Participating Venues
Along with Bockfest Hall at 1619 Moore Street (directions) these venues will be participating in Bockfest 2013 on March 1, 2, and 3. All venues are free and open to the public with no cover. You can catch the FREE Shuttle all weekend between venues.
Arnold’s Bar and Grill 210 East 8th Street | directions
Cafe Martin (Garfield Suites Hotel) 2 Garfield Place | directions
City Cellars 908 Race Street | directions
The Drinkery 1150 Main Street | directions
Grammer’s 1440 Walnut Street | directions
Japps 1134 Main Street | directions
The Lackman 1237 Vine Street | directions
Mayberry Gastropub 1211 Main Street | directions
Milton’s Prospect Hill Tavern 301 Milton Street | directions
MOTR Pub 1345 Main | directions
Mr. Pitiful’s 1323 Main | directions
Neon’s Unplugged 208 East 12th Street | directions
Rhinehaus 119 East 12th Street | directions
Washington Platform 1000 Elm Street | directions
Night Owl Market (NOM) Central Parkway & Main Street | directions
Friday, March 1
Arnold’s Bar & Grill • Parade Biergarten open Fri 4:00PM-8:00PM, 7 bock beers on tap • 4:00PM-6:00PM Todd Hepburn (piano) • 6:00MP-8:00PM: 46 Long (blues) • 9:00PM-12:30PM: Whipstich Sallies (Americana/bluegrass)
Bockfest Hall • Open at 5:00PM Get a beer and wait for the parade to come to you! • 7:00PM-7:30PM Blessing of the Bock • 7:30PM-8:30PM: The Zinzinnati Bier Band • 8:30PM-10:30PM: Jake Speed and the Freddies
Café Martin • Located in the Garfield Suites Hotel – the preferred place to stay for Bockfest weekend 2013 – Café Martin has excellent food and bock beers on tap all weekend.
City Cellars • Open noon to 11:00PM • Bock Pints – Special Price • $12 Large Pizzas • Live Music!
The Drinkery • Opens at 3:00PM: Stake out your window space to watch the parade early • 9:00PM: Live Music with Chuck Brisbin and the Tuna Project.
Grammer’s • Over-the-Rhine’s most historic saloon now only opens for special occasions, and what’s more special than Bockfest? Serving bocks and all the food you need to keep you nourished and strong during Bockfest weekend.
Japp’s • One of the best parade-watching locations along the route • 6:00PM: Live Music with Lagniappe
The Lackman • Great beers on tap all weekend!
Mayberry Gastropub • 5:00PM: Special tapping of the Bell’s Consecrator bock. Enjoy a glass while you watch the parade. • Mayberry Gastropub is a culinary destination all year, but the special Bockfest menu is particularly amazing. It’s offered all weekend long (until 10PM) and Mayberry is open until 4:00AM.
Milton’s • Bock beers on tap. Milton’s Prospect Hill Tavern also features its regulars for the entertainment of others. Laugh with them or at them. Self-serve entertainment open to close.
MOTR Pub • Open at noon – get your parade space early! Great food, extended hours, and bock beer all weekend long. Friday Night: Steepwater Band (Chicago, IL)
Mr. Pitiful’s • One of the best locations to watch the Bockfest Parade. Get there early and snag a window space. Bock beers on tap all weekend long!
Neons • 7:30PM: The Zinzinnati Bier Band
Rhinehaus • Celebrate the opening of Over-the-Rhine’s newest neighborhood pub! (located at the location of the former Rhino’s Bar.)
Washington Platform • 5:30PM – 8:00PM: Mike Sharfe Trio • 9:00PM-12:00AM: Friday Nights Live!! (jazz) • Bock beers and special Bockfest menu all weekend long!
Night Owl Market • 10:00PM – 3:00AM: Need a fix for your late night craving? NOM is the perfect place to solve your problem. The market will be lined with your favorite food trucks, delicious food booths, and local artisans selling their diverse goods. Grab some quick food to go or hang out at the tables in the middle of the plaza and enjoy the live music!
Saturday, March 2
Bockfest 5K (starts at Bockfest Hall), 10AM • The inaugural Bockfest 5K, part of the Christian Moerlein Beer Series served up by the Flying Pig Marathon, takes you through the historic Brewery District and includes a t-shirt, unique medal, and a huge post-race party! Registration is $40 on race day.
The Bockfest Brewers’ Summit (at Bockfest Hall). Noon to 4PM • The Bockfest Brewers’ Summit is an event for people who are serious about brewing beer, as well as those who are just semi-serious about drinking it. The Blotarian Brewing League’s 4th Annual Bock Homebrew Competition is a professionally judged competition. The winner’s recipe is used to produce the limited-edition Schoenling Bock the following year. This year, in addition to the competition, people who are far more comfortable drinking beer than brewing it get to judge their own favorite bock. Brewmasters from multiple breweries in the Cincinnati region will be present at Bockfest Hall to discuss and answer questions about their beers while attendees taste different offerings.
Live Remote with WNKU’s The Real Mary Peale (at Bockfest Hall) • Noon to 4PM.
The Sausage Queen Competition Finals (at Bockfest Hall,) 7:30-9PM • The Bockfest Parade includes the “Sausage Queen” – Bockfest royalty who carries a ceremonial tray of bockwurst sausages, accompanied by a court of contestants chosen from six preliminary rounds. On Saturday at 7:30PM, at Bockfest Hall, Sausage Queen 2013 will be selected in a gender-neutral competition.
Shop Bock, All Bockfest Weekend Long Throughout the Bockfest Route • Celebrate Bockfest at Shop Bock, a shopping event at the local, independent stores of historic Over-the-Rhine during Bockfest. Here’s how it works: buy a special Shop Bock button at participating stores for $3 and receive discounts on most merchandise. Proceeds from Shop Bock button sales benefit the local nonprofit Merchants of Main Street (who help make Bockfest happen.) Continue the celebrations with a stop at the one-of-a-kind restaurants or bars in the area! You can catch the FREE Shuttle all weekend between all of the Bockfest venues.
Arnold’s Bar & Grill • 11:00AM-4:00PM: “Craft Menagerie” is a diverse collection of some of Cincinnati’s finest indie artisans and crafters in the mediums of print, paper, fabric, collage, photography, jewelry, fabric manipulation and arranging; all selling their wares in the Arnold’s courtyard. • 2:00PM: Triple Digit Bourbon Barrel Bock Tapping (Only one ¼ barrel of this in existence!) • 4:00-6:00PM: Todd Hepburn • 6:00PM-8:00PM: The Goodle Boys • 9:30PM-12:30AM: The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs
Bockfest Hall • 10:00AM: The Bockfest 5-K Run departs • Those who are not running start the after-party with Live Music from Chay Buddah and Hott2Def • 12:00PM-4:00PM Live Remote with WNKU’s The Real Mary Peale • 4:00PM-5:30PM: Live music by Lagniappe • 5:30-7:00PM: Live Music • 7:30PM-9:00PM: Sausage Queen Finals 2013 • 9:00PM-12:00PM Live Music by The Noah Wotherspoon Band
Café Martin • 5:00PM: Richard Dube, Head Brewmaster of the Christian Moerlein Brewery, will be tapping the limited edition Moerlein Blockhead Bock – available only at Café Martin! •Immediately following the tapping: Bockfest Brewmaster Dinner (5:00-8:00PM)
City Cellars • Happy Hour pricing on Bock Pints from noon to 8:00PM and FREE Queen City Sausage Buffet! • Want to take a brief break from beer? Try a bottle of nice German Riesling.
The Drinkery • 9:00PM: Live Music with Stays In Vegas • Great selection of bocks, including the limited edition Schoenling Bock.
Grammer’s • Cold bock beers and tasty food. Menu includes: Pretzels & Bier Cheese $4; Grammer’s famous Wings $7; Bratwurst, Metts and Bockwurst served with onions, peppers and kraut $4; and Sauerkraut Balls. Drink, eat and be merry in a saloon that hasn’t changed since 1911.
Japp’s • Open at noon, Annex open at 3:00PM • 6:00PM: Live Music with the 7-piece Newport Secret Six Lackman • Great beers all weekend long!
Mayberry Gastropub • Open noon to 4:00AM to put your tastebuds in euphoria. Jagerschnitzel with Bacon Wrapped Potatoes and Mushroom Sauce is just one example of the Special Bockfest Menu items that offer creative – and delicious – twists on traditional German spatzle, sauerbraten, and schnitzel • 1:00PM: Tapping of the extremely limited Ayinger Celebrator bock. Be one of the rare few who get to enjoy this beer while it lasts.
Milton’s • Open at noon! Indignant, sanctimonious and unnecessarily verbose rants by proprietor Kevin Feldman will occur periodically throughout the day. (We call it “performance art.”) There’s also a selection of bock beers on tap, including the limited Schoenling Bock.
MOTR Pub • Opens at noon! MOTR, the leader in Cincinnati’s music scene, features local beer and imported bands all weekend long. Saturday night: Space Capone (Nashville, TN)
Mr. Pitiful’s •Opens at noon. Same OTR landmark with a brand new attitude. Have a beer with cheer. Bocks on tap all weekend.
Neon’s • Neon’s is always home to an exceptional beer selection, but the “14 Days of Bock” celebration done in anticipation of Bockfest ensures that they specifically have bocks that you won’t find in other venues. They also have the best Bier Garten in the Rhine.
Rhinehaus • Opens at 8:00AM! Over-the-Rhine’s newest bar is also its only sportsbar, regularly opening at this ungodly hour to provide you with English and European soccer, and today – Bocks for Breakfast!
Washington Platform • Noon: Open for lunch with a special Bockfest menu all day long and cold bock beers on tap • Built in the 1800s by the Hauck Brewing Company, Washington Platform has sub-basement malt ovens. Throughout Saturday afternoon, visitors to the W.P. will get FREE guided tours of these subterranean relics of nineteenth century brewing • 8:00PM-11:00PM: Faux Frenchmen
Night Owl Market • 10:00PM – 3:00AM: Need a fix for your late night craving? NOM is the perfect place to solve your problem. The market will be lined with your favorite food trucks, delicious food booths, and local artisans selling their diverse goods. Grab some quick food to go or hang out at the tables in the middle of the plaza and enjoy the live music!
Sunday March 3
Continental Sunday (at Bockfest Hall), 1PM-7PM: Organized by the German-American Citizens League, March 3rd is Continental Sunday at Bockfest Hall. In the Over-the-Rhine of the 1800s, it was illegal to sell beer on Sunday’s, but that didn’t stop Cincinnati’s German- American community from filling the day with revelry and drink. This controversial approach to celebrating the Sabbath was known as “Continental Sunday” and we celebrate this history with a day of authentic German dancing, variety shows, and music, along with tours, authors, steins, and breweriana exhibits. Mecklenburg Garden offers a German buffet – and everyone wearing tracht (traditional German dress) get $1 off beer.
Arnold’s Bar & Grill • 11:00AM-3:00PM: Open for Bock lunch • 12:00PM-2:00PM: John Reddell (blues)
Bockfest Hall • 1:00PM-7:00PM: Continental Sunday w/ German music and dancing and German cuisine by Mecklenburg Gardens.
Café Martin • Open for a special Bockfest brunch. Great food, cold bock beer – and a Bloody Mary may be a good idea.
City Cellars • Happy Hour pricing on Mimosas and Bock Pints noon to 4:00PM!
The Drinkery • Open at 1:00PM • Live Music for Acoustic Sunday starts at 3:00PM and goes till midnight.
Grammer’s • No Bockfest experience is complete without a trip to Grammer’s, one of the original Bockfest venues. If you haven’t made it in to have a drink and pay your respects to an OTR institution, then get to it! Tomorrow will be too late. (See menu and price listing from Sat. schedule.)
Japp’s • Open at noon • Only Japp’s can make that drink specifically blended to address your condition on Bockfest day 3.
The Lackman • Great beers on tap!
Mayberry Gastropub • Open at 11:00AM to serve their delicious Bockfest Menu and array of bock beers • Live, authentic German music starts at noon.
Milton’s • Open at noon. Cold beer, friendly faces, and a true neighborhood saloon. Nothing more is necessary. Nothing. Seriously. We told you once, already. NOTHING more is necessary.
MOTR Pub • Open for brunch at 10AM! MOTR features great food and drinks, and the best music in town. Sunday night: Ex Cops (Brooklyn, NY)
Mr. Pitiful’s • One of the bars that made “the Old Main Street” great in the ‘90s, Mr. Pitiful’s has survived the storms and is happy to celebrate the “new” Main Street scene. Stop in, drink some beer, and pay respect to an OTR landmark.
Neon’s • In the Over-the-Rhine of the 1800s, German-Americans celebrated “Continental Sundays” drinking beer with friends in OTR’s numerous beer gardens. You can revive that tradition in Neon’s warm, friendly saloon or it’s Bier Garten. Come to Neon’s and party like its 1899.
Rhinehaus • Again, open at 9AM! Stop in before mass. Rhinehaus is Over-the-Rhine’s newest bar, but although fresh and improved, the old Rhino’s space still feels like home – particularly during Bockfest.
Washington Platform • Noon – 3:00PM: The Bockfest Buffet, a new Bockfest tradition, features assorted fresh Avril Bleh sausages, roast lamb, fresh oysters, much, much more food and LIVE MUSIC with the infamous Cincinnati Dancing Pigs. • Built in the 1800s by the Hauck Brewing Company, Washington Platform has sub-basement malt ovens. Throughout Sunday afternoon, visitors to the W.P. will get FREE guided tours of these subterranean relics of nineteenth century brewing
