Northern Row Brewery and Distillery

When: September 26, 2020

Where: 111 W McMicken Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45202

At home in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, Northern Row Brewery and Distillery is settled in a pre-prohibition building originally constructed in 1895 as the icehouse and storage space for the historic Christian Moerlein Brewery. Northern Row is Cincinnati’s first brewery & distillery combo. They pride themselves on crafting traditional beers under the Northern Row name and spirits with a modern twist under the Five Stories brand. This multifaceted business has gone to extensive efforts to preserve the original parts of the building and repurpose other parts of Cincinnati’s heritage that may have otherwise been left behind or forgotten. That’s what drives their slogan, “all outcasts welcome!”

Shannon: Northern Row is easily one of my top 5 favorite brewery’s in Cincinnati. I stumbled across this place by accident one day when I couldn’t find immediate parking outside Rhinegeist Brewery. I decided to go over a street and see if their was any parking there and low and behold, I found a brewery instead! I bailed on my original plan and immediately gave all my attention to this new find and I’m so glad I did. The brewery aesthetic, food, and beer are all incredible in their own right. They have tons of options for food, hard alcohol, and beer. One of the best beers I’ve had from Northern Row is their variation of Black is Beautiful. Their contribution of the Black is Beautiful initiative is a dark chocolate and roasted coffee beer with a rich malt finish. I truly love so many of their other beers though too!

Other Cool Things:

  • Initiate Project Sanitizer! Northern Row is producing alcohol base hand sanitizer available to the Cincy community!
  • Full food, beer, cocktail, wine, and spirits menu!
  • Northern Row is their brewery name and Five Stories is their spirits brand
  • Offering curb side pick up for growlers, food, and hand sanitizer
  • Cool merch available
  • Kid friendly taproom
  • Pets welcome in the outdoor courtyard area!
  • Free wifi – love to see it
  • Cincinnati’s modern day streetcar rides directly past the brewery & distillery

What Shannon Drank:

Shannon: Miller (Rosemary American Rye Ale) – 4 out of 5

Shannon: Black is Beautiful (Stout) 6.5% ABV – 4 out of 5

Brewing Persuasion: 5 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?

Center Street Brewing Company

Center Street Brewing Company

When Chris Went: November 29th, 2020

Where: 24 Wallace Avenue, Wallingford, CT 06492

Center Street Brewing Company in Wallingford opened their taproom almost two years ago, and has been a family run business from the beginning. The brewery’s location was completely remodeled for the taproom and had lived many lives before being a center for craft beer. Before Center Street came to Wallace Avenue, the location had been an art studio, a recording studio, and an auto repair shop. The two things that I noticed when I walked in was that it definitely was a repair shop, but also how it felt like fall in New England. So obviously it WAS fall in New England when I went, but Center Street tries to keep the unique feeling of a northeastern fall going year-round. It creates a very welcoming environment, but I am pretty biased being a native of New England. I want to go back in the summer because they have windowed garage door on the front which they open up, and I have always liked fresh air coming into taprooms. They had a decent amount of high top tables and outdoor seating, and a good sized parking lot, so it was a pretty convenient trip.

Chris: Speaking of convenience, Center Street had a good selection and variety of beers. They currently have 10 beers on tap ranging from IPAs, Pilsners, Porters, and Browns. They also have cider, wine, cocktails, and soda, so no matter who you are going with, you will be able to find something for everyone. I was also impressed by their musical choices as they were playing 2000s rock the entire time we were there. When it comes to their beer, I had their Charlie Brown Ale and Mocha Jo Porter. Both were good, but to be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled with the beer, although one of my friends loved it. To be fair, two beers is a small sample size, so I hope I can go back soon to try some more.

Other Cool Things:

  • Cans-to-go
  • Wine, Cider, Cocktails, and soda available
  • Alpaca snacks made from their beer!
  • Flights
  • Merch for sale

What Chris Drank:

Chris: Charlie Brown (Brown Ale) 5.7% – 3 out of 5

Chris: Mocha Jo (Porter) 7.1% – 3.5 out of 5

Brewing Persuasion: 3.5 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?

Listermann Brewing Company

When Shannon Went: September 13, 2020

Where: 1621 Dana Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45207

If you take the time to Google the best Cincinnati breweries, you are sure to find Listermann Brewing Co. gracing almost every list. Among one of the best breweries in the city and the state, this German style beer hall is held in high regard across the country. Listermann has most recently collaborated on beers with craft brewing giants from Anaheim, California, and Chicago, Illinois. When they’re not collaborating, they’re brewing award winning beers in almost every style. What do they do well? Everything. But they’re best known for pumping out delicious stouts on the regular. One of their most popular brews is Nutcase, their 6.8% peanut butter porter.

Shannon: I was immediately smitten with Listermann Brewing Co. before even entering the taproom. When a brewery has a large Mario Brothers themed mural on the side of their building, how could you not fall in love? A few other things that made me like Listermann even more was the vast amount of beer on tap and the really cool merch that was for sale. While there was almost over 20 beers of draft, I opted for a canned lemon meringue Kolsch. A classic light, sweet, tart, 5% Kolsch, this beer is the perfect combination of lemon and vanilla flavors.

Other Cool Things:

  • Owns and operate their own homebrew store!
  • Really cool merch for sale
  • Website has a tab called Winners Circle where they share first place winning recipes!
  • Cans to-go available
  • Food trucks outside
  • Partnered with the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden to celebrate its super cute cheetah cub Kris and her equally adorable companion pup Remus with a canned caramel stout brewed with vanilla. Proceeds benefit the zoo!

What Shannon Drank:

Shannon: Lemon Meringue Pie Fight (Kolsch) 5% – 3.5 out of 5

Brewing Persausion: 4 out of 5

Feeling persuaded yet?