The Greatest Weekend Ever

The Fun-espondents write the way

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR HEY MICHELLE!

Cincinnati Holiday Pops ~ Music Hall Friday 11am & 7:30; Saturday & Sunday 2pm & 7:30 

Holiday Market at Cincinnati Art Museum ~ Saturday & Sunday, 11-5 .. This has to be the best shopping environment ever .. and make sure to wander the museum while you're there! 

Cyclones ~ Friday 7:30 it’s Snow Globe Santa PuckChop giveaway! 

33rd Annual Reindog Parade ~Saturday at  2pm in Mt. Adams starting at 941 Pavilion. Dress up your dogs and parade them around… there’ll be prizes!. This is such a fun Christmas tradition. Dog registration begins at 12:30

Santacon ~ Saturday 2-9 Be ready to see thousands of Santa Clauses, Christmas trees, reindeer, and more running bar to bar through the Banks, OTR, Mt. Adams, Newport and Covington.. Love it !

A Motown Christmas ~ The Fitton Center in Hamilton is getting your groove on with this holiday show. 7:30 Saturday 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. ~ Taft Theater with the Children’s Theater present this 60 min. show Dec. 10-19th 

Covington Christkindlmarkt ~ Artisan Market in MainStrasse Sunday 11-4 

An Elegant Victorian Family Christmas ~ 3-7 Sunday Self-guided tours of the Promont House 904 Main St. free hot chocolate & treats all Sundays in Dec. Then hit up all the fun new places around the area! 

Bengals vs. Browns ~ Sunday 1:00 Whoooo Dey

Where am I drinking? Loving all the fun Holiday themed bars around town. Overlook Lodge in Pleasant Ridge (ticketed and awesome), Tiki Tiki Bang Bang in Walnut Hills, Pinfolds in Findlay  (family friendly), Covington Yard, Lytle Rooftop all of these are ready to serve up holiday cocktails and warm winter holiday vibes. 

  Hey Michelle,
Do you want to know where to eat, drink and have fun in Cincinnati? Check out my page  
https://heymichelle-help.com

IMBIBER DAVE DOES CHATTANOOGA

I visited Chattanooga for the first time last week, and let’s just say the slough of positive recommendations were spot on. Now I had a local to usher me from one great joint to the next, and having traveled with him before, I knew I was in good hands.

This city still has an unspoiled small town feel. Despite quite a lot of redevelopment, similar to what you have in several neighborhoods here in Cincy, it is still easy to get around, and has a great laid back culture.

By comparison, I’ve watched several of my favorite cities, like Austin, basically be overrun due to being such wonderful places to live, all the way up until the point they aren’t. In this region, I have been a big fan of Nashville & Asheville for a long time, and if you’ve read this blog for a while then you know I’ve visited both quite often over the years. Unfortunately, both have too many people living in cities that were never designed to handle the traffic load of Chicago. I still love visiting both, but miss the good old days.

So, that’s why I really enjoyed sitting at a rustic bar and grill called Feed, where it was casual but obvious that these folks are paying attention to every detail when it comes to the food and drink.

There are so many great breweries in the area, so it would have been disrespectful to not sample a few. Oddstory Brewing’s Woven Stone Vienna Lager was excellent. I get nervous with this style, since it can often be too malty and sweet for my pallet. This was an awesome version, malty but crisp and really well balanced. Cherry Street’s Lake Beer Lager was something that I would be happy to turn to any day of the week. When it was time to get a little more serious, Straight to Ale’s Stout at the Devil was a superb oatmeal stout, and at 7.8% it definitely drank like a meal.

Our group had dinner at an excellent brasserie called Stir. After crushing some excellent Chesapeake oysters, it was time to knock down a classic, Steak Frites. A locally barrel aged Manhattan and glass of Pinot were perfect book ends to this delicious meal.

Last but not least, there is a Kinley hotel downtown, the only other location outside of Cincy. There is a speakeasy hidden behind the lobby, and few things make me happier than telling a bartender like you like Negronis or mezcal old fashioneds and watch them whip up a special night cap that goes way beyond whatever you could pull off behind your home bar.

Cheers!
cincybeerguydave@gmail.com