Cincinnati Brewing History

I've been wanting to write about the history of Cincinnati Brewing for awhile, but just couldn't quite figure out what to write about. However, if you follow Cincinnati Twitters (tweeters?), Cincinnati blogger, or Cincinnati Beer Bloggers (such as myself) you've probably already heard that Christian Moerlein has been working on brining back a little bit of history to the Cincinnati area in the form of brewing. As of yesterday morning, Cincinnati Business Courier and Urban Cincy are reporting that Moerlein owner, Greg Hardman, has done just that, brought a piece of history back to Cincinnati, brewing in Over the Rhine. (yes, I know Sam Adams is brewed here in Cincy too, but that's not the point of today's blog). If you want to read more about the new beer being brewed and the new brewery, check out the articles: http://www.urbancincy.com/2010/12/beer-is-brewing-in-historic-over-the-rhine-once-again/, http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2010/12/17/christian-moerlein-brews-new.html.

I have always had a special interest in the brewing history in Cincinnati, but never knew much about it. To be perfectly honest, I only really cared about two breweries in particular, the Germania Brewery and the Wetterer Brewery, both of which were owned by my ancestors (according to my research). However, after I found this out, I began trying to find more information on my great great grandfathers breweries and came across a lot of interesting pieces of information- Brewing in Cincinnati wasn't a small scale operation before prohibition. In fact, Cincinnati was one of the largest brewing cities!

I still had a hard time finding  a lot of information, mainly because I didn't have a lot of time to go down and dig through city records. That being said, a couple of months ago, I was at a Beer Dinner sponsored by Christian Moerlein in which the guest speaker was Mike Morgan. Mike is an author and recently wrote a book called, "Over the Rhine: When Beer was King". If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and go get it! (If you a history buff, Cincinnati buff, or a beer buff, it's a must read).

This book was awesome. Mike does a great job talking about the history of Cincinnati and the role beer played in shaping this great city. He does a great job of talking about how the city, specifically Over the Rhine, grew to be a tremendous brewing district in the history of our country. The book goes in to details about how all the breweries back before prohibition were crucial to the livelihood of the area (though he does not argue that it's for better or worse). It talks about some the areas best known brewers and the impact they had on the community. Best (or worst) of all, it talks about how beer was the political motivator behind many of early Cincinnati's politics, so much so that many people tried to get it banned over the years. Obviously, Prohibition would eventually win out on a National level, which all but destroys the breweries in Cincinnati.

This book talks about the hardships of early settlers to the area, their growth and triumph, how beer played a role in all of this, and ultimately beer's collapse and the impact that had on society. I loved reading this book; I recommend it to all of you.

Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King (OH)