The tour guides Lisa and Michelle were fantastic and very informative! They were willing a capable of answering every question thrown their way read more

I did the Bockfest 2K19 trifecta: attended the parade Friday, ran the 5K Saturday and relaxed on the Lord's day with some sausages and drinks. I had an amazing time despite missing so many cool events: Sausage Queen, underground Brewery Tour, Gemütlichkeit games: missed them. 2019 was the 27th Bockfest. If you've never been, think: costumes with pagan-like themes: monks, goats - all of the necessary accoutrements to kick off a spring celebration. It's like late Winter Oktoberfest! You can look up the whole Bockfest history online, but it's a celebration of Lenten drinking my German monks - whatever you need to tell yourself... Mark your calendar for next year. Better yet: do the Bockfest 5K -- the race benefits the formation of a historic Cincinnati brewery district (of which the wheels are now in motion!) You get two beer tickets and a Skyline coney if you run. Find me in the coney line in 2020 for Bockfest 28! read more

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I heart Bockfest. Not being from Cincinnati, it really is a unique event that compares to nothing else I have ever attended. I mean, what City has a parade celebrating goats, beer, and the coming of Spring?! We watched the parade on Main street, then made our way down to Bockfest hall. They had the street outside blocked off with music, tables, and food trucks. Inside there was a German band, lots of beer, and some basic German food such as pretzels and Metts. Be warned, most of the hall is cash only (but they do have ATMs). The tap room is also open, where they do take credit cards as normal, and there was also another band in there! It is super crowded, but everyone is friendly and having a great time! Something that really is worth going to year after year! read more

Bockfest Hall - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

Bockfest Hall is an adequate temporary festival venue that makes the best with what is effectively a warehouse. As the future home of the Moerlein Brewing Company, it's a space designed for production and distribution of product, not necessarily a street festival event. That is ok, though. The space is in Over-the-Rhine and walkable from lots of street-side & surface parking, though not much on-site parking is available. Though it is a bit out of the way of the core business district of OTR (Main-Vine, Central-Liberty), it's but a ten minute walk to most of the places you'd want to go to and from. Temporary seating, staging, portalets & tables are set up for drinking and relaxing. Vendors for food and drink are there with expected festival pricing. Lots of Bocks will be flowing from a variety of breweries. The space houses most of the Bockfest events, as well. Live music, Sausage Queen finals, homebrew contest, book signings, etc. The space is large enough to generally accommodate these events with sight-lines, but if the weather is accommodating, it can get a bit crowded. Bockfest is a fantastic event for neighbors & visitors of OTR to get together and celebrate a unique brew & the coming of spring. The Moerlein building is not the perfect space, but it gets the job done as well as can be expected & is sure to leave attendees with fond memories. read more

Bockfest Hall - Jim is picking on a dog. - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

A must to kick off your March in Cincinnati. Cincinnatians love their beer and we're always up for a party to celebrate our German beer heritage. Bockfest starts off with the Bockfest parade on Friday night, parade route starts at Arnold's and ends at Bockfest Hall. There's a variety of music all weekend long. Saturday or Sunday during the day signup in advance for historic brewery tour, all run by volunteers, where you will appreciate your local bock beer even more after your tour. Proceeds from the tours fund development at the historic brewery sites. Saturday night the Sausage Queen crowning is a site to see. Bockfest grows every year and can't wait to see what's in store next year. read more

Cincinnati's official kick off to spring happens the first weekend in March with the tapping of the annual keg of Bock Beer in the legendary Bockfest Hall. The hall is part of the new Moerlein brewing facilities. The building itself originated in 1886 as the Kauffman Brewery; the fourth largest brewery in the city. It features the legendary underground passages since former federal tax laws required bottling operations to be separated from brewing facilities. The brewery closed in 1919 due to Prohibition, and the building eventually became Husman Potato Chip Factory. In 2010, it was purchased by Christian Moerlein Brewing Company, which only uses 70,000 of the total 400,000 square feet for brewing operations. What does one do with that extra space? Have a beer hall, of course! And Bockfest Hall was born. Bockfest Hall celebrates Cincinnati's German (and beer) heritage. At the event, one can enjoy live folk music, German brass bands, German food from Mecklenborg Gardens, Taste of Belgium, and of course, six different kinds of beers served by Moerlein. This three day, all-day-long festival also features daytime walking tours, photo booths, and booths to view and purchase historic local artifacts, artwork, and beer steins. Bockfest weekend kicks off with the annual parade on Friday evening. Friday night is the best night to go, and most of the day time activities take place throughout Saturday. After 10:00pm, things tend to get loud and rowdy, so if you're not a fan of crowds you may want to attend earlier in the day. Please don't bring children to the event. If you must, come during the early afternoon. This is an adult drinking event with crowds; not a family-friendly function. There are plenty of places to sit, and lots of food options including brats, metts, bierwurst, pretzels and bier cheese, fried pickles and much more. Prices are reasonable, with food being $3.00 and beers $5.00 per pint. Porta-potties only for your toilet needs. Tips: - Bring cash. - Take advantage of the shuttle. - Be sure to attend at least one of the walking tours. They're really neat. - Ladies: watch your bag at all times. If possible carry one that zips shut. read more

Bockfest Hall - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

We had a great time at Bockfest (our first) this year. I ran in the 5k, which was a total blast (and had surprisingly clean portapotties!) The Bockfest Hall has lots of beer, some food, cheesy polka, and a cool little spot of folks selling beer memorabilia. One thing that really concerned me after the 5k was how crowded the outdoor area was in a very small space surrounded by buildings, tents, and barricades. This could have been really dangerous in the event of an emergency. I really hope Bockfest comes up with a better way to handle crowd control in the future. read more

One word: insane. So many people! It's a wild and crazy time. I certainly enjoyed the spectacle, however, it's not my choice for the main spot of the night. The pretzels required a painfully long wait. While there was plenty of potential to make up for the wait in delicious goodness, I have to say they were still practically frozen. The mustard was good though. Finally, a place where a mustard pretzel is not looked upon as weird. The beer selection is to be expected: decent. Prices aren't as outrageous as they could be and there is a little something for everyone. So, in summation, I guess I don't totally love it as a bar type destination, it comes through on entertainment factor alone. You have to spend some time here every Bockfest. read more

I had a great time at Bockfest this year. We went on Saturday and they were doing "one person out- one person in". As a result there was a long line to get in. We waited for about 10 minutes which was a much shorter wait than I expected. I am glad we did not let the line discourage us from the festival. Once we got in you could feel the excitement. The cover band playing was great. People were dancing and ready to have a good time. I love to dance so I was very pleased to hear a band with good music. Hopefully they will continue to book fun bands for Bockfest in years to come. The beer was good and pretty affordable for it being a festival. They seemed to be well staffed as well for we did not have to wait in a huge line to get a drink. After all, nothing is worse than sobering up in the beer line because it is that long. The hall was pretty crowded but there was room to walk and congregate. I was glad that they did limit the number of people permitted in the building. I cannot stand to be in a very crowded room. I wish we had gotten there earlier though to walk around more and buy dome of the festival food. Next year I will make it a priority. Also, this year we did ride the bus around. I do love that this option is available free of charge. I mean really we live in a cool city that does this. I think the last time I rode a school bus was in high school (yep I was not very cool in those days) but I never remember it being as fun as it was at Bockfest. I can't wait for next year. Thank you Cincy for being awesome and having such cool things to do! read more

Of all of the German traditions that have somehow morphed and evolved over the years into Cincinnati traditions, Bockfest is my favorite. And certainly the strangest. But the strangeness is what I love about it. And if one place epitomizes Bockfest above all others, that is Bockfest Hall. Bockfest Hall comes into existence only one weekend per year, the first weekend of March. Things kick off as the Bockfest parade arrives here on the Friday night of Bockfest, around 6. It is filled with beer sales, food from a few vendors (with very variable lines from a couple of people to stretching across the room at different times), and live entertainment on the stage up front. It is loud, it is packed, it is delicious beer, great music, dancing, laughing, and having a great time doing so. Toilets are so far limited to portables, and the layout of the walls and floor space aren't the most aptly designed for such a celebration. However, it somehow just works. People from the neighborhood and surrounding city come together, the energy levels are had, and Cincinnati does what it does so well, enjoy fantastic beer! read more

Great place to close out the bockfest parade. More food options would be better for next year read more

I love Bockfest. It stands to reason, then, that I would love the center of all things Bockfest: Bockfest Hall. The great thing about Bockfest Hall is that it is a constantly changing party. There are always a ton of people there, but there are plenty of rooms for everyone to circulate about. I never felt crowded or claustrophobic- except during the Sausage Queen competition. Arrive early to get a good spot for that, because you will not want to miss the hilarious antics. The food was much better set up this year than in years previous, and there was a pretty decent selection of German foods. You're going to find that most of them are fried. It's a festival. That's par for the course. You can get your bock beer in a line that even at the busiest of times, is really not that long of a wait. Just be sure to drink up early on Saturday, because toward the end of the evening, they were beginning to run out. One of the best things about Bockfest are the shuttle busses that run every 15-20 minutes throughout Downtown & OTR. Bockfest Hall also has a shuttle pick up. It makes it easy to hop around the area's awesome bars. Even Grammars is open during Bockfest Weekend! Yahoo! My favorite thing about Bockfest Hall this year (besides Sausage Queen, of course) was that a group of guys started a spontaneous flip cup game with a couple cases of Hudy Delight in one of the side rooms. It was a giant, rowdy, good time. I can't wait to see how Bockfest 2014 will top this one! :) read more

It's warming up and there's great food and drink. Fun, laid back people. Bring your own stein, your date, appetite, and thirst for great beer! Don't forget cash and to look up where the Bockfest shuttle stops to keep you from wandering all over looking for a place to park. The challenge is remembering where you parked at the end of the day. read more

Bockfest Hall - Goettadogs on the grill! - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

Bockfest is one of my favorite Cincinnati events! We've been going to the parade and Friday night festivities for the last 13 years. Watching the event grow from Bockfest Hall being inside a small bar on Main Street to now taking up the whole brewery, 2 tents outside and the street has been pretty fun. They've done a great job of expanding the event to accommodate the larger crowds. There are plenty of beer and food vendors (cash only) and plenty of port-o-lets. The music both in the hall and in the tent are perfect as well. Bockfest will always mean Spring has sprung to me, highly recommend checking out this local tradition. read more

We went on Sunday for 2012 Bockfest hoping the crowd would be manageable, and indeed it was. Parking can sometimes be a challenge. The hall itself is not an attraction. I assume it is the old brewery and warehouse. For me it is a great opportunity to sample several bocks, enjoy the music, and the traditional German dancers. They always have food such as brats and sour kraut. It's a great time to experience Cincinnati's German heritage. It is unfortunate this celebration happens only once a year. read more

Bockfest Hall - Traditional German Dancers - Festivals Near Me - Cincinnati, Ohio

Wow, if you want a fast track training on Cincinnati and how people here love beer: come to Bockfest Hall during Bockfest... I honestly didn't know what to expect when I signed my husband and myself up to volunteer at Bockfest. We would sell beer, starting at 9pm. I had heard that Bockfest was a big party, to celebrate OTR's beer history. And that Moerlein was a big sponsor. As we approached the Bockfest Hall, we were speculating how many people there would be. We had walked from Covington, passed by the new Moerlein Lager House where there was a 2 hour wait. In OTR, Neon's, Japp's, Grammers seemed really busy. So how many people would there still be in the Hall at 9pm? Enough! Enough for a good party, with a lot of beer. I'm from Belgium and I don't like beer - I know, I'm gutted too. But it was interesting to discover all the different types of beer we were selling ("An Emancipator?, sure coming right up!"). Prices seemed reasonable for freshly tapped chilled beer ($5) and people seemed to think so too because we got a lot of tips -- all of which will go to OTR, win! The hall itself is very basic though. Pretty cold, even with that many people around. But I guess it serves its purpose well. People who come to Bockfest don't expect a warm cosy place - they come for the beer and to celebrate - so who cares if there is beer on the floor and that the toilets are festival toilets? Nobody at Bockfest! I had a good time and we went home a lot later than planned. And all of this is without me drinking beer -- imagine how raving this review would have been if I did. If only I liked beer... read more

One of the best events in Cincinnati. The absolute best parade to watch. This event has grown and grown over the years and all too the good. Hat's off to the organizers. It is the one event that I can say everyone there is having a great time. read more

Bockfest has become one of my most favorite Cincinnati events. This year, we played it a little more low-key than last year (probably a good thing) but still had a great time. I always remind anyone planning to attend to dress warmly and in layers (it will be freezing in some parts of the hall, roasting in others) and be prepared to use port-a-potties. I love this building, it's such a great part of Cincinnati history. read more

My Sister gave the hubs tickets to one of the historic tours during Bockfest so we came down early to hang out and drink beer. Bockfest hall was loud, crowded and just a barrel of fun. read more

I love drinking... and I love the spring, therefore it stands to reason that bockfest is an essential part to my spring festivities every year. Bockfest Hall specifically gets better and better every year, and this years (2014) festivities are the best yet! It gets bigger and bigger with more and more attendees every year. Sausage... Beer... Music. Love it! read more

Bockfest hall is the hub of one of Cincinnati's greatest annual events: Bockfest. Although attendance grows every year, the hall is somehow able to accommodate the crowd. It is a rare treat to see the inside of such a beautiful, historic building, all the while drinking (not worrying too much about spilled drops) and enjoying the best entertainment Cincinnati has to offer. There's something about this place that makes all the beer taste delicious and everyone around your newest friend. read more

I love Cincinnati. I love beer. I love festivals. The hall was a little blah, but I heard it got hopping the night before.

This was just a lot of fun and a great place to drink beer! I love all the other seasonal things they do in the hall too. Looking forward to next years bockfest! read more

I don't really enjoy bock beer but that being said Bockfest Hall is a great place even for the non-bock beer fans. Along with Bock beer they had $2 Hudy delights and that is a huge win for me! Servatii's was selling their pretzels with Bier cheese and well I'm pretty easy to please. Two dollar beers and a good snack, sign me up! The only downfall were the bathrooms were port-a-potties, not the end of the world but just couldn't give 5 stars! read more

Lots of fun at Bockfest. I love Bock Beer and they had all of the best ones. It gets packed for the sausage queen contest so get there early to get a good spot to watch. It is always a blast cn't wait till next year. read more

What fun! You know spring is close when Bockfest goes off. Food is catered in. Beer is made special for the event and the hall holds on the true special things in Cincinnati the sausage queen judging. read more

Great beer, sausages, and giant pretzels. Add that to the back to back to back authentic German bands and great weather, and you get my definition of a perfect little festival. A great way to spend a Sunday. read more

Great place to listen to live music, grab a beer & eat a pretzel necklace!

Another wonderful example of great beer, great entertainment and the celebration of all that is Cincinnati! Even the weather, which was cold with snow flurries, couldn't put a damper on a wonderful party! read more

We attended the bockfest in Over-the-Rhine at the Bockfest Hall on Saturday 3/8/14. It was really crowded! Parking was grossly inadequate and the streets were poorly lit. Out in the tent the was scarce room to breathe and getting any beer in there was next to impossible. We sampled an offering of a Goetta Dog which was surprisingly over the top. Next we went to the Bockfest Hall which was admission controlled, but still crowded inside. We were able to get a couple Hudepohl Festival Bock which was very good! We had wanted the Moerlein Doppel Bock but they had already run out. There were too many people inside to be able to see any of the entertainment. People were even standing on the benches. Feeling claustophobic, we went back out and had a couple more eats: from the Mecklenburg Gardens, sauerkraut balls and also bockwurst on a pretzel bun. After that there didn't seem to be much to do so we left the venue. I know it had been said it would be cash only in the Hall, but I did see an ATM inside there. This would be great if it were not so crowded, and even with the extra venues to spread things out, it was rough. We enjoyed the food and beer we had, but would have liked to have been able to enjoy more. read more

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A drunken day of Bockfest isn't complete without a trip to Bockfest Hall. This year, it seemed about twice as crowded as last year. This may be because I was only half as drunk this year and was actually able to perceive that there were people around me. If large crowds of people tightly packed together in a warm room isn't your thing, you probably just haven't had enough beer yet! Speaking of beer, this place has it. They keep lots of Bock flowing. There's everything from helles bock to traditional bock to doppelbock. The only thing missing is a good weizenbock (not even really a bock), which is one of my favorite styles, or maybe an eisbock. The beer isn't too expensive for an event hall like this either. For food, there's always plenty of sausage, but if you are wise, you will get some Taste of Belgium waffles. They are one of the most awesome things you'll ever put in your mouth hole. There's also lots of entertainment at Bockfest Hall, from music to the sausage queen competition to the collections of breweriana for sale. Don't forget the people watching! Give this spot a shot during Bockfest. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other venues in the area to get your Bockfest fill, and you can use the free shuttle to get there. read more

Its always fun, would love it if they could get the license figured out between the hall and Moerlein house. that's crazy.

Had a wonderful time at my first Bockfest ! Started out with the well organized and on- time Bock Fest 5K. The route was well cleared of the snow and ice . The race was well organized! Easy packet pick up, great to have school bus shuttles to take us to the Bock Fest Hall! The race was on a great course. Great shirts and medals at the finish. Enjoyed the pretzels and hot cheese from Servatti's, the beer, refreshments, and the live music was great!! Looking forward to attending next year and taking a tour. read more