Rivertown Brewing Review

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Michelle and I headed to Pachinko recently for a beer tasting in anticipation of the upcoming Cincinnati Beer Festival. Our friends at Hoperatives set up a quick introduction on the history of beer in Cincinnati by Timothy Holian. Timothy wrote Over the Barrel vols 1 and 2 and walked us through the history of how Cincinnati went from a large beer producing area to very little in the 80s and 90s, and now back to a place with additional options created locally.

Once Timothy finished, we were able to try 6 “German Style” brews from new local brewery Rivertown Brewing Company. I call them German-style as all six we tried had a very malt-driven flavor, more like a German style beer as opposed to the hop characteristics of most American microbrews or wheat that you would get from a more traditional Belgium Farmhouse style. The brewers were able to walk us through each beer we tried and they each have 10 years of home brewing experience. The six we tried were:

Helles Lager – A malt driven German-style blonde lager. This would pair well with hot dogs, sausage and sauerkraut. The malty finish gives a nice easy to drink beer that would be great as the wether gets warmer. Shel: Kevin:
Hefeweizen – Unfiltered and undergoes a re-fermentation in the bottle. This drives a clove flavor with a hint of banana. Shel thinks that an orange slice would compliment the flavors.
** At this point we tend towards the beers that are more in the Kevin camp, than the Shel camp, so the ratings reflect Kevin’s reactions. **
Dunkel – The light coffee flavors offset the sweetness. There is very little bitterness which reminds me of the dark beer from Belgium or the Dunkel’s that I drank back while visiting Germany.
Bock (Seasonal Availability) – Brewed with 100% Munich malts, this was one of my favorites of the night. I ended up ordering a bottle of this for myself once we were finished with the tasting. It was great with the Servatii’s pretzels that were on sitting on the bar.
Hopbomber – Pale Ale based beer that has a ton of up front fruit and hops that shine on the finish. This is not a Hop Slam or IPA knock off, this is a well hopped beer that still has the same malt driven flavor that is disticntive of this brewery.
Oatmeal Stout – Flaked Oaks were used along with English and Chocolate malts. The end result was a slightly sour stout that tasted like it could hold up to a robust stew. A very nice effort that has a distinctive taste and flavor.