After wasting two hours dealing with my own stupidity in allowing my car to run out of gas and then having my battery die, I was hangry and needing a beer! Debbie and I set out to find lunch at 3 pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and did not stop until the bars closed at 1 am.
After the Great Lakes Brewery, May and Tom headed home and Debbie and I decided to keep bar hopping.
#5 on our Sunday bar hop. I insisted on ending it close to home at a new place that Nancy and I walked by a couple months ago. When we last saw it, it was being built. I was so excited to find it opened and was getting quite a crowd on an early Sunday evening.
I have no idea how people find out about new places opening up. I just stumble into them usually. I wish there was a website that kept a city’s openings weekly or something. Not that I would read it. But would be nice to be able to look up something like that- events of that week all at once along with new places to check out. I digress.
This place is a MUST SEE! Whoever designed it must have worked in larger cities or with themed hotels. It reminded me of something that would be in NYCity. It’s a wonderful gem in the middle of an up and coming neighborhood on East McMicken.
Upon arriving and seeing the atmosphere, I decided to switch from my beer tasting day and end it with a Cosmo night.
Coming back from Phili was an easy 1 & 1/2 hour flight and George picked me up from the airport. I was looking a little rough from my two nights drinking with my girl friends, so I hopped in the shower and decided to bite the hair of the dog. (A great idiom that my Cambly students would love.)
While I was trying to put myself together, George researched a few breweries that I had never heard of, or been to before.
Our first stop was on Kemper Road at a place called “March First”. My younger sister’s birthday. 🙂 I convinced my daughter Sedona to come along, telling her that at any time she wanted to jump off the crazy bar hop bus, we would take her home. Needless to say, she lasted all night and we all had a blast!
It was a tad chilly but we sat outside as we tested a few of their taps. Honestly I would go back here! Pretzels ordered were tasty and every beer or cider we tried was unique.
The one struggle with eating outdoors in the fall is the honey bees. They get a bit aggressive and you have to find something sweet to temp them to go to another table so they don’t continue to buzz around and dip into your drinks.
Stop #3 was Artifact Brewery which is in Northside. Its housed in an old church and specializes in sours.
Across the street was another brewery named the Humble Monk. #4- I heard about it last time my friend Allen stopped over for a visit. I love the name.
There were a couple of gatherings there. Breweries offer such a great space for groups now that they’re starting to get back together. I just always continually remind myself when I’m out that Ohio only 50% of the population is vaccinated. Holding steady at this stupid’ point.
(Here’s to long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold beer – and another one!)
I posted on September 5th about Third Turn which is a brewery George and I visited over Labor Day weekend near his home. I couldn’t have predicted what was to come only one short month later.
The world, its connections and timing, I swear. It’s impossible to predict your Universal path and where it will lead you, we all need to just walk the walk and enjoy the journey of wherever it takes you.
Rewind a bit: Labor Day weekend, after our hike at Otter Creek, we were drinking our last beer while night fell. As we were walking out to head home, George ran into an old friend who was a brewmaster. As they were catching up with each other, they discussed our recent trip to Asheville, North Carolina and all the cool breweries we visited there. ( I believe we visited 15 in one weekend)
His friend, Joel, mentioned that he was now working on meads.
Meads, which I only tried for the first time in Asheville, is the oldest form of alcohol fermented from the honey of bees. According to archaeologists, it has been evident in history throughout the world (Africa, India, Greece, China, and Europe) dating back to 7000 BC. Crazy to think how long this alcohol form has existed, yet is just now making a comeback with the resurfacing of breweries.
Obviously meads have existed for a long time but I was never made aware-
George went to the meadery to check out his friend’s concoctions and loved them. This particular meadery had been distributing its meads but had not yet opened its own location.
George decided he wanted to invest and partner with this meadery and helped get them launched. He is now working on marketing and sales, getting the word out. Everyone that has tried them always finds a favorite.
My daughters were supportive and decided to come to the opening and I also convinced my friends Rebecca and Pete to make the hour road trip down to Crestwood (suburb to Louisville, Ky) to support the event.
One of our favorites had a chipotle bite to it which would be perfect with any Mexican or Indian cuisine. Another was sweet like peanut butter and jelly. But the best, which I am sure will sell out over the holidays, is one crafted in an Angel’s Envy bourbon barrel taking on the sweet hint of bourbon.
It was so fun to go out and try them and discover this entirely new-to-me alcohol option. Would be a great place for a girl friends road trip or overnight weekend trip!
I love that my man enjoys an afternoon beer as much as I do. Whenever we have a day off together it’s fun that we both like to go out and enjoy the beautiful day, sit outside, and taste local beers from a new brewery. (when I say new, its just new to me, not necessarily a new establishment)
That is one of the many positive changes Covid has had on my life. Inspiring me to do more things outdoors, which for me is usually in nature. But restaurants of all sorts have now expanded their availability of outdoor seating and this is an update I embrace!
It was such a gorgeous night out weather wise Sunday. I texted my neighbor Nancy to see if she was interested in a going on a leisure, not all sweat induced, walk with me. She agreed and said I could pick the route. (she tends to take me up and down steep hills that I cannot manage without stopping….yet)
So in typical Tonya style, I decided we would walk our way to a brewery that had outdoor seating. It was just 1.5 miles from our house.
After hiking for several hours, surviving off coffee and a single sprinkled donut, I was in need of some solid pub food and a craft beer. We headed to the NULU section of Louisville to start our brewery hop at the Ten20.
The East Market District, colloquially referred to as NuLu (a portmanteau of “New” and “Louisville”), is an unofficial district of Louisville, Kentucky, situated along Market Street between downtown to the west and the Highlands neighborhoods to the east. (according to Google)
Unfortunately their food was having its grand opening the following day, seemed odd, skipping a weekend and launching on a Tuesday, but nonetheless.
We decided to stay for a drink and then later find grub.
This Labor Day Weekend was as fun filled as it could be! The weather was perfect. When all my plans cancelled on me Friday, I really did not want to stay inside and binge watch another Netflix series. I debated on whether to just head to a roof top bar on my own, but instead I texted my friend Kevin, who is always out and about in Cincinnati, to see if I could join him in whatever he had going on.
He agreed it was too nice of a night to waste and mentioned that there was a ‘First Friday” event that is held in Bellevue every month. Most places have a ‘Final Friday” but this cute town was starting its own tradition.
We headed across the river and explored this small town which was filled with an eclectic, diverse population. I have never been out in this city before, even though I’d driven through it several times on my way to my friend’s Anne’s during covid bonfire nights.
I highly recommend you check it out, whether its Friday or any other random night!
On our search for food, we stumbled by a Mexican restaurant that was closed but were enticed down an alleyway by the cute strand of white lights strung above it. It led us to an open square with another brewery at its base. So of course we had to go in.
According to George, West6th was a brewery that originated in Lexington and just opened a Louisville location. According to their website, they also have a location in Newport, Kentucky which is across the river from Cincinnati.
George is a native to Louisville and knows all the ins and outs regarding the history of this riverside city. Its great hearing his stories of what was and how the city is developing here.
After devouring some much needed BBQ and mac and cheese we headed back to his place only to pass by another local joint named Apocalypse. When I was told it was a woman run brewery, I insisted we stop for one last one.
Unfortunately it was starting to get dark and I didn’t take any better photos. They had a large outdoor seating area with some Jumbo Jenga and Connect Four games. I swore I would never play Connect Four again with George, as the last time I did, I had two turns to his one and he still beat me.
Labor Day weekend, I headed down to Louisville to chill with George. After he conquered an all day puzzle- marathon, of which I helped very little with, we decided to drag our butts outdoors to explore a new brewery that opened up in Crestwood.
The food and overall atmosphere at Third Turn was not disappointing. We enjoyed three different tacos, each of them unique.
Tonya Takes Thailand 