Brewery District History: Architectural and Brewing Tour

Explore the rich history of the Brewery District on this architectural and brewing tour. Visit historic breweries and learn about the people who shaped the beer industry. Includes a visit to the underground cellars of the Jackson Brewery and a pint of local beer.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Over-The-Rhine - Walk along the Brewing Heritage Trail past historic breweries, including a visit into one of the pre-Prohibition breweries’ underground lagering cellars.
What's Included
  • Visit into a historic pre-Prohibition brewery lagering cellar.
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Discount on merchandise in the Brewing Heritage Trail store.
Additional Information

Beginning at the Brewing Heritage Trail Sign at Findlay Market, this tour explores the western part of the Brewery District, highlighting the impressive 19th and early 20th-century buildings and recounting tales of those who established or dismantled these brewing empires during the beer industry’s revolution.
The tour features a visit to the underground…

Location
101 W Elder St
West Elder Street
This tour begins from Findlay Market at the Brewing Heritage Trail "Hop On" Sign, located on the east side of the market, where West Elder Street meets Race Street. 101 West Elder Street is the nearest physical address using Google Maps, however, the meeting point is just north of this location.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(59 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Ericrd7263pz
Aug 10, 2025
Built on Beer Tour - Lisa was our tour guide and she provided a highly detailed and personal tour. This tour provided a history of the brewery business in OTR, and what it was like for the residents to live and work in there. Lisa kept us engaged and used humor to lighten the mood and heighten our interest. Thank you Lisa!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bev1013
Aug 4, 2025
Fun Tour - Learned a lot about the OTR area and how it got started, tour guides explain everything very well. They gave us fun facts. Ended at a greater brewery Rhinegeist, great selection of beers.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Karenmn1543cx
Jul 13, 2025
Great tour! - What a great tour! I learned so much about Cincinnati’s beginnings as well as buildings that I’ve passed many times without knowing their rich history. Our tour guide, Jack, was able to answer all our questions. Well done!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jackoz3182ia
May 29, 2025
Fantastic Tour! - Great tour with Kanah, our guide! Tour was perfect. Great balance of history, fun, and beer! Not too long, not too short — it was just right. Thanks for a great experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Audreyhx105mt
May 29, 2025
Great tour - Amazing tour with Kanah! Very interesting history to learn about in Cincinnati about. One of us was a local and another was visiting, we both learned so much.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mike_t
May 12, 2025
Very informative tour... - Very informative tour with history of city, architecture and how cinci was so popular for beer. Mike was great tour guide. The one negative is i think it would be better if the beer at the end was from a cincinnati brewery like rhineguist.
Review provided by Viator
Tama_p
Apr 27, 2025
Fun Tour - Loads of great information on the early days of brewing. Lisa was a wonderful guide and we enjoyed the tour.
Review provided by Viator
4qs
Apr 11, 2025
Great time on the Built on Beer Tour - We had a 60th birthday group tour with Kanah. He was super knowledgeable about the brewery history, Cincinnati history and the origins of the people that eventually became brewers in Cincinnati. Kanah had an amazing recall of the dates and names…if you are into how beer brewing impacted Cincinnati’s history this is the tour for you. I would highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
A3311kfsaraht
Mar 4, 2025
Meh... - To begin with, it was cold - I should have dressed warmer, more layers. But, making it worse was the fact that a couple of people were late and no-shows. Annoying, because we waited at least 15 minutes out in the cold for people to show up. The tour was a little boring, we just passed by a couple of Breweries and heard some information/history about them but didn't get to see the inside at all. One place had walls something like 3 feet thick - I would like to have seen that. One couple dropped out of the tour, they thought we were going to be able to go in a look at the inside of breweries. We went in a beer cellar - which was interesting but the entrance was sketchy. The last place we ended up at, we were able to go in and have a beer which was included with the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
E3214fptraceyl
Mar 24, 2025
Need better backup plans for RAIN - I toured a few years ago with Aaron who was wonderful. Yesterday I took some friends on the same tour with Nick and it was awful. Bless his heart, he tried, but I do not think he is cut out to be a tourguide or storyteller. He rambles a lot and gets side tracked with details that do not matter like what the old breweries may and may not do in the possible future. Aaron instead, told SUPER cool stories like the one where the Lincs brothers discovered a 150 year old yeast and brewed from it. Tourists want more history with the cool stories. PLUS, it was pouring rain. And while I appreciate that the tour is set up to stop at certain places, there has to be some flexibility when it’s pouring. Like why couldn’t you arrange for us to stop inside Northern Brewery to stay dry a little bit, especially if they are also in a contract with this tour company? I get that we were only supposed to go inside OTR, but when your patrons are freezing and wet, we no longer care about protocol. Get us into some dry areas PLEASE.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $45
up to 10 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).