Over-the-Rhine or the OTR is probably not known much past the city limits of Cincinnati but for a period of time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the Portland or San Diego of its craft beer day.
Michael Morgan starts and ends the book with a bit of archaeology as a street is surreptitiously dug up to find lagering caverns (felsens) that had been used by Cincinnati brewers to keep their beers chilled. And throughout the rest of the book, Morgan digs up a lot history including the small possibility that lager was a Mid-West invention as much as a German one.
German immigrants being the connector as they arrived in the OTR in a couple of waves that created a bustling brewery, beer garden and saloon trade. The latter being the example used most often by temperance campaigners as the font of all America’s ailments.
What sets this history apart is that Morgan delves into the thorny issues of anti-immigrants, machine politics and riots with an even tone. Of course many Cincinnati and Ohio natives do not come off well and Morgan is quick to compare current to past without losing the thread of the narrative.
There is not a lot of brewing talk in the pages, as with many histories the actual brewers and the ingredients and processes used are not brought up as the bulk of it is about the men with their names on the side of the brewery.
After reading this history, I did feel that it would be great to have one for each major brewing city.