Woodstone Creek
★★★☆☆ 3.4 (9) • $$
"As the first microdistillery in Ohio, my hubby decided it would be a great place to try on a rainy Saturday afternoon, so we schlepped down to St. Bernard to taste a few samples. We found the tasting room with no problem, and it is in an adorable little old building that has been nicely renovated, complete with a refurnished wooden bar from the 30's (a project completed over an 8-month time frame by Linda, one of the owners). In addition to spirits, you can try out their wines as well.Weekend tastings allow you 4 1/4 oz. sample tasting of your choice from their lists of vodkas, gin, and whiskeys. You pay $5 to do the tasting, which gives you a free shotglass, then it's an additional per-drink charge, ranging from $1.10 to over $10 per sample. By the time we were finished, between me and my husband, who consumed exactly 2 oz. of alcohol between the two of us, we had almost a $30 bill, which didn't include a tip. YIKES!We enjoyed the spirits, kinda. They weren't anything all that exciting, with the exception of their version of a bierschnapps, which isn't even available other than as a sample due to quantity limits. The gin was pretty light on flavor, although in the distiller's defense, he was intentionally shooting for a less juniper-heavy booze, compared to more of the mainstream gins that are so heavy on the plant aroma and taste. We didn't like any of them enough to buy a bottle for home, and again, prices were way too steep for what we tasted. Wines are significantly cheaper at $12 for 5 samples, which were fairly generous pours, from what we saw of our co-tasters. However, other than 2-3 options on their menu, almost all the wines are sweet dessert fruit wines, ports, or meads. NOT my cup of tea. While we were sipping, there was just kind of a weird vibe in the place. The owners kept making strange comments about how they had been shut down for 9 months, how "they" only let them pour 1/4 oz tastings, and rolling their eyes when they talked about state regulations around liquor licenses. It honestly made us uncomfortable, wondering why they'd been shut down and not really wanting to know about their business issues that might exist. Like I said, just kind of weird...While it's very cool to have such a small batch producer here, the prices were really disappointing, and the drinks weren't exciting enough to draw us back. If I liked sweeter wines, I would go back to try those with some girlfriends, but the options are way too narrow for my liking."
"Really enjoyable experience!! Great to hear about the history of the building, area and to learn about bourbon. Griffin was knowledgeable and explained all the details and process and made the experience fun! I can't wait to come back in a year to see the new distillery!! The experience includes a taste of 4 bourbons well aged and 2 of them were their whiskeys. Then you get to be the mixologists and make your own blend and buy it if you choose. I couldn't resist (or was it the good bourbon influencing me)... I purchased Lorean's KY Moonshine curated by me!! It's your own mix and label!! So fun!!"
"We had a fantastic time making our own Bourbon at Brain Brew! Very cool to sit outside, follow the video instructions and start mixing flavors for your own unique blend. Everything felt super safe with COVID precautions and we were at our own private table. It was actually awesome to self-pace and then leave with our own custom blend. Definitely a great idea for anniversary or birthday gift. My husband loved it!!"
