Welcome to Somewhere Over the Rhine

A site dedicated to Cincinnati's Over the Rhine neighborhood.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Brewery Tour Photos

Sunday I had the opportunity to attend the Prohibition Resistance Tour in Over the Rhine's Brewery District. I can assure everyone that it was well worth the money for what turned out to be an awesome day of touring Over the Rhine, visiting breweries, and sampling beer at Findlay Market. The opportunity to see the sub-basement of the former Kauffman Brewery, now called the Guild Haus, was by far the most amazing part. I have way too many pictures to post them all here. However, I've posted a few below to show a glimpse of some of the sights we got to see on Sunday. I've also added many of the photos to my photo section. I highly recommend this tour the next time they offer it.
Enjoy!
Here's a shot of the Guild Haus from Vine St.

Here is the hole in the floor of the basement leading to the sub-basement

Here's what it looks like 40-50 feet below street level!


It was really an incredible sight to see. It felt like we were on an expedition to dig up Egyptian tombs or something! Instead, we were exploring a part of Cincinnati's past that very few people even know exists. We were all shocked at how enormous the structures underground are. There were at least 3 rooms the size of the one pictured and many more smaller rooms connecting. There was also a passage way shown in the photo section that was originally a connection to another building on the other side of the street. The tunnels are still intact and accessible.
The size of the structures really speaks volumes about the huge amount of beer this city used to consume. Its really exciting to think that there could be many more underground facilities like this under the streets of Over the Rhine just waiting to be found. This weekend really renewed my astonishment of the rich history that Over the Rhine possesses. Hopefully the efforts of the Over the Rhine Brewery District and other historical preservation organizations will continue to uncover more about Over the Rhine's history and use it to promote the neighborhood and enlighten everyone about Cincinnati's past.

This is an old "upscale" bar that would have probably been known as an "opera house" when it was in its prime. This was a building worthy of taking a date to.

Former Christian Morlein Buildings, future site of the Cincinnati Beer Co.

The new Clyffside Lofts building!

7 comments:

mvoss said...

The tour was awesome! We met so many people excited about OTR. Those Germans were one hardcore bunch of drinkin crazies!

Dan said...

I'm glad you liked it! (I was one of the guides.)

Jason said...

Thanks Dan, I'm going to have to get to know everyone's faces on here eventually!
Thanks for helping with the tour, you guys did a great job!

Chris S said...

Hi Jason, sorry I missed you (unless you were one of the folks who was at OTR ale house rather late)

We were only there actually talking about the streetcars in the morning from 10 - 12 and later from 4 - 5 or so. (had to run out to attend a baby shower)

Jason said...

We were at the ale house from probably 3-4pm, so I must have just missed you. It was a lot of fun, the beer was good too!

Matt said...

Great photos - thanks for sharing.

Kevin LeMaster said...

Great stuff, Jason.

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