Thursday, August 28, 2014

Brew Ha-Ha

This past weekend, John and I ventured out of our comfort zone (read: the same 5 places we go when we go out to dinner) and headed down to Cincinnati for Brew Ha-Ha. Held at Sawyer Point, the Brew Ha-Ha is a 3 day beer and comedy festival benefiting the fight to cure cancer. The event was free but you paid $5 for a wristband to be able to drink and $1/taste. Throughout the day, there were local comedians performing sets on a few different stages leading up the the headliners at night.


Believe it or not, with over 100 beers to choose from, we had tried the majority of them. The rule of the day was not trying anything we'd had before. We had big plans to sample a lot but the rain had other ideas. We spent a lot of time seeking shelter under a tunnel and then later under a tree. P.S. Trees don't really provide shelter from driving rain.

Rainy view from the tunnel with 50 other people

Prior to the rain, I debuted my new knock-off sunnies. Instead of $170, I paid $14. You can get them here, thanks to my friend who is always looking out for me and now we are sunnies twins!



In the end, we only tried a handful before moving on to dinner but the award for Most Interesting goes to Shocktop's Spiced Banana Wheat. The nose was full on banana. The taste provided a typical summer wheat but a strong banana flavor came through on the finish. I wanted it to be spicier but it was still interesting.

We only got to hear a few short comedy sets before bailing. Some were funny, most were not. I think they must get funnier as the night wears on, and as you have more beer. The headliner was David Alan Grier but he wouldn't have gone on until much later and we hadn't planned on staying anyway. As it happens, the rain didn't let up all that much so the umbrellas we had left in the car wouldn't have helped. There were lots of food trucks where we could have found dinner but in the interest of exploration, we ended up here:



This is the Rookwood restaurant which is housed in the old Rookwood Pottery manufacturing facility in Mt. Adams. The interior still has all the original fixtures and woodwork. You can even sit at tables inside the giant kilns that are still intact, though, thankfully not functioning. There was a neat outside patio/deck area but again, the rain deterred us from sitting out there. I had a delightful garden burger and John got the pastrami sandwich. Prices were incredibly reasonable for sandwiches. The entrees were a bit more expensive but I'm sure they are worth it. My burger and John's sandwich got many Mmmm's from us throughout the meal. John even said he liked the garden burger which is a glowing seal of approval.

After dinner, we headed behind the restaurant to check out the view of the Queen City.



We considered picking up dessert closer to our house but in the end, made s'mores in the oven. My friends, if you are jonesing for a s'more but don't feel like building a fire, turn on your broiler!!! A couple minutes and you have a gooey, melty treat to be devoured. I didn't take any pictures of me eating said s'more because it wasn't pretty. It WAS pretty delicious though.

I'll chalk this up to a very successful adventure and hopefully it will inspire us to to continue to try new places, even if it means driving an hour south.


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