Where else would a beer geek on business in Cincinnati go to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? To the biergarten at the Hofbräuhaus of course! I mean really, who wants to sit with a bunch of rowdies drinking Corona from the bottle when I can sit in a biergarten drinking damn good German lager with a great view of the Cincinnati skyline? The weather was perfect and my neighbor (and regular BTY taste panel dude) Charles decided he would make the trip with me (retirement must be nice).

Our first Cinco de Mayo stop was at Nicholson’s, a Scottish themed poser bar in downtown Cincy. Nicholson’s usually makes up for its “Poser-ness” by serving a few good pints of English ale and carries one helluva selection of Scotch whiskey and Bourbon. Whiskey was not on our menu that evening. Charles and I decided on a half-pint of Fuller’s London Pride to start things off only after we were given a little taste of the Fuller’s ESB (even though we know the beer all too well, you can’t let on or Ye won’t get yer free taste from the man in the kilt!) The ESB’s beer lines or keg was foul, reeking of buttery diacetyl.

Our curiosities were piqued by the presence of that new fangled Guinness anniversary beer called “Guinness 250”; a beer released to celebrate the world renowned brewery’s 250^th anniversary. I asked “fer a wee nip” and then ordered a pint. Guinness” two-fitty” is going to do well for them in the US Market if they can get skeptics to take that first “wee nip”. The draft version is poured using pure C02 versus a nitrogen/C02 mix, is a bit stronger at 5% and is maltier than standard Guinness Draught. You would assume then that it would be a heavier, less drinkable beer. On the contrary, the higher carbonation along with an obvious absence of the Guinness “soured mash” flavor makes this beer very easy to drink. We could have stayed for another but the place was dead. I guess all of the posers must have been over at the cantina down the street. We moseyed over to Rock Bottom brewery for a quick one before winding up at our “Cinco de Mayo” destination, The Hofbäuhaus in Newport Kentucky; just over the bridge from downtown Cincy.

HB’s biergarten is much smaller than its typical München counterparts. The ground is covered in fine gravel and is adorned with several locust trees providing ambience, shade and a place hang the string-lighting. The long picnic style tables support a pretty large drinking party and opens up the possibility that you can share a beer with a stranger, though less likely here in states as our culture seems to eschew such spontaneity. The beer is good; I would even go as far as saying great, though it’s not as interesting as American craft styles. Don’t expect to find an IPA or Imperial stout here; just delicious, well brewed lagers. All beers are brewed on premises, except for the Dunkle, which is brewed in Germany. HB always seems to have a traditional seasonal beer available; appropriately offering a maibock for the month of May.

The food at HB bears a reasonable resemblance to real German food, though any beer hall in Munich has this place easily beaten. My schnitzel dish was nowhere near as good as what I have had in München, but hey this place is only three hours away from my door step! When the weather isn’t cooperating, HB has a fairly large indoor beer hall complete with oom-pah band. Everyone should try this place if they want to experience close to what it’s like to drink beer in a German beer garden.

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