Under Cincinnati's Closed Breweries, Then a Beer at Northern Row
American Legacy Tours walks you into two sets of disused brewery cellars beneath Over-the-Rhine, past Findlay Market and the Rhinegeist building, then back to the Northern Row taproom for a tasting. Two hours, on foot, rain or shine.
The cellars went in underneath a brewery in 1850, and they are still down there. They are not open to the public. The operator says this tour is the only way in.
Two hours, all of it on foot, starting and ending inside a working taproom on West McMicken Avenue. In between you go down into two sets of brewery cellars, cross Findlay Market, pass the Rhinegeist building from the street, and come back up for a drink.
American Legacy Tours runs this one as the Hidden Caverns tour. It departs seven days a week from Northern Row, and the same fee covers everyone who comes.
Hidden Brewery Caverns Tour in Cincinnati with Beer TastingAmerican Legacy Tours · 120 minutes · from USD 54 · departs daily from 111 W McMicken Avewww.viator.comHalf an Hour of the Two Hours Is Under the Jackson Brewery
The itinerary gives the Jackson brewery cellars thirty minutes, a quarter of the whole tour. The Jackson building is closed, and the tour goes down to the tunnels underneath it to talk about the architecture and what the space was for.
The other descent is older. Those tunnels date to 1850 and sit under a brewery that has been gone a long time. The first ten minutes of the tour never leave the meeting point at all, and are spent on the building you are standing in, including the Carnegie Steel beams holding it up.
This is a walking tour with stairs in it, and the ground underground is not finished floor.
Findlay Market, and the Brewery You Only See From Outside
Ten minutes of the route go through Findlay Market. The operator calls it the oldest market in Ohio and names James Findlay as its founder, and the guide talks through the market's history and how the building itself was put together.
Rhinegeist gets five minutes and no entry. The tour stops outside the Rhinegeist building and talks about it from the street; it does not go in. If you wanted a Rhinegeist taproom visit, that is a separate trip you make on your own.
The operator's own description also promises the site where Johnny Cash shot a film and the site of one of Cincinnati's inclines. Neither one appears in the timed itinerary, so the timed itinerary does not commit to either one. Treat them as things the guide may work in.
Who Should Think Twice Before Booking
The operator asks for a moderate level of physical fitness and names three groups it does not recommend the tour for:
- travelers with spinal injuries
- pregnant travelers
- travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Service animals are allowed. Children can come from age six, and a booking has to include an adult.
Weather is not a reason to reschedule: the operator's page says tours go on rain or shine. Two of the stops are under the street anyway.
The Tasting at the End, and What Under-Twenty-Ones Get
The last thirty minutes are back at Northern Row. The tasting is included in the fee, and it is the one thing on the ticket listed as an inclusion.
The fee is the same USD 54 whether you are six or sixty, but the beer is only for guests twenty-one and over. Under twenty-one, you pick a soft drink instead. Worth knowing before you book a seat for a fifteen-year-old at the adult rate.
One booking takes up to fourteen travelers. That is the size of a single reservation, not a cap on how many people are standing in the tunnel with you.
Meet inside Northern Row Brewery and Distillery, 111 W McMicken Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45202. Go inside and find the guide; they work from a guest list at the door and check your group in there. The tour ends where it started.
Departures run all seven days, but the days are not alike. Saturday carries the most departures, nine start times from 11:00 in the morning through 4:30 in the afternoon. Wednesday through Friday run eight, from 11:30 to 6:30 in the evening. Sunday has only three departures, all afternoon, and Monday and Tuesday have two apiece. Evening departures run Monday through Friday. Both weekend days finish in the afternoon.
Cancel at least twenty-four hours before your start time for a full refund. Pick a Saturday morning and you come back up into Over-the-Rhine around lunchtime, a block from Findlay Market, with the rest of the day still in front of you.