Greg Hardman watches the steel beams and cinder block rise along the river and sees a Cincinnati icon in the making.
“It’s going to be the greatest lager house and beer garden in the world,” says Hardman, president and CEO of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co.His $4 million Moerlein Lager House will open this fall despite delays from record spring rains, latest timetables show. The two-story restaurant will feature a 6,500-square-foot microbrewery, two outdoor beer gardens, a hops garden and room for more than 1,100 diners and drinkers.
“I envision everyone saying: ‘You have to go to Moerlein Lager House. They have every single brand of beer that was brewed in Cincinnati,’ ” Hardman says.Since acquiring Christian Moerlein in 2004, Hardman has resurrected a collection of more than 60 beer brands original to Cincinnati.
The effort has returned labels including Burger, Hudepohl, Hudy Delight, Little Kings, Top Hat and Windisch-Mulhauser to beer taps, restaurants and store shelves. Many brands date back to the 19th century when Over-the-Rhine and Cincinnati was a beer brewing Mecca in the United States.
While the beers are brewed in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania today, Hardman’s working to return brewing to Cincinnati.
This year he opened a brewery in Over-the-Rhine where his firm began brewing small, pilot batches in the former Husman’s potato chip plant on Moore Street. It was the first time since prohibition in 1919 that Christian Moerlein beer had been brewed in Cincinnati.
“No city in America that I know of is rescuing their brewing heritage and history quite like what we are here today,” Hardman says. “We want these Cincinnati brands to come back bigger and better than ever.”At the Lager House, Hardman will help with brewery tours, mug clubs and regular inductions to a Beer Barons Hall of Fame.
“We’re doing all of this as a tribute to Cincinnati’s grand brewing heritage,” he says.Rain has created challenges By August, contractors with West Chester Township-based Schumacher Dugan? hope to complete the roof for the Lager House, which was designed by Mt. Adams-based Tilsley + Associates.
Contractors are working overtime to make up for the rain delays. They’re homing in on early November for completion – but no firm date has been set.
“This rain is playing havoc on brewing plans,” Hardman says. “Our biggest challenge is pinpointing the exact date of the opening.”Get business news anywhere you are: • On Twitter. • In your email. • Headlines on your mobile device. • Text alerts sent to your phone.
He wants just the right brew on tap for the season when the first guests file in. He’ll need up to two months notice ahead of Opening Day to perfect the beer, he says.
“I can’t just snap my fingers and there’s the beer,” Hardman says. “Just a few weeks delay could be the difference between an Oktoberfest beer or a holiday beer. It’s a very long, thought-out process because you want to make sure you have a great line-up of beer.”He expects to soon announce the naming of a world-renowned brew master to help deliver top-notch brands.
“We had resumes from Germany, Asia, all over Europe and the U.S,” he says. “The guy we picked is like the beer rock star. He’ll be in charge of everything from the ingredients coming into the door to the beer flowing into the glass.”The brew master will be able to select offerings from 67 Cincinnati beer recipes. He also will be free to craft and create new Moerlein-owned lagers. Additionally, the brew master will have a hand in selecting at least 100 other beers from across the world that will be available at the Lager House.
“Our intention is to have relationships with other brewers from around the world and do some world-class things that have never been done in Cincinnati before,” Hardman says.As Hardman focuses on the beer and microbrewery, the Cunningham Restaurant Group is focued on the restaurant side. The Avon, Ind.,-based group operates Stone Creek Dining Co. restaurants in Montgomery and West Chester Township.
The team is working to fine-tune the Lager House menu, which will feature dishes unique to 19th century Cincinnati.
In the coming months, top management and an executive chef will be finalized, says Tom Cunningham, a partner in the restaurant group.
“We anticipate peaking with about 250 employees by next spring,” Cunningham says. Already, dozens of requests have come in from local residents hoping to book events and wedding receptions at the Lager House.Cunningham says he’s working with Cincinnati’s parks division to consider whether weddings can be held at the recently finished Schmidlapp Event Lawn at the newly named Phyllis W. Smale Riverfront Park – which sits right at Lager’s House back patio.
“We know there will be days that will be busier than others, but at the end of the day we believe Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents will support us,” Cunningham says.Strategizing with Holy Grail For a glimpse at the potential welcoming the Lager House might receive, Hardman and Cunningham can look just a block north to the Holy Grail bar and restaurant at The Banks.
Since its opening in March, the locally owned venue has hosted countless standing-room-only crowds after Reds games and on weekends.
“It has been fantastic,” says Jim Moehring, a co-owner of the restaurant. The Holy Grail has been so successful that it’s expanding by 700 square feet in coming weeks. The extra space will allow the addition of outdoor restrooms, a walk-up bar and more seating.In recent months owners of Holy Grail and Moerlein Lager House have been sharing updates on construction and brainstorming about strategies in the months ahead.
If all goes as planned both venues will be among a mix of seven restaurants and bars to be open at The Banks and Smale Park by the end of the year.
Setting the Lager House apart from the other incoming venues is its dedication to Cincinnati’s past, says Willie Carden, city parks director.
“The greatest thing about history is that if you really pay attention to it, you can expand and celebrate what was once so successful in the past,” Cardin says. “That’s what’s so exciting about what’s happening here.”