cincinnati beer history tour

BREWING HERITAGE TRAIL

PRIVATE TOURS
TESTIMONIALS
VOLUNTEERING

Spring & Summer Tours

Now available .

Explore Cincinnati

Above Ground & Below!

Give an Experience

With a bht gift card, all tours include a free beer, become a bht member, discounts at local taprooms , access to exclusive events , private tours available, select the day & time, that works best for you.

Scroll Down For Our List of Tours!

Most tours include a visit to a 19th century underground lagering cellar, guided brewery tours.

Cincy Brew Bus & Brewing History Tour

1 Hour Historical Brewery Tour Above Ground & Below + 3 Hours of Beer Tasting with Cincy Brew Bus.

Price: $80 Drinking/ $65 Non-Drinking

Private Tours

Guided Tours Customized

For Your Group Outing!

Price: $TBD

Private Custom Tours

Avoid The Crowd Guided Tour Customized For Your Group

Price: $TBD

what our customers say about our brewery tours faqs

What our guest say.

our proud sponsor

Brewing Heritage Trail is excited to be sponsored annually by TruPartner Credit Union. TruPartner members save 20% on Brewing Heritage Trail Memberships. Click the button below for more details on all the great services they offer!

look where we can take you

TAKING YOUR HISTORIC BREWERY TOUR IN CINCINNATI

Please check your ticket to ensure the correct starting location, as different tours begin at different locations. Plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to the tour start time in order to check in and fill out a liability waiver. Allow enough time for parking, especially on the weekends, as your tour guide typically cannot wait for late arrivals. Tours involve walking outside and many include going up and down steep stairs. Comfortable shoes (no open toes or heels) are recommended.

Photography is allowed, however we ask you be respectful of other participants. Some tours are not recommended for young children (under 18 requires parental approval), so please keep this in mind when booking. Tours run rain or shine. No alcohol is allowed on the tour when on public streets and private buildings, and no outside alcohol is allowed.

booking & tour info

The information below covers many of our more frequently asked questions, however if you would like additional information regarding topics such as parking, directions, or things to do before and after the tour, please call us at 513-604-9812 or email at [email protected] , thanks!

cincinnati historic brewery tours

We offer a variety of tours throughout the year and they start at different locations. Below is a list of the tours and their starting locations:

Brewing Heritage Trail Sign at Findlay Market (101 West Elder St.):

Built on Beer Tour

Brewers & Barons Tour

Over & Under the Rhine Tour

Northern Row Brewery & Distillery (111 West McMicken Ave.):

Cincinnati Brewing & Distilling Tour

Partner Tour with the Cincy Brew Bus

Darkside of Brewing Tour

Moerlein Lager House (115 Joe Nuxhall Way):

Cellars & Saloons Brunch Tour

Ballparks & Breweries Bus Tour

CLICK HERE to see a full list of tours. Select your desired tour and follow the instructions including entering your credit card information. Once your transaction is complete, you will receive an emailed ticket that will serve as your record of the purchase.

Sometimes tickets are sent to your “Spam” or “Promotions” folders, so please check there first if you do not see them. No physical tickets are sent out so please print and bring this ticket with you to the tour (either printed out or on your phone). If you have problems booking please contact us at [email protected] or (513) 604-9812.

Yes, children are welcome to come on most tours and discounted tickets are available. However, the Cellars & Saloons Brunch Tour and the Cincinnati Brewing & Distilling Tour is 18 & up and the Built on Beer Brew Bus Tour is 21 & up.

Mobility Concerns: If you would like to take a tour with us, but you or a member of your group has difficulty walking long distances, traversing stairs or uneven surfaces, we can make arrangements to potentially suit your needs. Please contact us at [email protected] or (513) 604-9812 for details.

We welcome private tours outside of our normal tour schedule. You can choose one of our standard tours or we can customize one for you. Tours are great for business outings, bachelor and bachelorette parties, family outings, and more! We can also assist with partners at local breweries and restaurants for tastings, food, and more. Click HERE for more info!

We offer qualified non-profits and fundraisers a pair of tour tickets to be used for fundraising events. Start by filling out the tour form below and we will contact you.

Please contact us at least four weeks prior to your event to allow enough processing time.

Donation Request Form

Gift Certificates and discounts MUST be redeemed online, and are NOT valid in person. Select your desired tour and number of tickets either from either the list of tours or the calendar. Write your coupon code, gift certificate code, or other discount code in the discount box after selecting your tickets and hit “apply” and the discount should be applied prior to entering your credit card information. Once your transaction is complete, you will receive an emailed ticket that will serve as your record of the purchase.

Sometimes tickets are sent to your “Spam” or “Promotions” folders, so please check there first if you do not see them. No physical tickets are sent out, so please either print and bring this ticket with you or make sure you can pull it up on your phone or another device as a backup. If you have problems booking please contact us at [email protected] or (513) 604-9812.

Discounts on regularly scheduled tours are available for groups of 8 and larger. Discounts are automatically applied to your order. Current discounts are 15% off for groups of 8-19 and 20% off for groups of 20-40. Please contact us for groups large than 40.

Entering an email address while purchasing tickets will enter you on our email list. We do not sell or share this list or any other contact information with any other organizations or businesses. You may unsubscribe from these emails at any time.

Tickets are non-refundable with less than 48 hours notice (via phone or email) prior to the tour/event starting. Tickets may be substituted for future credit or a different tour at the discretion of management. Please do not purchase tickets through a discount site like Groupon or CincySavers, as we currently do not have a relationship with any of these companies and we do not accept their coupons.

historic brewery tour blog

Mrs. Kauffman and Her Pistol | Stories of a Cincinnati Brew Baroness

Happy Brewsday! We’ll, I guess not if you’re Mr. Kauffman! We’re conducting research for a [...]

How Prohibition Impacted Cincinnati

You’ve heard about Prohibition – a time of speakeasies and bathtub gin – when alcohol [...]

How a French Immigrant Built an American Beer Company

The Brewing Heritage Trail is proud to highlight Cincinnati’s rich brewing history through guided tours, and by [...]

Brewing Heritage Trail

Your browser is not supported for this experience. We recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.

Trip Ideas & Culture Guides

Built on beer: uncover cincinnati’s unique brewing history.

Hofbrauhaus Beer Sampler (photo: Hofbrauhaus)

Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky were, quite literally, built on beer. By the mid-1800s, 36 breweries produced more than 30 million gallons of beer and had dug underground lagering cellars and tunnels. One batch of lager at a time, Cincinnati’s so-called beer barons turned humble brewing operations into beer-making empires that prospered until Prohibition forced them all to close. Few reopened, and none survived consecutively into the 21st century (after operating for 114 years, Hudepohl Brewing Company closed in 1999).

Now, the number of breweries in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky has surpassed the number that existed prior to Prohibition. Craft breweries are on the rise across the country, but here it’s more than a trend. It’s a tradition that dates back more than 200 years. From touring original brewery buildings and underground tunnels to tasting freshly brewed beer (and seeing the process), there are countless ways to explore the region’s brewing past and present.

MadTree Brewing Company (photo: MadTree Brewing)

Cincinnati's first brewery

Discover the historic over-the-rhine brewery district.

A mural depicting the history of brewing beer in Cincinnati

Cincinnati was once named the Beer Capital of the world

Moerlein Lager House (photo: Wendy Pramik)

Beer and bourbon in Northern Kentucky

View of Northern Kentucky (photo: Regional Tourism Network)

Pre-Prohibition Brewery Architecture in Cincy

Prohibition Resistance: Lager Tour (photo: Steven Hampton)

Digging Up the Past in Cincinnati’s Underground Lagering Tunnels

Queen City Underground Tour (photo: Dan Ledbetter Photography)

Somewhere between Prohibition, two world wars and urban sprawl, the tunnels beneath Over-the- Rhine, Newport, and Covington that brewery workers used to access lagering cellars and transport goods between buildings were all but forgotten. Then in 2008, urban explorers came across original brewery blueprints, curiosity led to jackhammering, and the tunnels were rediscovered.

Under the Market Tour (photo: Regional Tourism Network)

Craft beer is booming in the Cincy Region

Brink Brewing (photo: White Lotus Photography)

View Events Calendar

Request Visitor Guide

Brewing Heritage Trail

Home > Tours > Brewing Heritage Trail Also listed in: Attractions , Breweries , Downtown Cincinnati - Sponsored by 3CDC , Education , Festivals

Phone: (513) 604-9812

Visit Website

Areas Served

Downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine

Hours of Operation

Social media connections.

Payment Accepted

The Brewing Heritage Trail is a walking trail and series of guided tours and activities that celebrates Cincinnati’s brewing heritage. Our history is shared with embedded trail markers, signage with photos and stories, public art, and guided tours, all of which tell the story of Cincinnati and America through the lens of beer.

Attachments

Darkside of Brewing Tour

Join the Brewing Heritage Trail on this limited edition seasonal tour and learn about gruesome and macabre events from Cincinnati's past. Grave robbing, a serial killing saloonist, and other murderous and deadly mayhem is explored on this new tour, which also includes a visit to an abandoned city street, overtaken by nature, as well as a flashlight tour of the Imperial Theater and the 19th century Jackson Brewhouse. Both have not been open to the public in many years and their exploration is only available through this tour!

Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

CELLARS & SALOONS BRUNCH TOUR

Delicious food and a beer tasting, accompanied by a brewing and saloon history tour above ground and below on this walking & streetcar tour. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for tickets.

BREWERS & BARONS TRAIL TOUR

Discover the people and places that made brewing a cornerstone of the city’s history with a guided tour of our historical trail, featuring unique signage, art installations, and an underground lagering cellar. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

BALLPARKS & BREWERIES BUS TOUR

Professional baseball began in Cincinnati and this unique experience takes guests to every location where the Reds played during the 19th and 20th century, tracing the connection between historic brewing and our national pastime along the way. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for additional details and tickets.

CINCINNATI BREWING & DISTILLING TASTING TOUR

Modern and historic brewing and distilling is explored on this mostly indoor tour, which includes beer and spirit tastings, along with a visit to a historic underground lagering cellar. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

BUILT ON BEER TOUR

The evolution of Cincinnati’s brewing industry is explored through the lens of architecture on this tour, including a visit to the largest underground lagering cellar complex in the city! Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

OVER & UNDER THE RHINE TOUR

Tour notable historic landmarks in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood comprised of amazing structures both above ground and below on this walking and streetcar tour. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

CINCY BREW BUS & BREWING HISTORY TOUR

1 Hour Historical Brewery Tour Above Ground & Below with the Brewing Heritage Trail + 3 Hours of Beer Tasting with Cincy Brew Bus. Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org/ for tickets.

No reviews yet. Leave a review .

Brewing Heritage Trail Tour Experiences

Book a tour with our experienced guides and learn the insider details to Cincinnati’s brewing heritage

Coupons & Deals

TruPartner Members Save 20%

Brewing Heritage Trail is excited to be sponsored annually by TruPartner Credit Union. TruPartner members save 20% on Brewing Heritage Trail Memberships.

View details here: https://trupartnercu.org/

Built on Beer Tours

This tour explores the west side of the Brewery District in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and focuses on historic brewery architecture! It includes a visit to a 19th century underground lagering cellar and a beer at a local taproom.

Go to: https://brewingheritagetrail.org for additional information and tickets!

The Darkside of Brewing Tour

Satudays Starting in September 2024

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets!

Community Impact Partner

Topics Tours Startups & Entrepreneurs Entertainment Sports Diversity & Inclusion Rivers, Parks & Trails Music & Arts Eats & Drinks
Neighborhoods
In The News

spend a weekend in cincinnati explore the many murals on a tour

Food & Drink

Rich Brewing Histories Combine in One Destination

Before the Bengals, before The Banks, there were the breweries and the bourbon.

The Cincinnati beer history has seen an explosion in hometown beer manufacturing over the past few years, but it’s nothing compared to the gallons of suds that flowed through downtown more than 150 years ago when the Queen City was among the top beer producers in the world. By the mid 1800s, there were 36 breweries producing more than 30 million gallons of beer a year in the city! Just like our neighbors to the south in Kentucky are world-famous for their bourbon, Cincinnati is proud to celebrate the hops and barley that runs through our veins (and used to run under our downtown streets).

exterior picture of the bavarian brewing company building

Brewery Heritage Trail The 2.3-mile long trail takes visitors through Over-the-Rhine to a variety of stops that mark the Cincinnati beer history, including some old (and new) breweries, historical markers and even some long-abandoned underground caverns that were formerly used to store kegs of beer until they were served in the dozens of bars above them.

The urban walking trail also has a Brewery Heritage Trail app that allows beer aficionados to go on self-guided tours through OTR and tap into the historical significance of each stop, with some bonus stories you might not hear from your guide, as well as more photos and augmented reality experiences that you can only get with the app and self-guided audio tours.

The non-profit Brewery District CURC has been giving walking tours of brewery sites in Cincinnati since 2006. But with the launch of the Trail in 2017, beer aficionados can walk the talk on the first dedicated beer history trail in the country thanks three years and a $5.2 million investment in making the 5 mile downtown tour a one-of-a-kind experience. Among the tours offered:

Cellarman’s Tour: A 90-minute walk available all year, this one kicks off at the authentically restored 19th century Christian Moerlein Malthouse Tap Room , with stories of the hearty men who built and worked in the 19th century breweries — in often dangerous conditions — and the “Beer Barons” who built their fortunes keeping the bubbly stuff flowing. Among the highlights are a walk through the deep underground lagering cellars of the Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery before a trip back to the Malthouse for a complimentary beer.

Mishaps, Malfeasance and Murder Tour (March 3-4): If you like your lager with a bit of danger, check out this new offering, which tells the stories behind the beer, as well as the corruption, accidents and murder on the beer trail. The journey begins at Bockfest Hall and includes costumed reenactors and a trip to the subterranean Kauffman Brewery lagering cellars. Along the way you’ll hear plenty of stories of how beer workers, barons and drinkers helped make Over-the-Rhine one of the premiere brewing destinations in the country and, of course, you’ll get to sample a complimentary beer and take part in the unique traditions of the annual Bockfest.

Heritage and Hops : This year-round, four-hour walking and bus tour is a collaboration with the Cincy Brew Bus to tell the story of two centuries of Cincinnati beer making. After starting at the Moerlein Brewery, you’ll walk along the trail and visit the historic Jackson Brewery lagering cellars and hop on the bus to visit three other local craft breweries with behind-the-scenes tours of the facilities and, of course, a complimentary taste.

With segments and more than half a dozen tours that focus on everything from local history to broader stories of the city’s past and specific eras in local brewing, the Brewing Heritage trail has something for every hophead (or history junkie) on your list.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail Just like Cincinnati is proud of its beer history, Northern Kentucky is equally bullish on touting its Bourbon past. Inspired by the intrepid first settlers of the state in the 1700s who learned that converting their corn and other grains to whiskey made it easier to get their crops to market over narrow, steep trails, the Bourbon Trail is a peek at the art and science of the state’s signature spirit.

Start in Northern Kentucky Start your beer journey in Northern Kentucky, the new official gateway to the Bourbon Trail. Called the B-Line , your experience can center around three Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour Distilleries: New Riff Distilling, Boone County Distilling Co., and The Old Pogue Distillery. After-hours, create your own bourbon experience by heading to one – or all – of the area’s five bourbon-centric bars and four amazing restaurants that excel at the art of bourbon pairing.

Continue south of the state and learn how Bourbon County, Kentucky gave the spirit its name and how farmers used to ship the liquid gold in Bourbon County-stamped oak barrels down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, allowing the spirits to age and get their distinct mellow flavors and amber hue.

If you’re a true Bourbon fan, no Trail ride is complete without the official souvenir Passport , a free gift that allows you to collect stamps from all 10 distilleries on on the Trail (it can’t be bought, only earned by completing the Trail adventure). With a number of local companies providing safe transportation between the breweries, the Trail will take you from such relative newcomers as Angel’s Envy to the Jim Beam Distillery, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, Maker’s Mark and Four Roses, as well as Bulleit Experience, Evan Williams, Heaven Hill, and Town Branch.

Historic Distilleries If you’re going to do it right, the Trail should take you three days to visit all the historic distilleries (some are as close as eight miles from each other, while others are more than 70 miles apart), with a recommended 1.5-2 hours for each stop. Because fine Kentucky Bourbon takes its time reaching the perfect flavor, your three days can also mix in a visit to a classic horse farms, a sampling of local cuisine at Bourbons Bistro in Louisville and a stay in one of the larger cities or a quaint country town with a Bourbon-themed hotel or historic B&B like the Chateau Bourbon B&B .

The visits are either free or have a minimal admission fee, with some extended tours available for a fee, with no official route, though a handy trip planner is available here . It’s no wonder that Bourbon tourism has brought 2.5 million people from all 50 states and 25 countries to the Bourbon Trail over the past five years, helping to fuel a massive business that has created more than 9,000 jobs.

The Trail by Bicycle And, if you’re really on the lookout for an adventure you can experience the Trail by bicycle, motorcycle or even horse, with the experts at the Bluegrass Cycling Club offering a safe route for cycling that takes scenic back roads with less traffic. If you do it right, you’ll learn about how Angel’s Envy uses port barrels to give their Bourbon its distinctive flavor, check out Bulleit’s iconic Stitzel-Weller facility outside of Louisville, fill up and label your own bottle of Urban Stillhouse Select at the new Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse in downtown Louisville and take the interactive tour at the Jim Beam American Stillhouse.

Along the way you can ride through the rolling hills of Marion County to visit the National Historic Landmark home of Maker’s Mark Distillery , where you can dip your souvenir bottle into their signature red wax and hear the romantic story behind the creation of Lawrenceburg’s Four Roses Distillery , housed in a unique Spanish Mission-style building and stop and smell the, yes, roses on the grounds.

Those are just a few of the one-of-a-kind experiences awaiting you on the Trail.

Not looking for a guided trip but just want to grab a beer or two and experience some of the modern Cincinnati beer history? Check out some of the top breweries in Cincinnati .

Written by Gil Kaufman. February 27, 2018

We are a beer city.

Despite all the ups and downs that we’ve faced, you can still see the pieces of our beer history, and the clear signs of its future in the very soul of who Cincinnati is today. It’s not hard to trace it all back to the early 1800s when, though German immigrants weren’t the first to make beer on the shores of the Ohio River, they certainly put their stamp on it very quickly and help steer us on a path.

These immigrants started settling in a neighborhood just north of the city, across its canal in an area that became lovingly called “Over The Rhine”. At the time, when you crossed the bridges over the canal, it felt like crossing back into Germany – German was spoken more than English was, newspapers were published in German and beer was brewed just as it was back home. Lager beer was brought over from Germany, and massive tunnels were carved beneath our streets and into our hills to age the difficult style of beer. The area was home to more stories of “The American Dream” than you could put into writing easily… Germans venturing across the Atlantic Ocean with nothing to their name, and becoming some of the most influential people in Cincinnati, building massive breweries that employed thousands of people.

Beer became big business in Cincinnati… We were drinkers from the get-go. The city earned its nickname as the “Beer capital of the world” by brewing far more beer than we can easily imagine, today. And we drank a lot of it, right here. There are records of us drinking more than 40 gallons of beer for every single man, woman, and child in the city. That’s more than 2 1/2 times what the national average was. The city was packed full of breweries, saloons, and beer gardens, the culture of beer was in every aspect of life for people in Cincinnati. The names of the breweries of the time were so ingrained in life that they still echo with power today – Christian Moerlein, Louis Hudepohl, John Hauck, George Wiedemann, there was the Lion Brewery and Bavarians, among many others.

We were a beer city of the highest regard.

But then there was tragedy. Prohibition. The “Great Experiment”. Drinking culture kept building and building before anti-drinking sentiment set in full force across the United States. Laws started being passed (and then ignored in Cincinnati) until all hell broke loose in 1918 when it finally became illegal to produce alcohol. Cincinnatians were overwhelmingly against the amendment, and it sure didn’t stop them from drinking, but the effect it had on the brewing industry was undeniable. Entire industries that relied on Cincinnati’s breweries suffered, not to mention the very lifestyle of the working class in Cincy. Tax money was lost…things looked bleak. Some of our breweries tried to survive by brewing illegally…there were raids against several Cincinnati breweries – with the most famous being Wiedemann after they were tied in with infamous bootlegger George Remus.

Schaller’s and Mohawk also attempted to brew in secret before they were raided. Cincinnati kept fighting for its identity, though. Enough illegal beer was being made in bootlegging and home brewing operations that both Red Top and Burger (then malt companies) were able to stay in business.

Finally, 13 years after it stopped Prohibition was deemed a failure by the masses and it ended a dark time in history. Only one of our breweries (Bruckmann) was able to begin production immediately after surviving on “Near Beer” during prohibition, but several others were able to start back up soon after. In addition to Bruckmann, Hudepohl, Foss-Schneider, Wiedemann, Schaller, and Bavarians were able to start production back up. The years right after were tough… The competition was fierce and there were several closures and openings that left the city with five breweries to carry on its tradition of beer into an era of changing tastes.

Bavarian’s, Burger, Hudepohl, Schoenling, and Wiedemann were forced now to compete with “Big Beer”. Breweries with advertising budgets that dwarfed their own. People wanted cheap beer available at the grocery store, unlike the saloon of pre-prohibition Cincinnati. The changing face of beer continued to be felt until “Big Beer” was outselling our local beer more than 10-1.

The writing was on the wall, and one by one our breweries closed or were sold off until the last remaining piece closed in the 90s leaving this city without the very soul that brought it to life in the first place.

We were a beer city without any beer.

At the same time, across the country, a new movement started happening. A small number of drinkers knew that there was something else out there, and from scratch, they started building the craft beer movement that we are all so familiar with today. Soon enough, microbreweries started popping up in the Queen City. Rock Bottom, Barrelhouse , Brew Works , Main Street Brewing , Oldenberg … It was a new movement built upon an idea that had been here the whole time. Beer made here, drank here.

Cincinnati has been a little behind the quick growth of craft breweries, but things are building massive momentum very quickly here now. We now sit in a city that is home to more than (depending on who you ask) 65 different breweries making some of the best beer you can find. Our brewing community is filled with some of the most genuine people doing things for the best reasons you can imagine. These are families, friends, and neighbors brewing beer on systems ranging from .25 barrels to 100 bbls. In many ways, you can look at the beer community of today’s Cincinnati as more well-rounded and exciting than anything that this city has seen in the past.

It’s an excellent time to be a drinker.

If the ghosts of beer barons of Cincinnati’s past were to look into what we have going on today, I think they’d be proud. They’d pull up a stool in any of our local breweries, drink a few pints, and happily sing the praises of Cincinnati.