Rhinegeist Brewery (German:"Spirit of the Rhine") is a craft brewery and craft cidery based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company also sells their ciders under the name Cidergeist, using an alternative apple-shaped skull logo. The brewery's taproom and production facility is located in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, and occupies the former, pre-Prohibition bottling plant of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. Rhinegeist operates an additional shipping, storage and innovation brewing facility in Cincinnati's Camp Washington neighborhood. Rhinegeist was the 28th largest independent craft brewery in the United States and the 2nd largest in Ohio by sales volume. Rhinegeist currently distributes its products in Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. The brewery self-distributes in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Rhinegeist's annual beer production was in 2018. History Origins Rhinegeist was founded by Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding, who first met in 2005 when working together as business consultants in San Francisco. After Bob moved to Cincinnati in 2007, he called Bryant in August 2011 with an idea for a brewery in the city, which he thought was "a vacuum for locally brewed craft beer." After planning for several months, Bryant moved to Cincinnati in July 2012. Searching for a brewer, the duo found Jim Matt, a pharmaceutical chemist and homebrewing hobbyist. They tasted some of his homebrews, including two that would later evolve into Rhinegeist's Uncle and Truth beers, and decided to bring him on board. After securing funding from local investors, they leased a building in Over-the-Rhine that had formerly served as Christian Moerlein Brewing's packaging hall. Construction work began in January 2013 and lasted until mid-2013. Opening and early local success Rhinegeist officially opened its doors to the public on June 29, 2013. Their lineup on opening day consisted of Uncle, Spikelet, Cougar, and Truth, which are a British mild ale, a hoppy wheat beer, a blonde ale, and an IPA respectively. They served around 2,500 customers on that day. They began opening their brewery taproom every Thursday through Sunday and distributing to local bars. By mid-July, they were distributing to about eight bars and were near the upper limit of their production capacity. Rhinegeist began selling its beer in cans in February 2014, starting with Cougar and Truth. They added a third beer, a session pale ale called Zen, to their can lineup in May. The cans were available in five Kroger supermarkets by July, and in 65 by September. In