I have a good friend that lives in Cincinnati that I try to visit once every couple of years. This year, we planned my visit around the Brew Ha Ha– a charity event of stand-up comedians and beer.  Entry into the event is free and there were some good comedians; of course, there were also some bad ones.  The cost of actually drinking the beer can be quite pricey, though.  To be able to drink beer, you have to purchase a $5 wrist band and then each tasting is $1 with $5 for a whole beer.  The tastings were good size but with about 100 beers to taste everyone would be quite expensive. I have to admit, I prefer our local beer festival where the cost is $20 for as much beer as you can drink in a 2 hour time limit.

However, as this was outside of my hometown, I did get to try quite a few beers that I had not had previously.  Unfortunately with the cost and crowd that showed up around 8 pm on Friday night, I didn’t get to try as many as I would have liked.  This was a 2 day event and I only came for one day too.   I will just quickly run through a few of the beers I did get to try and my opinions of them:

Anderson Valley Summer Soltice from Booneville, CA was a very good ale with a great hint of vanilla.  Light and fresh this would be great for a summer day.

Pyramid was at this event. I have to admit that I am still mad at them as their brew pub in Sacramento closes about 5 pm on Sundays and I missed the opportunity to go. I mean– who closes a brew pub at 5 pm? The Pyramid Apricot Wheat was a bit too sweet for me. However, my friend who is a fan of fruity beers and ciders thought it was great.  Pyramid Outburst was an OK IPA but nothing to write home about.

The Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale was there, which, if you have been reading my blog, you know is one of my favorites.  I got to try their Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout which was also quite excellent and had a very chocolately finish.  As I have previously blogged, I am also becoming more and more a fan of the stout, so mixing stout with bourbon is a win/win if you ask me.

Fat Head’s Bumbleberry Ale was also reminiscent of a great favorite, the Bar Harbor Blueberry Wheat.  This was a great beer and not overly fruity. However, it still retained enough blueberry that my friend also appreciated it.

Now on to 5 Rabbit Cerverceria, a bit let down for the night.  The 5 Rabbit 5 Lizard Passionfruit Witbier was horrible.  I don’t like to drink my beer with skittles and that was exactly how this one tasted.  The 5 Lizard 5 Vulture Oaxacan Style Dark was barely drinkable with a taste of 3 day old coffee mixed with aspirin.  After this experience, I will avoid all beers by this brewery.

Christopher Moerlein is a local brewery. There will be a blog specifically about this brewery.  At the Brew Ha Ha, I tasted their Fifth and Vine Oktoberfest and the Northern Liberties IPA.  The Octoberfest was quite good and not on tap at the local brew pub. More about the IPA in my future blog.

The Elevator Bleeding Buckeye Red was quiet good, even though it is obviously named for Ohio State.

North Peak Vicious was a very satisfying IPA.  North Peak Archangel is billed as an American wheat. However, it seemed to be much more of a Belgian-style to me.

For a classic Belgian, I enjoyed the Epic Brainless Belgian.  The Weyerbacher Merry Monks was also a good traditional Belgian– in this case, a tripel.

Southern Tier, another of my favorites, was also in the house.  Their pumpkin beer, Pumpking, is only out done by Dogfish’s pumpkin. Southern Tier Live was also tasted and was a great, yet light, IPA.  I generally find you can’t go wrong with Southern Tier.

So the highlight of the night was not really the beers but the free performance by Tom Arnold, where he made fun of his “friend” Arnold Schwarzenegger and his ex-wife Roseanne Barr.  There is a lot of comedic fodder between those two!  In addition, he met fans after the show in the beer garden, signing autographs and taking pictures.  This was a great end to a good evening of decent beer!