Bruckmann Brewery Tour
Brewing began at this location in 1856 and continued for nearly 100 years under the stewardship of the Bruckmann family. The former brewing complex is one of the most complete 19th brewery sites in the country and most major components are still in existence. After brewing operations ceased in 1950, much of the site was repurposed for other businesses including the Fountain Winery and Worthmore Food Products Company, who specialized in producing Cincinnati style chili and mock turtle soup.
Guests on the tour will be taken via shuttle bus from the Urban Artifact Brewery to the Bruckmann Brewery site, where we will explore inside several of the buildings, including the underground lagering cellars! The Brewing Heritage Trail has put a lot of work into repairing various structures in order to make this history available to the public. Don't miss out on this unique experience offered only by our non-profit organization!
What's included:
- Inside exploration of several historic brewing structures
- A visit to a 19th underground lagering cellar
- A beer to drink while on the tour for all guests with a drinking ticket
American Museum of Brewing Exhibition
Tapping into Tradition: How Immigrant Labor and Innovation Created a Brewing Boomtown
This new pop-up exhibit by the American Museum of Brewing explores how waves of immigrants transformed Cincinnati into a thriving center of beer production. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, newcomers—especially from regions with deep brewing heritage—brought with them time-honored recipes, techniques, and a passion for craft. They established breweries, introduced lager styles, and built networks of saloons that became social and cultural hubs. Their influence reshaped not only local industry but also community identity.
Visitors to the exhibit will discover how skilled labor, entrepreneurial spirit, and cultural traditions combined to spark a brewing revolution. “Tapping into Tradition” also examines the challenges these communities faced—from economic hardship to social discrimination—and how resilience and collaboration fueled success. By tracing the roots of a brewing boomtown, this exhibit invites visitors to reflect on the enduring impact of immigrant contributions to industry, culture, and the flavors we continue to enjoy today.
Beer & Cheese: The Fungus & Mold Tasting
Join Chris Anderson, host of Science Around Cincy and OutSCIder Classroom, as he leads you through a tasting of five artisanal cheeses, expertly paired with five finely crafted brews. Previous panel members included Stephanie Webster, biology teacher turned Cincy's most respected cheesemonger, Mary Ellen Finnegan, a biochemist at P&G and certified beer judge, Dr. Senu Apewokin, MD, microbiologist, and professor at UC, and Roxanne Westendorf, the Missing Linck homebrew captain. We will provide fun, approachable explanations for why you enjoy certain flavors and why certain beers and cheeses pair so well. You'll have a blast and gain an understanding of why beer and cheese make a much better team than cheese and wine.
1:00 - 2:00 pm
Includes 5 cheese and 5 beer tastings
Brew Skies Guided Beer Tasting
Join the Brew Skies Happy Hour Podcast hosts and authors of Tanked In Cincinnati, Bret Kollmann Baker and Michael D. Morgan, on a tasting tour through a handful of the festival beers. Along the way, we'll talk about the breweries, the beer itself, and explore a bit of local beer history. Get ready for a raucous time and lots of laughs as we get an uncensored (for better or worse) look behind the curtain of wild beer culture.
2:00 - 3:00 pm
Includes 4 beer tastings
Home Brew
Competition
Beer doesn't just taste great - it's also fun to make! Every year we gather up all of your home brewed concoctions and have brewers from participating breweries judge them. The only catch? You have to use the same historic Missing Linck yeast that they did.
The competition is low stakes and all for fun, but there are still some awards to be won! Medals or ribbons will be given out, and even some pats on the back for those of you who tried your best. Which, lets face it, is probably most of you. We made the Linck yeast a public resource to be used by nerds, historians, professionals, and basement scientists alike. Grab yours and get freaky with it!
Yeast is FREE!
$5 per entry
Begins roughly 3:30 pm
A Taste of Mexico
Food Truck
Who doesn't love food? Our friends at A Taste of Mexico have gracefully offered to fill our bellies during the festival. Their nachos are supreme, the tacos are titillating, and mole enchiladas will fill you with a joy you haven't had since childhood. Or, maybe, ever. Come grab a bite and give them your money! Otherwise you'll be hungry and you can't drink as much (responsibly).
They will be serving from about 12:00-5:00 pm.
The menu and any other information can be found online.
Order catering for your office! Or for your home.
Stein Holding
Competition
The CIA says that extended stress positions aren't torture, and if we can't trust the people who invented LSD then who can we trust? So, just do it. It'll be fun. You'll get a cool stein and maybe win something.
There's a whole set of rules to keep it fair and make it an official US Steinholding competition (like the ones listed here) but the concept is simple: if you can hold a 33 oz stein of water by the handle with an outstretched arm for longer than anybody else, you win! There's a first, second, and third place. And if you really care, yes, you will qualify to go to the state competition. CASH prizes there, baby! Performance enhancing drugs are optional. Performance reducing drugs are also optional.
Begins roughly 4:00 pm
FREE Sasquatch Calling Competition
Sasquatch, Big Foot, Yeti. Are they all the same creature, or would they be offended because we don't know the difference? Are they successfully illusive because they stay off the grid, or have they begun to walk boldly among us and we just don't see them because we're obliviously staring at our phones? These are intriguing questions best left up to Mammologists and social workers. Although, they have made themselves heard. Only a fortunate few have been paying enough attention to notice, so most of us don't really know what they sound like. That means that what it takes to call a Sasquatch -- from hiding or for mating rituals -- is up for very wide interpretation, and we want to know what YOU think.
Come give us your best Sasquatch call. A panel of random, “mildly” intoxicated judges will determine the winners and award valuable prizes.
Rules? None. Costume? Sure, if you think it helps, but not required. Advanced registration? Nope.
Live Music @
Radio Artifact
As the festivities wind down and the wild animals scurry back to their caves, those of us looking to keep the party going will have a show to attend. Radio Artifact will be hosting a local artist to perform live music while the beer and brews still flow. The show itself will not be associated with the festival but the entertainment and quality are worth attending for those still lurking around.
What started as pirate radio born in response to the loss of our last local FM station, to support and promote local and independent music, has grown into a media platform carrying out the same purpose. We partnered with our local public radio station 91.7FM WVXU to bring independent music and programming back to the air waves. Radio Artifact turned the venue space at Urban Artifact into a recording and broadcast studio with an intimate space for the audience to experience performances unlike anywhere else.
Show time 8:00 - 11:00 pm
Buy The Book
Tanked In Cincinnati: Fortune & Calamity In The Beer Business by co-authors Michael D. Morgan and Bret Kollmann Baker is a collection of Cincy craft beer pioneers and their stories -- good and bad but always real. Get your copy at the Missing Linck Festival or order one here and have it inscribed however you'd like -- literally. We're very easy. We'll call ourselves stupid if you pay us for it.
