Brothers-in-law Brandon Hughes and Mike Albarella are working to open Nine Giant Brewing, a microbrewery and gastropub, in Pleasant Ridge.
If all goes well, they'll be serving their beer and what they're calling "elevated bar food" by late summer at 6095 Montgomery, near the intersection with Ridge.
Albarella has been home brewing for about 20 years, before he was legally old enough to drink. Hughes has a business background. Though they lived on opposite coasts, they'd spend family visits their wives are sisters talking about combining their skill sets to open a brewery in Cincinnati, close to family.
"When we started talking about this (about three years ago), there wasn't craft beer here," said Hughes, who was born in Bethel. He lived in California for about six years before moving back last April with an eye toward launching the brewery. Mike, a native of South Bend, Ind., relocated to Cincinnati from Brooklyn about three years ago. "This place has gone from a fizzy yellow beer town to a craft beer mecca."
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CINCINNATI Everything you need to know about local beers They'll add to the city's craft beer offerings with brews that balance hops, malt and yeast character, Hughes said.
"Our concept on beer is really built on balance," he said. "That might not sound sexy, but a lot of craft beer is really hop-centric. There's not malt balance to it. We're adding some nuance back to things that have gotten a little one-note."
Eight taps at the brewery will constantly rotate. Nine Giant won't have year-round brews, but will always have certain styles. For example, they'll always have an IPA, but it won't always be the same IPA, Hughes said.
"When someone comes in, we want them to have a different experience than they had the last time," he said. "It's always new; it's always fresh."
He said they expect to open with 200-300 barrel capacity, but they could expand to 500 as they keep growing. Beer will be available only at the tap room, to drink in pints or take home in growlers, and perhaps a few draft accounts. Though wider distribution, including bottling and canning, are something they might consider in the future, Hughes said they want to keep their focus on in-house service.
"Mike and I love tap rooms," he said. "We really want to focus on creating the ultimate tap room."
To enhance that tap room experience, they'll offer food that pairs well with their beer, in the style of Spanish tapas sharable, small-size plates. The menu will include interpretations of traditional bar food, plus dishes that explore other cuisines, made with local ingredients whenever possible. Options might include a lamb meatball slider with chimichurri sauce, pommes frites, house-made ricotta crostini with local honey and pink peppercorns, and braised brisket with an Eastern Carolina-style, mustard-based barbeque sauce and pickles, jalapenos and pickled onions.
Hughes said tap room visitors could put several dishes together for a meal, but he envisions them more as snacks to share with companions while drinking a beer.
As far as the 3,400-square-foot space goes, it will be, "hip, edgy (and) clean; modern without being cold," Hughes said. "We want it to feel like it could have come out of Brooklyn or San Francisco."
It will have seating for about 70, including 16-20 at the bar.
Nine Giant will likely be open Wednesday through Sunday, from happy hour into the evening during the week, and from noon into the evening on Saturday and Sunday.
Visit the brewery's website at
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