Wow, what a year it’s been in Cincinnati beer. From new breweries and taprooms to all kinds of crazy expansions, contractions, and more, the beer community has continued to morph into something special.

Below I’ve compiled a recap of the biggest things that happened in Cincinnati beer this year. There are also lots of links if you want to read more on any topic. Some great resources linked include The Gnarly Gnome, Craft Beer Joe, Rick Armon’s Ohio Beer Blog, and more.

New Breweries and Taprooms

Cincinnati saw a total of nine new breweries and/or taprooms open in 2018, ranging from Alexandria Brewing Company in Alexandria, Kentucky, all the way up to Sonder Brewing in Mason. While a lot of these new breweries seemed to be focused on in filling in the suburbs – like Quarter Barrel in Hamilton, Swine City Brewing in Fairfield, and The Common Beer Co. in Mason – the core of the city also saw new breweries come to life like 3 Points Urban Brewery in Pendleton and the rebirth of George Wiedemann Brewing Company in St. Bernard.

Karrikin Spirits Co. also opened, focusing not only on beer, but also spirits, craft soda, and more from their Fairfax location.

And, of course, perhaps the biggest beer news in Cincinnati was that Samuel Adams finally opened a taproom across the street from their brewery in OTR. Having been a part of the Cincinnati beer community for more than 25 years, the Boston-based company’s founder Jim Koch paid homage to his Queen City brewing roots by opening up a cozy taproom on the ground floor of the Film Center redevelopment.

There are currently at least 13 breweries in planning stages set to open all across the city, so don’t expect to see the craft beer “bubble” burst any time soon.

Tap & Screw closes

With more than 50 breweries in the city there’s bound to be some attrition, and this year that came in the form of Madisonville’s Tap & Screw closing their doors. The brewery never seemed to quite gain its footing after moving from the West Side in 2017, and a less than ideal location coupled with tons of construction in their area really seemed to hurt them. You can also throw in the blow of a planned brewpub in Oakley with BrewRiver that fell through as another tough pill to swallow for them.

But all is not lost with Tap & Screw, as there are some rumors that the brewery could return in the former Rivertown location in Lockland.

Some old friends get bigger

One of the best things about Cincinnati is that for as many new breweries as we have popping up all over the place, there are some established places that continue to be old favorites. A few of them took some pretty serious steps in 2018 to continue their growth.

After more than 13 years in business, Mt. Carmel opened a new taproom on their current property, a 7,000-square foot offering dubbed ‘The Carriage House.’ With the new taproom comes a full kitchen, as well as expanded tap offerings, event space, and more.

After opening their brewpub in 2012 and the larger Production Works across the street in 2016, Fifty West continued to grow bigger in 2018 with a foray into cans in the Cincinnati market in January. Aside from their core offerings of Doom Pedal White Ale, Coast to Coast IPA, and American Lager, they’ve also continued to offer special releases throughout the year. Their expansion was so successful, in fact, that they had to double their capacity over the summer just to keep up with demand from retailers like Kroger.

Not to be outdone, Urban Artifact also had to double their capacity earlier this year to keep up with demand for their awesome sour goodness.

When I first started really following Cincinnati craft beer, Dogberry was tiny. Like brewing one barrel at a time tiny. But after moving into a much bigger space in West Chester in 2017, they finally offered their product in cans starting in early 2018. The first cans were Bray’s Brown and Undone IPA, but they’ve also released Zestic IPA, Mar’s Madness Imperial IPA, Reaching Out New England IPA, and On the Black black IPA.

Some new friends step up their game

Fretboard was probably my favorite new brewery that opened in 2017, and they kept the momentum going in 2018 with an awesome one-year anniversary party as well as the release of their first cans this year. They had a few different releases, from their Nati Dread to Mellowship India Session Pilsner, and they also partnered with Klosterman bakery to release a Klosterman Rye Bier in October.

I’m not sure if there was a more successful brewery grand opening in Cincinnati than what Sonder did in October, and they came out of the gates swinging with a great tap list. But with such a large capacity we knew they had bigger plans, and those plans came into focus when they released cans less than a month after opening. After releasing their Blanc witbier in November, they released Kenosha Kickers Apple StruesALE in December.

West Side Brewing also started offering cans in 2018, starting with their Common Ale and Hefeweizen, then branching out to some fun offerings like their Double IPA, Porter, and Holiday Ale.

The Rivertown & Woodburn rumors

There are some stories in every industry that just aren’t fun to talk about, and that’s the case with the rumors surrounding both Rivertown and Woodburn.

Let’s just say that it’s not a good time to be a brewery named Rivertown(e). After Pittsburgh’s Rivertowne filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, Monroe’s Rivertown – the two breweries are not related – has faced some tough times as well. The brewery had to lay off a good portion of their staff in the fall, possibly stemming from a turndown in their contract brewing and waiting on a new canning line. There were rumors that they were closing and/or declaring bankruptcy, but neither has happened as of yet. All I know is that it’s getting a lot harder to find Rivertown beers across town.

After a tumultuous 2017 that involved brewer Chris Mitchell exiting the brewery, East Walnut Hills’ Woodburn has faced a rough 2018 that culminated with the rumor that the brewery was up for sale. The brewery was shut down for a time after failing to pay their taxes, and things just don’t seem the same for this once-promising brewery. Rumors have been swirling about who could take over the brewery – including even possibly Braxton adding a third location – but nothing has happened as of now.

Brink & Madtree win at GABF

The Great American Beer Festival is the most prestigious beer competition in the U.S., and two Cincinnati breweries took home gold medals in some high profile categories. Brink took home a second straight gold medal for Moozie in the Sweet Stout or Cream Stout category, as well as a silver for Hold the Reins in the English-style Mild Ale category. But the big honor that went to Brink was Very Small Brewing Company of the Year, going to the best brewery producing 1,000 barrels or less per year.

Madtree took home a gold medal in the Extra Special Bitter category for Happy Amber.

Rhinegeist also took home a gold medal at FoBAB in Chicago, winning in the wild beer sour with fruit category for their Perpetual Passion.

A whole bunch of breweries won things at the US Open Beer Cup, including – you guessed it – Brink with a Cincy-leading four medals.

As per usual, Cincinnati showed its beer dominance over Kentucky by winning a trunk full of medals at the Commonwealth Cup in Lexington. Big winners here were Braxton and Rhinegeist, with Bircus, Wooden Cask, and Darkness also bringing home some hardware.

Cincinnati took home four medals at the 2018 World Beer Cup, with Fretboard, Taft’s, Brink (noticing a trend?), and 50 West embarrassing other less beer-blessed cities.

The return of the #Lager

Both Rhinegeist and Braxton released packaged lagers, aimed at giving drinkers a sessionable fridge-filling beer for a decent price.

Rhinegeist’s Cheetah has become a staple and mainstay all across the city, joining Truth and Bubbles as go-to options for many Cincinnati beer drinkers.

Braxton’s Garage Beer has been a little harder to find, but it’s definitely out there. Braxton has had a pretty big year in their own right, from a successful third Dark Charge Day to being named as a “Rising Star” in Brewbound’s Fifth Annual Awards.

Rhinegeist is pretty dang big

Rhinegeist debuted on the Brewer’s Association’s list of Top 50 Craft Breweries in the U.S. at No. 33. That makes them the second-biggest brewery in Ohio, behind Great Lakes at No. 20. Sam Adams, which brews in Cincinnati but is based in Boston, is No. 2 on the list.

For a little perspective, the average age of breweries ahead of Rhinegeist is about 49 years. The closest brewery in age to Rhinegiest is 21st Amendment, which is 18 years old. Rhinegeist: 5 years old. Yeah.

Cincy wins a visit from Untappd in the Seven City Tour

When Untappd decided to host an event in March to see which cities got the most check-ins at verified venues, people probably didn’t expect Cincinnati to make the top seven. But Cincinnati came strong out of the gate, and finished in the top seven. To celebrate, they threw a pretty fun party at Madtree in April with the app’s co-founder Greg Avola in attendance.

Other fun things that happened

Little Kings turned 60…Adena Distributing launched in the fall, focusing on distribution for smaller breweries such as Northern Kentucky’s Wooden Cask, Alexandria, and Darkness….Listermann turned 10 (or ‘X’ as the cool kids say)…13 Below was flooded when the river was crazy high in February, but they reopened stronger than ever with a little help from their craft beer friends, including Madtree…Braxton and Graeter’s collaborated again to make a Black Raspberry Chip beer, and this time it was much better. They also released a Pumpkin Pie beer and that one was amazing…Urban Artifact released a beer made with century-old yeast…Bircus finally opened their new taproom inside the historic Ludlow Theater…Bad Tom Smith broke ground on their new Madisonville location, after opening a new Cleveland brewery in Ohio City earlier this year…Three books about some of Cincinnati’s beer barons were released…Fibonacci announced a crazy fun expansion, and gave fans the chance to name their two goats…Nine Giant announced an expansion in Pleasant Ridge.

My favorites

Of course one of the one things about drinking beer is telling other people what beer to like and not like. I’m only half kidding, but here’s my list of favorites from the 2018 year in Cincinnati beer:

Favorite brewery: Listermann

Favorite new brewery: Sonder

Favorite beer: Urban Artifact Operation Plowshare

Favorite event: 50 West Punch Out

Favorite story: Cincinnati announcing its presence as a serious beer city and earning a visit from Untappd on the Seven City Tour

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What did I miss? What was your favorite thing in Cincinnati beer in 2018?