USA, OH: Humble Monk Brewing becomes latest addition to Cincinnatis brewing scene
Humble Monk is the latest addition to Cincinnatis lengthening list of locally owned breweries. Specializing in Belgian-style beers, the Northside taproom connected to the Bertke Electrical Services & Testing building pours a mix of traditional Old World recipes with a healthy dose of experimentation, the Cincinnati CityBeat reported on May 20.
When you walk through the taprooms front door, youll face a modest wooden bar. Church pews serve as seating and industrial cable spools have been repurposed into tables. The tall ceiling twinkles with strings of lightbulbs that are reminiscent of a summer evening; festive and welcoming.
Humble Monk is an everyday celebration. It all morphed from my homebrewing, says brewmaster Michael Kemp, who claims 37 years of experience. When I brewed in the garage, I always brewed way more than I could consume. If the garage door was open, that meant my neighbors could come in and pour a beer, take a growler and go home or hang out. I had a large kegerator in there and it had that block-party feel.
At present, the beer is brewed off site until Michael, whos also the resident welder, can finish the necessary work to retrofit food-grade vats previously used to store refined vegetable oil into fermentation tanks. This equipment is a holdover from his familys former venture in biodiesel. While the brewing is done in a different location for the time being, everything is fermented in the facility.
Paul Kemp, the brewerys CEO, is Michaels son. The two of them can be found working in the taproom together nearly every day. While theyre very satisfied with the building, their landlord and the neighborhood, theres still a lot of work to be done before their plan reaches its full potential.
Dad and I joked that a lot of the tanks that we used to store the veggie oil after it had been refined would make great fermenters, Paul says. We thought it was too capital intensive, (that) theres no way wed be able to do that right now, but dad said for me to just write up a business plan as a joke. But I went on and started looking at it and realized we could actually make it work. From there, we started looking for locations. We had to find a space that fit our existing equipment with a minimum of 16-foot ceilings hard to find.
The Kemps are self-described bootstrappers and have managed to open their taproom using their own funds and those raised by investors.
Were debt free. We enjoy using recycled equipment for cost, for environmental friendliness, Paul says. Our goal is to make excellent beer. Beers an experiential thing that brings people together.
Regarding their beer, its a welcome addition to Northside. Humble Monk is 30 yards catty-corner to Urban Artifact, a brewery which specializes in tart, sour and gose beers. Humble Monk, however, makes beers more familiar to traditional palates, finding a way to slightly elevate standard recipes with a bit of luck and experience.
The Kemps arent infringing on their neighbors business and instead believe the two breweries complement each other. Like many Belgian-style beers, expect Humble Monks to have malty flavor, some higher alcohol by volume and positive esters lingering on the tongue.
Uncle Gids Farmhouse Ale is a saison named after Michaels great uncle Gideon, a combat veteran of the First World War who brewed beer in the family barn until some over-conditioned bottles exploded during fermentation in the cellar, which got him kicked off the farm. The beer Humble Monk serves in his honor is refreshing and slightly spicy, but altogether easily crushable. Theres a slight tinge of barnyard funk and its a unique take on the classic farmhouse ale without straying too far from whats expected from such a beer.
Humble Monks clever logo an old mans face with a hops flower for a beard went through around 150 design iterations before designer Darren Vogt came up with something Paul felt confident would represent their new business. It was inspired by Rhinegeists skull logo, which is bold and immediately recognizable across the room.
The brewerys name, Humble Monk, was suggested by a friend after the Kemps received a wave of backlash on Facebook for their first planned name, Rabbit Hash Brewery. In 2014, the same year they premiered their upcoming brewery on social media, the beloved Rabbit Hash General Store burned down.
I lived in Boone County for years. People thought we were trying to take advantage of it, but the idea was already (hatched) and it blew up on Facebook, Michael says. A friend said, What about Humble Monk? Hed been in the garage, saw that I made Belgian-forwards. I scratched my head and go, That kind of matches the humble pie Im eating.
Other beers currently on tap include an English mild ale, stouts, blonde ale, pale ale and an IPA. Follow Humble Monk on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the rotating taplist. The taproom is currently open Thursday through Sunday.
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