The Gnarly Gnome
The weekly pint is a live podcast recorded every Monday evening. Don't think of it as a show, but a happy hour. Usually, we talk about beer news and booze news, especially Cincinnati-focused stuff—but with a drink in hand, you never really know what will come up! Crack open a cold one and join us!
What have we done? Hard sports drinks? What else do we need to boozeify? More importantly... are they any good? It's a good chance to talk about some of the recent stories that are happening in Cincinnati and beyond! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I do, don't forget to head to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
There's a lot to talk about this week - with some BIG closures outside of town, one taproom that is evolving here IN town, and a whole bunch of thoughts that stories like that stir up, it's a good night for a live podcast. I crack into a variety pack of Rhinegeist's new Vodka Sodas called 'Cincy Splash' and realize that I might actually like 'em. It wouldn't be a proper Gnome podcast if I didn't have a beer, too, though - out of the back of my fridge I grab a can of Streetside's "Spring Breakers" - which raises the question... what IS West Coast, anyways? If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make, you can always support the cause by becoming a 'Gnomie' - head to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support and know that it makes a huge difference!
We've got an Oktoberfest Quest finale coming up very, very quickly... which means that we probably need to narrow down these last 8 beers to a final four, right? Right. We drink through 'em all - making a very difficult, very painful, tough decision... but it's set! Join us at Esoteric Brewing on Tuesday, October 6th, at 7 pm to find out which one is the BEST Cincinnati Oktoberfest beer for 2026! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I do - head to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support to become a Gnomie!
My drinks might be weird, but we have some important things to talk about! It's oktoberfest season, and there's always booze news that keeps happening even when I have festing to do!
As a local brewery annouces the upcoming closure of a satellite taproom it opens up a whole world of comment on what the RIGHT way to do these things actually is. I have thoughts, of course. I also have whiskey. If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I do, you can always support it by going to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
It's a camping weekend for my family - so it's also a late night for all of us. That doesn't mean we're going to NOT talk about the local drinking news here in Cincinnati, though! We've got some closings that bring forth a few questions that I need to work through! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make - head over to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support to become a Gnomie!
Oh, boy - this is a big one. There's been a lot of things that have happened recently in the booze scene - and I think we should unpack it all - with some rum... and some barleywine... and some more rum. That's how we roll on the weekly pint, right? If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I create - you can always support my stuff by going to http://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support - It's much appreciated!
You can't ignore the changing beverage and hospitality industry, but it's easy to miss how that evolution changes US as drinkers. There's a few news stories this week that illustrate exactly that. From breweries with big changes, to a wine "bar" with a great new idea to give folks an excellent experience... things are getting wild out there! Also... Rum.
We've got football sponsorships, vodka sodas, new bars, hotel bars with the finest Kentucky eggs... there's a lot this week! We drank a Jungle Bird (which was awesome!) drank a can of Esoteric's pilsner (also awesome) and got up to date on all of the latest happenings. If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make - head over to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
Oktoberfest season is a great time of year... It's so wonderful that I think we should have a drink! With that... we also need to talk about what that drink (the Painkiller) is all about... and it's a great story! We've got a brewery that is closed, and we've got a new change to the THC Beverage laws here in Ohio... There are a lot of things to talk about! This episode is possible because of folks just like you - if you want to support, you can become a Gnomie by going to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
Is bourbon done? Is a cocktail in a can still a cocktail? There's a lot to unpack with this episode. I don't even know what a canned cocktail IS anymore! All of this leads into a beer that reminds me that beer taps into something much deeper than a tropical orange canned WHATEVER ever will! If you like this show (or any of the stuff that I do) don't forget that you can become a 'Gnomie' by going to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
I've been living the lake life - which just so HAPPENS to be a great situation to drink a bunch of rum. It does a great job to fuel some fun conversation, too! Huge shoutout to everyone that makes this show so much fun! If you want to support what I do, remember that you can always go to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support to do just that!
What is ACTUALLY going on with the industry? They want to say that young people aren't drinking... but how can we say that when the oldest members of GenZ are just now almost 30? We haven't figured anything out yet! That's what we eventually get to in this episode... after some rum, and an IPA from Rhinegeist. We also talked about the latest results from the US Open Craft Beer Championship (Cincinnati brought home a ton of medals...) - about MadTree's incredibly fun marketing of literal boatload of Sway, and the current state of weed water (yeah, it's super confusing, still). Things might be a little confusing, now - but I promise you - drinkers are still going strong! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make - you can always support my content by going to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support to become a Gnomie!
What's happening right now in booze, and how does it affect drinkers here in Cincinnati? We gotta talk about it all! Kroger likes wine, and that might help the industry? White Russian beer? A rum that may or may not be made by Patron? There's a lot this week! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make, you can always support by going to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
Ok... well... the title doesn't make as much sense as I thought it was going to - I THOUGHT that I'd talk about Garage Beer a bit and then that would bring up the current state of craft beer. Instead, it brought up a bunch of Mojitos. I drank some good ones and some bad ones. That's not really that shocking if you know anything about this show!
Finding ways to make what we're drinking taste the absolute best is can isn't always about putting the best things in your glass (though, that's always the best place to start) - instead, there are tons of little factors from the environment to the people that you're drinking with that can change the drink itself. Let's dive into that (with a drink in hand!) On this week's episode I drink some of Northern Liberties Rum Cask finished Bourbon, some Triple IPA from Hoof Hearted, and crack open a bottle of MadTree's Joon
I won't lie... even if I'm supposed to have my finger on the pulse of the whole drinking community (and I do my best), I'm still a little confused about the state of THC beverages in the state. What's legal, what's not? What is protected, and what isn't? WHY is all of this happening? We should talk about it.
The food and beverage industry doesn't slow down or stop for ANYone. It doesn't matter how old your business is, or how important you THINK you are, and that's become very clear over the last few years. Fueled by a classic rum cocktail, we'll talk about that, about what drinkers really want, and some of the fun and not-so-fun stories happening right now. I also drink a "mid-strength" IPA, but refuse to call it that, after calling it that - get derailed a few times... you know the drill. A typical episode of The Weekly Pint! If you like this show, or any of the stuff that I make, you can become a Gnomie by heading to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support
I promised cocktails, so we're going to drink cocktails. I didn't promise that I'd find this week's cocktail by any means more than randomly flipping through a cocktail book and picking one that looks tasty, though - but as it turns out, that's a good method. The Fiesta Cocktail turned out to be a good one! It was a good start to some fun stories like the latest in the Lager House collaboration series coming this week, and the introduction of High Grain's new canned cocktails: all fun stuff. From there - we had to take a big dive into the deep end as we tried to start unpacking the chaos of By Golly's and their parent company Epic Eeats. As these things go, though... we got a little sidetracked by the very first part of the story. Looks like there will be more to talk about!
This week's episode is about 'Small Beers' and their growth. It's not just small format servings, though... breweries are leaning hard into lower ABV beers that meet drinkers where they are right now. The question that brings forth for me is what does this mean for drinkers? What does it mean for breweries, and most importantly - what the heck does it mean for the industry overall? It's a booze fueled conversation... fueled specifically by a flight of four "Rums" - I say that lovingly... because one of them might have been some sort of rum-like NA option. It was weird, a little surprising, but in the end a great way to keep rolling through my warm weather Rum-exploration. In local news, through a label out of Rhinegeist, we might have a sneak peek at one of the first beers to come out of the New Riff collaboration (and I say ONE of, very carefully... because if I'm right - we might be seeing more than one of these!) Cuvee's, plans for next week's episode. It's action freaking packed. If you like this show (or really any of the stuff that I do) - you can always go to https://www.TheGnarlyGnome.com/support to become a Gnomie!