Brewing Heritage Trail

06/24/2025

It's Brewsday and to beat the heat, let's talk about the underground lagering cellars of the Jackson Brewery! Brewing began at this site along Hamilton Road (now McMicken Ave.) in the late 1820s. The site changed hands a couple of times before Meinrad and Fridolin Kleiner purchased the existing brewery in 1854, eventually expanding it to a large Romanesque Revival structure that still stands today. They also added expansive underground lagering cellars in order to produce lager style beer, which was becoming the dominant beverage in Cincinnati saloons during the mid-19th century.

Their cellars were excavated from the hillside, with the main brewhouse up above, and contained two levels, as you can see from the 3D scan in this post (first image). The upper level of the cellars were used primarily for fermentation and the lower level was for aging and distribution. Since these are artificial caves, their temperature remains relatively constant, around 55-60 degrees year round. They may have been used historically to keep beer cool, but today they are also a great place to cool off while taking a brewing history tour!

Want to check them out in person? The Brewing Heritage Trail offers two different tours that access the site, our mostly indoor Cincinnati Brewing & Distilling Tasting Tour and our architecturally focused Built on Beer Tour. For more info and schedules go to https://brewingheritagetrail.org and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

06/17/2025

It's the Brewsday after a Cincinnati Reds winning roadtrip, so let's talk some brewing and baseball history! Beer and baseball seem like the perfect match for an afternoon in the sun, but that wasn't always the case in professional baseball. In amateur ball following the Civil War, consumption of alcohol by players before, during, and after the game was commonplace. However, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first fully professional team in 1869, ownership wanted to bring greater respectability to the sport and thought eliminating alcohol from the game was the way to do it. As a result, the contracts signed by the Cincinnati Red Stockings players included a sobriety clause, to ensure they were playing at top form during the season. This clause included their off-field activities as well.

The restriction on alcohol even extended to fans who attended games at the Red Stocking's home field, Union Grounds (first image). Today this site is known to most as Union Terminal, where the Cincinnati Museum Center is located. The ban on alcohol sales didn't last for too long, but it would take the team disbanding in 1870, later reforming and relocating to the Avenue Grounds (third image) to bring beer sales back to baseball. Never heard of the Avenue Grounds? How about the Bank Street Grounds? League Park? Now I know you've definitely heard of Crosley Field!

Want to go to every location where the Cincinnati Reds and Red Stockings played baseball going back to 1869? The Brewing Heritage Trail's Ballparks & Breweries Bus Tour does just that! We even take guests along the original Findlay Market Opening Day Parade route and stop by the remaining structures of the John Hauck Brewery, because this Cincinnati Beer Baron owned the team during the 1880s!

Our next tour is on Saturday, June 21 and it also runs several more times before the end of summer, so if you want to learn more go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing (and Baseball) Heritage Trail!

06/10/2025

It's the Brewsday before Father's Day! We've got some great tours scheduled for this weekend, if you're looking for something fun to do! All tours include beer and visit a different 19th century underground lagering cellar! Here's what we have on tap:

Saturday, June 14

10am Brewer's & Barons Trail Tour: This guided tour explores the Brewing Heritage Trail and features unique signage and art installations, located on the east side of the Brewery District in Over-the-Rhine!

10am NEW Bruckmann Brewery Tour: The former Bruckmann Brewery complex in Cincinnati is one of the most complete 19th brewery sites in the country and this new tour explores the expansive history of the site!

2pm Over & Under the Rhine Tour: Come and explore the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood with us as we walk and ride the streetcar to historical landmarks such as Findlay Market, Music Hall, Washington Park, and the location of the Miami-Erie Canal!

3pm & 6pm Built on Beer Tour: Come and witness the evolution of the brewing industry through the size, complexity, and architectural grandeur of the city’s historic breweries on this brewing history architectural tour!

Sunday, June 15

11am Cellars & Saloons Brunch Tour: Delicious food and a beer tasting, accompanied by a brewing & saloon history tour above ground and below! Only a few tickets left!!

1pm Built on Beer Tour: Come and witness the evolution of the brewing industry through the size, complexity, and architectural grandeur of the city’s historic breweries on this brewing history architectural tour!

Lots of great options to choose from! More details and tickets can be found at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org and hopefully we'll see you this Father's Day Weekend along the Brewing Heritage Trail!!

06/08/2025

We kicked off public tours today of the historic Bruckmann Brewery site and sold every ticket available! Thanks so much to everyone who came out, to our great tour guides who worked so hard to learn the new material, and all the volunteers who helped us clean up and make repairs over the last 9 months, so this could happen!

If you weren’t able to make it today, no worries, we’re running a tour of the site just about every Saturday through summer! Go to https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for additional details and tickets!

06/05/2025

Royal Announcement: Bockfest Sausage Queen Kelley will attend the Missing Linck Festival at Urban Artifact this Saturday, June 7! Come meet her and the Royal Sausage Court at the Brewing Heritage Trail table inside the taproom. She'll be there throughout the day and into the early evening, occasionally making the rounds and attending to royal duties. Stop by to say hello, share your thoughts on Missing Linck beverages, and take a picture!

Just in case you're not in the know, the Missing Linck Festival is free to attend and is an annual event at the Urban Artifact Brewery (1660 Blue Rock St.) focusing on a pre-Prohibition lagering yeast that was rediscovered in an underground lagering cellar. This yeast is used each year by local brewers to create unique beverages that are served at the Missing Linck Festival! For more info about the event, go to: https://www.missinglinck.com and hopefully we'll see you this weekend!

06/03/2025

It's the Brewsday before the Missing Linck Festival and the premiere of the new Bruckmann Brewery Tour on Saturday, June 7! Brewing began at this location in 1856 and continued for nearly 100 years under the stewardship of the Bruckmann family. The former brewing complex is one of the most complete 19th brewery sites in the country and most major components are still in existence including the brewhouse, malthouse, bottling building, stables, family home, power plant, and the underground lagering cellars!

Guests on the tour will be taken via shuttle bus from the Urban Artifact Brewery to the Bruckmann Brewery site, where we will explore inside several of the buildings, including the underground lagering cellars! While at the Bruckmann Brewery site, we'll provide guests with a local craft beer to drink while exploring the brewing complex. At the conclusion of the tour, the bus will return to pick up the group and bring them back to the festival. This location has never been open to public tours before and this your chance to be one of the first to check it out!

The Missing Linck Festival is free to attend and is an annual event at the Urban Artifact Brewery focusing on a pre-Prohibition lagering yeast that was rediscovered in an underground lagering cellar. This yeast is used each year by local brewers to create unique beverages that are served at the Missing Linck Festival!

For more tour info and tickets go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org

05/31/2025

Tours kicked off today at the former Bruckmann Brewery site with our Brewing Heritage Trail Member Preview! This site is one of the most intact 19th century brewing complexes in the country, containing most major structural components including the original brewhouse, malthouse, icehouse, stables, bottling, and underground lagering cellars! We had a couple of great tour groups, which included several members of the Bruckmann family, who shared some insight about their family's brewery with the other BHT Members!

Public tours kick off next week on Saturday, June 7, in connection with the Missing Linck Festival at Urban Artifact and then will run every Saturday throughout the summer. If you'd like to experience this newly reopened site yourself, go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for additional info and tickets and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

05/30/2025

Check out this latest installment of the Bruckmann Project from The Gnarly Gnome! Tours at Bruckmann begin June 7, go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for additional info and tickets!

The Bruckmann Brewery Complex is easily the most complete historical brewing complex in the city of Cincinnati, and is probably one of the most complete anyw...