Brewing Heritage Trail

02/11/2025

It's the Brewsday after another successful weekend of repairs at the Bruckmann Brewery site! We had a bunch of great volunteers come out to help us continue work in a variety of ways. Repairs continued on the stairs leading into the underground lagering cellars, volunteers cleaned up around the perimeter of the historic brewhouse, which will allow us to seal up the foundation, and they also unclogged a large drain, so we can channel water away from the cellar entrance. Best of all, the rains forecasted held off until we wrapped up for the day!

There is still a lot to do in the coming months before we can open the site up to public tours, which will premiere at Urban Artifact's Missing Linck Festival on June 7. We'll post some new volunteer shifts for this site in the near future, so if you're interested in helping out on this project or other events we put together, like Bockfest, go to the volunteer page of our website at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/volunteer-opportunities and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

02/11/2025

It's the Brewsday after another successful weekend of repairs at the Bruckmann Brewery site! We had a bunch of great volunteers come out to help us continue working on the stairs into the underground lagering cellars, they cleaned up around the perimeter of the historic brewhouse, so we can seal up the foundation, and also unclogged a large drain to channel water away from the cellar entrance. Best of all, the rains forecasted held off until we wrapped up for the day!

There is still a lot to do in the coming months before we can open the site up to public tours, which will premiere during Urban Artifact's Missing Linck Festival on June 7. We're planning to post some new volunteer shifts for this site in the near future, so if you're interested in helping out on this project or other events we put together, like Bockfest, go to the volunteer page of our website at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/volunteer-opportunities and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

02/03/2025

Thursday is coming up fast! Don't miss out on this great event at Arnold's Bar and Grill to support Bockfest!

Have you purchased your tickets for the Beefsteak Dinner yet? You better hurry...there are only 12 tickets left...don't live with regret when you find there are no tickets to be had.

An amazing dinner awaits you at Arnold's Bar and Grill this Thursday night at 6pm. 4 courses, paired with bock beer, a poster signing of the most amazing Jim Effler Bockfest poster, live music and a fantastic way to support the Brewing Heritage Trail, who runs the Servatii Bockfest.

The link for tickets is below..

https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/brewingheritagetrail/items/430558/?full-items=yes&flow=no

01/28/2025

It's Brewsday, so let's talk about some brewing history in the making! You might have seen some of our recent posts about working on the former Bruckmann Brewery site, in order to open it up to public tours in the spring and that work is continuing through the winter. Well, it was until we hit a little snag. When we first arrived at the site this fall to begin repairs, there was about 3 feet of water in the underground lagering cellars that needed to be removed. We accomplished that in a matter of days, along with a lot of trash removal.

However, our sump pump lines froze during the recent spell of super cold weather, causing the cellars to begin to refill and then freeze. We have come up with a solution to the problem, but before the ice melts we thought we'd make the most out of it with some winter activities. Our non-profit's fearless President, Matt Maloney, laced up and took to the ice and as far as we know is the only person in recent memory ice skate in a 19th century underground lagering cellar!

Progress will continue at the site through the winter and spring, with plans to launch tours during this year's Missing Linck Festival on June 7, so stay tuned for future updates!

01/21/2025

It's Brewsday, so let's talk about some Cincinnati brewing history and it doesn't get much more historic than the Lafayette Brewery. In fact, the former Lafayette Brewery is the oldest standing brewing structure in Cincinnati!

Built in 1847 by Friedrich Billiods, he constructed some of the city's first lagering cellars at a time when ales were still the primary type of beer brewed and consumed in Cincinnati. For nearly 30 years Billiods ran this brewery, earning respect as not only a talented brewer, but also an honest and generous man. He regularly donated his time and his money to help others in the community and when he passed away in 1862, it was a great loss to the people of Over-the-Rhine. After a fire significantly damaged the brewing operation, the Billiods family sold the building to the Albert Schwill Malt Company, who would use this site to produce brewing malt in their quest to become the largest malt production company in the world!

This location is not normally open to the public, but the longtime building owner has decided to allow our organization access during this year's Bockfest celebration taking place March 7-9, 2025. So if you'd like to take a tour, now's your chance!! Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for the tour schedule and tickets and for all Bockfest related activities go to: https://www.bockfest.com and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

01/19/2025

Frothy the Snowman has got to go!

01/14/2025

It's Brewsday and our pig pal Brewster is on the move again! In the lead up to Bockfest (March 7-9), he's visiting all of our Bockfest Halls. Brewster spent December at the Moerlein Lager House and now he's checking out the set up at Rosedale at 12th and Main in OTR. This is our newest Bockfest Hall and the gathering spot for festivities directly after the Bockfest Parade on March 7.

The staff at Rosedale was nice enough to show Brewster around and even offered to buy him a drink. Speaking of drinks, we'll have 30 different local bock beers available at Bockfest this year and you can find out where you can drink them at https://www.bockfest.com and also through the Bockfest app, so stay tuned for details in the coming weeks!

01/09/2025

12/24/2024

It's the Brewsday before Christmas and if you're looking for something fun and interesting to do with friends and family while they're in town, the Brewing Heritage Trail has some great tours scheduled between now and New Years! Brewing history, architecture, modern production, underground lagering cellars, beer tastings, and more! Check out all the great things we have to offer, including Gift Cards, at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org

12/17/2024

It's Brewsday, so let's check out some Cincinnati brewing history! John Hauck was one of the city's biggest names when it came to beer production in the late 19th and early 20th century. His brewery was located along Dayton Street and Central Avenue, just a block away from the Miami-Erie Canal, and at its peak was capable of producing 250,000 barrels of beer annually. To provide some perspective, if they were in business today, they would be the second largest brewery in Cincinnati, behind the Boston Beer Company.

Before opening his own brewery, Hauck worked for his father-in-law, Friedrich Billiods, at the Lafayette Brewery, near the intersection of McMicken and Vine in Over-the-Rhine. Both breweries have structures still standing today, but neither site is currently producing beer. However, if you'd like to see where John Hauck got his start in brewing, the Brewing Heritage Trail is putting together a special tour of the Lafayette Brewery during Bockfest in 2025, so stay tuned for updates or check out our website at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for tickets, which will be available in January!

12/10/2024

It's Brewsday and our pig pal Brewster is on the move again! With Cincinnati's Bockfest celebration just a few months away on March 7-9, he thought it would be a good idea to check out some of the official Bockfest Halls. First stop is the Moerlein Lager House at the Banks! Brewster met the staff, checked out the brewhouse, and even shared a beer with Christian Moerlein, well, in spirit anyway.

Brewster is going to be hanging out at the Moerlein Lager House during the month of December to greet guests at the Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt, taking place there through New Year, and let them know that the 2025 Bockfest Celebration is right around the corner! Stop on by to see him before he continues his journey to the next Bockfest Hall in January and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

12/08/2024

It was another great day along the Brewing Heritage Trail in Cincinnati, where our fantastic volunteers continued making repairs and cleaning out the historic Bruckmann Brewery site! This location is one of the most intact 19th century brewery complexes in existence, featuring the original family farmhouse (where they initially brewed beer), the brewhouse, malthouse, carriage house, bottling facility, and underground lagering cellars!

We got a lot done today and are on schedule to open this location up for public tours in the spring, so stay tuned for future updates and if you'd like to volunteer on this great project, new opportunities will be listed soon at: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/volunteer-opportunities and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!

12/03/2024

It Giving Brewsday! The Brewery District CURC is a 501c3 non-profit organization and our mission is to celebrate, preserve, and promote the brewing culture, heritage, and economy of the historic Brewery District and Cincinnati region. We accomplish this in many ways, such as:

- Advocate for the Preservation of Historic Structures
- Development of the Brewing Heritage Trail and Tours
- Organizing & Running Cincinnati's Bockfest Celebration
- Led the Charge to Build Cincinnati's Streetcar System
- Neighborhood Clean-up & Beautification Initiatives
- Organizing Monthly Neighborhood Gatherings
And So Much More!!

There are some great ways you can help support our organization on Giving Tuesday and throughout the year, such as:

- Book a tour with us!
- Join our membership program!
- Purchase a gift card for the holidays!
- Make a direct donation on our website!
- Attend Bockfest!
- Volunteer at one of our events!

For more info, go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org

Thanks for your support and hopefully we'll see you soon along the Brewing Heritage Trail!