In Cincinnati, hitting Rock Bottom and liking it
On a recent trip to Cincinnati I stumbled on Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, a surprisingly good chain brewery in the heart of Fountain Square in Downtown.
The Cincinnati location is one of more than 30 Rock Bottom breweries across the nation. It’s owned by CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries, Inc., a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Chattanooga. It’s North America’s largest operator of brewery restaurants and also owns Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants.
As a chain, I wasn’t sure what to expect at Rock Bottom, but the beer was great, the atmosphere was relaxed and the food was excellent.
The entrance to Rock Bottom in Cincinnati. The first Rock Bottom opened in 1991 in Denver, Colo. It was on the first floor of Denver’s Prudential Building, also known as “The Rock,” which is where the Rock Bottom name came from.
A view inside the restaurant at Rock Bottom, with the brewery in the background.
Rock Bottom’s head brewer is Mitchell Dougherty, who began his career as an assistant brewer for the Rock Bottom Phoenix, Desert Ridge and Arrowhead locations. Each brewer adds his or her own touches to the beer line-up at Rock Bottom locations.
My sampler at Rock Bottom included the Brown Ale, IPA, Queen of Hops and Kolsch. The Queen of Hops, a fantastic American Pale Wheat Ale brewed with Amarillo hops, was my favorite beer of the bunch.
The Classic Mac ‘n Chicken, topped with crunchy Parmesan breadcrumbs, was quite tasty.
Behind the bar at Rock Bottom are the “serving vessels.”
Chain-wide, more than 95% of Rock Bottom’s 30,000 pounds of hops come from the Pacific Northwest.
A shot of the brewery and a very excited employee!
Rock Bottom was awarded “Large Brew Pub of the Year” at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival. That year, Rock Bottom breweries brewed a total of 1,371,099 gallons of beer.
