Bockfest is a celebration of spring, beer, and the history and German heritage of the City of Cincinnati. It is also a celebration of Over the Rhine, and more specifically the Brewery District. At its peak in the 1860s, OTR was home to some 36 breweries. Many of those structures have been lost to history, but some survived and have been converted into a variety of uses. As part of the Bockfest celebration, the Over the Rhine Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Group sponsors the “Prohibition Resistance Tour,” which allows participants to enter a few of the surviving breweries to learn about this slice of Cincinnati history.
In 1825, there were just over 40 German residents in Cincinnati. By 1870, there were nearly 40,000 (though this number varies depending on which source you cite.) Originally restricted from settling within the borders of the city itself, German immigrants moved in north of Liberty Street, then the city’s Northern border, many along what was is now McMicken Avenue. Bock-style beers are lagers, though usually dark, which unlike ales are made with a bottom-fermenting yeast that requires colder temperatures while they ferment. McMicken runs along the base of the northern hills of Mt Auburn and Clifton Heights, meaning those early German immigrants could dig tunnels into the hillside in which to store their beer. Although Germans were a large portion of Cincinnati’s population, they were always merely the largest minority.
Cincinnati’s domestic consumption of beer at this time was 40 gallons per year per resident (including children), more than 2.5 times the national average. Additionally, 90% of the beer brewed in Cincinnati was not exported but instead consumed here at one of the 130 saloons and biergartens along Vine Street.
From this bustling turn of the century heydey, OTR began its decline. From 1888 to 1910, the city constructed over 220 miles of electric Streetcar tracks, and began construction of a now-infamous and never completed Subway system in the 1920s. (For more great photos of the Cincinnati Subway tunnels, which are still intact along what is now Central Parkway, check out these excellent explorations by Queen City Discovery here and here.)
The start of World War I was a one-two punch for rapid public transit and Cincinnati’s urban core, as capital bonds were restricted to the war effort and pro-automobile lobbyists managed to obstruct and derail (pun totally intended) any further development of rail transportation. In 1918, the Federal Government began drafting millions of American men into service to fight Germany and its Allies, and it was suddenly very unpopular to be German in America.
In January of 1920, the 18th Amendment went into effect and Prohibition began. Most of the breweries in OTR closed their doors, began brewing “near-beer,” or attempted to convert to other uses. Most of their efforts were in vain. By the time the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933, we were in the grips of The Great Depression, and shortly thereafter World War Two reignited anti-German hysteria.
Returning servicemen returned not to the densely populated city center, with its lack of transportation options, but to planned communities such as Mariemont and other areas where economic success was more likely. The underground lagering tunnels were sealed up, and OTRs fate was sealed in asphalt.
Thus is a short summary of OTR’s long and tumultuous history. It has long been the heart of the city of Cincinnati, in both a literal and figurative sense. Today, the city center is in a period of revival. Interest in urban and non-automobile-centric living is growing across Ohio and America, and this extremely dense and underutilized neighborhood is being recognized for is unique and historic architectural treasures. Major crime is down 48% according to the Business Courier and new businesses and residential units are being built or renovated constantly. Some call it progress, some gentrification, but one thing is certain: the heart of Cincinnati is changing.
For more photos, including commentary, at each of the stops along the entire Brewery Tour, please check out my gallery.
Remember when, back in the day, you used to watch late-night horror movie/b-movie shows with wild-ass hosts? Those still exist. And there’s one in Cincinnati that you need to be paying attention to.
What station? We don’t need no stinkin’ station.
Meet Cleaver Theatre is a Cincinnati-based operation that shows b-movies (as well as c and d movies, for that matter), posts them on the ol’ Youtube, and generally tears ass. There’s a generalized storyline, and man, it’s pretty brilliant stuff. The central host, Butch R. Cleaver, comes off like a bizarro-50′s paragon–there’s a wall of pleasantness there, but you know that there’s some dark shit under there somewhere.
This may be due to the fact that his wife is a (mostly) disembodied head in a jar, Joan E. Cleaver, who sometimes makes it out of the jar and gets around with a donor body. Not seeing a problem with this.
There’s a whole host of supporting characters, like a randy skeleton, a Frankenstein’s monster-type dog, crazy-ass neighbors, and the patron saint of B-movies, Saint Corman. Get it?
Enough of my description; I can’t do the justice it deserves. MCT (Hey, TCM backwards!) is kitsch at its best: classy, well-mannered, and fun as hell. The point is this: YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING THIS. Here’s the latest episode, 158, “Mexican Werewolf?”
This item is more than a week old, but it’s still striking to me–and in a good way. On March 1, Gannett announced that they’re lifting their wage freeze as of April 1 of this year. What this means on a functional level for the company (and I’m assuming that The Cincinnati Enquirer is included in this) is that their employees will resume getting performance reviews and, gasp, getting raises according to that level of performance.
You know, like they used to–like every just about other working person in the world.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this necessarily represents some Dickensian transformation of character where we’ll see Gannett begin to throw money around–do they really have a lot of cash to toss at anything? However, lifting a wage freeze instead of extending it, especially in the face of perhaps rightful speculation that an extension is something they might have done, is a step in the right direction.
I suppose the best thing to say here would be congratulations to Gannett’s newspaper employees. Unless, of course, lifting the Gannett wage freeze turns out to be nothing more than an empty gesture that doesn’t actually result in them spending more money on their journalists. Seriously–for as much as people complain about newspapers and news organizations, the folks writing the stories have had it rough over the last few years and deserve a break. Fingers crossed…
Derf Magazine has clearly jumped the shark. It’s sporadically funny- not laugh out loud funny, but maybe that one “heh” where you acknowledge that something was marginally clever. I unfollowed them on Twitter (I know- I’m a heartless bitch) after they gave their (actual) thoughts on The Hurt Locker before the Oscars telecast. You ain’t Roger Ebert (and obviously, neither am I), so leave that shit to the professionals. Go back to making jokes about Bengals committing crimes like it’s 2005.
I take most issue at the column “Katie Vs. Men” by Katie Michaels (if you google Katie Michaels, she’s the one with a twitter, NOT the porn star). Katie makes the mistake of giving advice to women about how to get a boyfriend. There are several problems with this approach.
1. Katie admits on her twitter bio that she “writes about relationships even though [she] never really [has] any.” Blind leading the blind, blah blah blah.
2. She’s very pretty. Very pretty girls are rarely good at giving advice on dating. Just trust me on this one.
3. This is the most important- she writes from a woman’s point of view. As a mattress salesman pointed out- you catch fish by thinking like a fish. For example, she wholeheartedly endorses asking guys out. I’m going to agree with Chelsea Handler on this one. Don’t ask guys out. I was at a work seminar last week where there was a hot guy. There was actually more than one hot guy, but I digress. I chatted with him for a bit and then headed into the closing session, where a guy at our table said, “did you ask for his number?” Surprised, I said “of course not.” He asked me why not- it’s 2010, and women have just as much right to ask men out. To which I agreed. I had the right to ask him for his number. But I said (and Chelsea would echo my sentiments): if he wanted my number, he would have asked for it. And if he didn’t want it, I don’t want to give it to him.
I don’t think this makes me anti-feminist. I still want to make $1.00 for every $1.00 a dude makes. I don’t want to pay for alterations that men get for free. I don’t want guys to think it’s okay to grab my ass or tits because they exist. But when it comes to something as purely biological as mating, I’m okay with following Darwin’s rules.
Katie is just one of the branches from Cosmopolitan‘s family tree. Women think they have to have a plan to start a conversation with a guy. There are actually entire articles in women’s magazines devoted to creating a persona that will attract a man. “Give Off a Fun, Fearless Vibe” by “flash[ing] a genuine smile- one that forms crinkles at the corners of your eyes and mouth” and “focus on firmly directing the up-and-down movement instead of on the palm squeeze.” Seriously, if you need a glossy magazine that sandwiches the advice between an article about oral sex and one about getting a job as a professional tweeter or undercover diner, you are probably beyond hope of being fun or fearless.
DeSales Plaza in the Woodburn and Madison Historic District in Walnut Hills seems like a prime spot for a restaurant. Sitting comfortably between UC and Xavier, near O’Bryonville and Hyde Park, and on a major thoroughfare, with plenty of parking? Yes, please. So why do all of the restaurants who locate there fail? Simone’s closed in a flurry of controversy about black-owned businesses in Cincinnati, and Seny’s outpriced the neighborhood. Is the location as doomed as it seems?
Backwards references are what you get when there aren't pictures of your restaurant, dude.
Suzie Wong’s is an Alex Chin restaurant, best known for Pacific Moon (in Montgomery and later at Newport on the Levee), Shanghai Mama’s, Lulu’s Noodles, etc. Pacific Moon at the Levee closed very abruptly, with signs on the doors indicating that tax related issues were to blame (does anyone know the real story there?) Shanghai Mamma’s is a continual late-night favorite of mine, and Lulu’s is one of those strip-mall type joints whose food belies its modest location.
With Pacific Moon closed, Suzie Wong’s steps into Chin’s lineup as his “Pan Asian” restaurant. They have no liquor license (yet) but they allow you to BYOB. I am normally a huge fan of BYOB restaurants, but Wong’s charges a $5 corking fee. Why are you charging me to bring my own drinks? That’s just lame, folks. It was a Friday night, so I figured reservations were in order, and we arrived around 7pm. The dining room was about half full at that time, but by the time we left at 8:15 (yes, a scant hour+ later) the place was packed and the foyer filled with people waiting to be seated. The ambiance is clean and modern with generic Asian touches and our place settings had both chop sticks and standard cutlery. Enough of the details, how was the food?
The Food
We ordered…
Laub Gai ($6.95). Think build-your-own lettuce wraps with a chicken filling. This was, in short, a disappointment. The chicken filling was extremely salty and there were 3 extremely large pieces of uncut lettuce that were wilted and limp at the ends. The spicy sauce served on the side was tasty, but this dish lost major points in the “here, let me tear off a corner of this sheet of lettuce and then hand you the rest oh my GOD that’s salty” department.
Crab Rangoon ($4.95). The filling was the sweet rather than savory variety, typical sauces. Dough was sweet, as well. Tasty, if not precisely what you’d expect. Not exactly a great dish for checking out a new restaurant, but one of my personal guilty pleasures.
Ginger & Lemongrass Snap Peas (5.95). Ordered as a side to be shared, these were slightly bitter, completely unseasoned, and notably lacking in either ginger or lemongrass flavors. A small bowl for a table of 4 and half were left uneaten.
Bangkok Coconut (Green) Curry (13.95). Served in an actual hewn coconut, but the presentation was given more attention than the food. The shrimp (tails on, which made it hard to eat) were inside the coconut, and the remaining vegetables in an accompanying bowl. The curry itself was just OK. In the words of one dining companion, “Not bad, but I’d never order it again.” Entrees come with your choice of rice; Brown rice was chosen with this, and it was best described as pebbly: zero stickiness (and impossible to eat with chop sticks) and altogether not very good.
Korean Kalbi ($15.95) This was easily the most popular dish at the table. The beef was extremely tender and the sauce was flavorful and delicious. Served on a sizzling platter, the sauce quickly thickened as it continued to cook and by the end of the meal was a concentrated inedible slurry. The menu described “red onion, scallion, and shitake mushroom” but these were not evident on the platter. A few lone, tiny mushrooms were the only non-beef items that had not dissolved into the sauce.
Hype Gone Bad
As I mentioned, we were out the door a scant 75 minutes after arriving. I wrote it off at the time as a busy Friday night at a restaurant with no dessert menu, but the unceremonious dropping of the check on the table before the entree plates had even been cleared did not engender a lot of welcome feelings at the table.
Whenever a promising new restaurant opens, there’s always a certain amount of buzz that surrounds it, positive or negative. For a food lover like myself, this can raise or lower expectations. The buzz around Suzie Wong’s raised expectations, and it did not deliver. The food ranged from mediocre to acceptable, and elicited no awesomes. The prices and service both reasonable, but not without fault.
Overall the complaints outweighed the huzzahs and I’m not likely to return.
The snow in your yard is melting, revealing the random pieces of garbage that had been lurking underneath for months. ESPN is making $5 in royalties every time someone uses the phrase “bubble team.” And there’s a chick walking up Main Street with a whip and a Trojan goat.
Spring is coming to Cincinnati.
Bockfest 2010 is in the books after a weekend that brought thousands of people to parts of Cincinnati they had never set foot in before, including yours truly. They’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years, and even though I’m new here, it looks like they have mastered the art of very loosely coordinated chaos. It’s a beautiful mess that officially started Friday night with a parade of beer wielding monks and a giant wooden goat on wheels. As if to cover all bases, there was even a monk with a goat mask riding a Segway. Good to see someone is using those things.
Goats and monks are fun and all–they make outstanding Halloween costumes, if nothing else. But there’s a reason they dominate the imagery of Bockfest merrymaking. Turns out bock beer is actually pretty packed with nutrients, as far as beer goes. So German monks who brewed bock would get by on it during their Lenten fasts. Think of bock beer as a drunken pre-cursor to Ensure.
As for the goats, that explanation is not as exciting. “Bock” is German for “goat.” Sorry if you expected something more. But I did take a shitload of pictures. Feast your eyes!
