Cincinnati's Underground Cellars

Last weekend was Bockfest in Over-the Rhine.  The website features a bunch of history of Over-the-Rhine, and the breweries in the area:

The Miami & Erie Canal followed a route through Cincinnati that is now marked by Central Parkway, traveling from beside the Mill Creek at Cumminsville down to a sharp bend at Plum St., then veering south on what is now Eggleston to reach the riverfront. The portion of the canal that ran east-west from Plum to Eggleston roughly cut the downtown basin in half. In 1828, when this portion of the canal was completed, virtually all of the developed city stopped south of the canal. The area north of it was largely gardens and farmland. The transformation of a small river town into the Queen City of the West corresponded with early waves of German and Irish immigration (more German than Irish.) While the Irish stuck relatively close to the waterfront, the Germans started settling in the area north of the canal. This farmland was transformed into a bustling neighborhood in a very short period of time, and the concentration of German immigrants gave it a very German feel. German was spoken in the streets. German church congregations and German-language newspapers arose. The area started to feel so distinctly European that many Cincinnatians referred to the people living south of the canal as “the Americans” and their fellow Cincinnatians north of the canal as “the Germans.”This gave the Miami & Erie Canal the nickname “Rhine” in reference to Germany's Rhine River. Crossing over the canal into the German section of town became known as “going over the Rhine.” Cincinnati's early brewers were predominately English, Scottish, and French. By the 1850s, German-Americans had changed this. German lager beer became the drink of choice for Cincinnati, and Cincinnatians consumed copious amounts of it in saloons and Over-the-Rhine's famous beer gardens. By the late 1800s, there were over a dozen breweries in or near the boarders of Over-the-Rhine that were producing hundreds of thousands of barrels of German-style lager beer; and Over-the-Rhine was home to almost 300 saloons. (By contrast, today there are currently 167 full liquor licenses issued in the entire City of Cincinnati.)

One of the activities at Bockfest, is a tour of the Brewery District.  This includes trips into a couple of the remaining lagering cellars of the old breweries:

This year's tour starts at Bockfest Hall, and travels to the Crown/Schmidt Brothers Brewery, one of the casualties of Prohibition. We'll travel down to the lagering cellars and through the tiny tunnel 30' below McMicken Avenue. Once above ground again, we'll walk past the original Hudepohl brewery and down Vine Street to the Kauffman Brewery. Here we'll see a presentation on Cincinnati's brewing history, and then go down to the massive lagering cellars still remaining. Traveling through the tunnels under Hamer Street will take us to the basement of the new Moerlein Brewery, where the tour will wrap up in Bockfest Hall.

Given my love of bock beer, I think I'll try to make it down there next year. Here is a link to some photos.  One of the pictures is below: