Imbibe 75 Place to Watch: Mellotone Beer Project

Too often at brewery taprooms, the service can be as cold as the beer. “Many breweries tend to overlook the comfort and experience of people coming to visit their space,” says Alexandra Nowell, who sees hospitality as a key ingredient of Mellotone Beer Project in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mellotone opened last fall inside an historic 1850 church with soaring 46-foot ceilings and arched windows, brightening the dark-wood vibe favored by the previous tenant, Taft’s Ale House. The brewery is carved into a trio of distinct spaces that include a bar and music venue, a restaurant with a scratch kitchen serving smash burgers and bacon-wrapped LA-style danger dogs, and a plant-filled mezzanine with pool tables and communal seating. “Our concept needs to bring joy to everyone,” says Nowell, the founding brewmaster at Three Weavers Brewing in Inglewood, California.

She left in 2021 and moved the next year to be closer to her family in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. There, she partnered with Rhinegeist Brewery veteran Dennis Kramer-Wine to develop Mellotone, which is named after a Duke Ellington song. Nowell’s approachable, accessible beers include “what hopefully becomes Cincinnati’s favorite West Coast IPA,” she says, bringing a touch of California to southwest Ohio. “I’m looking forward to rooting Mellotone in Cincinnati.”

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