde Park. The eight item crêpe menu could easily be doubled or even tripled. They already have a decent start at making crêpes, but I think it takes a bit more focus to really do it right.

We’ve had two games since my last broomball update. We won the first game a week ago and lost the second one last night. We now have a 2-2 record overall and sit in second place in our division. Only six teams advance to the playoffs, and our only chance at making it now will be by claiming one of the two wild card spots. Our last two games are against other second place teams in other divisions, so we pretty much control our own destiny.

Awesome Backdrop for a Game

Last night we faced off with a first place team from another division, a team that has yet to be scored on. Their goalie was easily 6’6″, but I thought their defensive play was even better than his performance. I nearly snuck a goal in during the final minutes of the game, but my diving shot didn’t make it through the keepers legs. And with that we lost the game 0-1. I’d say that we drew a pretty tough schedule, but we are doing our bests to play in the postseason.

Photo credit once again belongs to  5chw4r7z. See all of his photos from this season on  flickr.

Our two remaining games:

• Monday January 30th at 8pm
• Monday February 6th at 6:30pm