Rhinegeist led Cincinnati’s brewery revival. 13 years later, it’s doing the same.
By Joe Frye
Back in the fall of 2025, Rhinegeist was prepared to announce its newest product. With a press release prepared and ready to be published, the Cincinnati-based brewery was stopped in its tracks. That same day, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced an executive order requiring Ohio retailers to cease the sale of all intoxicating hemp products.
With DeWine’s announcement, Rhinegeist Brewery’s newest product, Fuzzy Bones, a THC-infused line of beverages, would be unsellable in Ohio. “Clearly, we didn’t expect to see that, now that whole segment is still in development,” says Adam Bankovich, CEO of Rhinegeist.
While this change may have been a frustrating roadblock in business, Bankovich says the incident embodies the sense of innovation that has driven Rhinegeist’s success. “Something that’s intrinsic in our DNA is that we are constantly committed to innovation and building great brands,” he says. “We just said, ‘OK, next product up,’ and looked back at our innovation pipeline and decided what we would want to bring to market instead.”
First founded in 2013, Rhinegeist was born out of Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding’s hope to bring a West Coast trend—craft brewing—to Cincinnati. “It’s having a moment. It will be here for years to come. Cincinnati has a deep, proud brewing heritage and is ripe for opportunity for the entire craft industry as a whole, not just for Bob and Bryant starting Rhinegeist,” Bankovich says of the founders’ mindset.
While 13 years ago the Ohio craft brewery scene was small and particularly nonexistent, Bankovich says that has changed, with Rhinegeist leading that charge. “For a while, Ohio was behind the trend nationally. And then ultimately, I believe that Ohio punches above our weight class in terms of craft beer representation, craft beer prowess, craft beer barrel age per capita relative to the entire industry in the country.”
Rhinegeist is the second largest brewery in Ohio behind Garage Beer. According to Brockovich, this success didn’t come as much of a surprise as one may think. “[Bonder and Goulding’s] minds are different… they absolutely approach this business with this entrepreneurial mindset and that is still a major part of our ethos and everything that we do, in the decisions that we make.”
That mindset, along with the innovation, is perhaps what has kept Rhinegeist on top for so long, especially in an age when craft brewers are shutting down and shrinking. While THC is sure to shake up the market— once all the legal drama settles—even tastes for beer are changing. While the craft brewing scene may have ushered in the popularity of hoppy IPAs and tart sours, breweries are seeing consumers swing toward light, more refreshing brews.
“We’re evolving more now than ever before,” Bankovich says. “Cincy Light was the biggest deviation from our traditional brand standards that we ever had in company history. And the success of Cincy Light and its subsequent brand family has shown us that we can create new liquids and new brands that speak to different customers or different occasions from the same customer, perhaps, that we weren’t tapping into before.”
By making sure that Rhinegeist and its beer can meet more customers, Bankovich is hoping to ensure that Rhinegeist can continue to lead the state’s brewing scene and increase its presence outside of Ohio. While expansion will require new products and processes, the spirit of Rhinegeist must remain intact.
“What Rhinegeist is, what we were built on, I don’t see that ever going away. I do see a need for us to continue building new brands and new types of beverages for new consumers and occasions,” he says.
“But that can’t be at the expense of the core of who we are. If we ever lose sight or focus on that, then we’ve strayed too far.”