Even if you don’t drink beer, or have any interest in beer festivals, you should consider going on a brewery tour in Over the Rhine. These tours are not just for beer lovers and history buffs. I think everyone should take this tour to realize what lies beneath the streets you drive on in Cincinnati. And it’s a powerful glimpse into the past, into the heritage of Cincinnati. And if you do happen to be a beer fan, if you take the tour during Bockfest they give you a ticket for a free beer at the festival (bonus!). This year we took our second brewery tour during the Bockfest festivities, and it was a pretty cool tour even though it was a mini version of a tour we took a few years back. I find it sort of thrilling to go down the rickety wooden staircases into the caverns below the city where beer used to be stored. And the tour guides always have great stories about brewing back in the day, prohibition, and city history. Bockfest rolls around each year in March, but if you can’t wait for that, American Legacy Tours offers a Queen City Underground Tour on the weekends which visits the brewing cellars and other cool locations in Over the Rhine. If you are indeed a fan of beers though, I highly suggest you mark your calendar for Bockfest each year, because it’s quite a celebration of bock beer, spring and goats. It’s a beer drinking festival unlike any other.
Here’s some pictures from our Bockfest Prohibition Brewery Tour:
After the tour at Bockfest grab yourself a craft bock beer and a pretzel necklace and enjoy the festivities!
