On cold-weather weekends, mulled wine and sizzling sausage greet visitors along Cincy’s riverfront. From the patio of the Moerlein Lager House, lights stretch across the Schmidlapp Event Lawn, where rows of wooden chalets stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a heated tent and a boardwalk of rentable igloos. A few steps away, Carol Ann’s Carousel turns with hand-painted Cincinnati creatures — including a flying pig, a nod to the city’s 19th-century “Porkopolis” nickname earned during its booming pork-packing era.
This is the Servatii Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt, now in its fourth year and held Nov. 22 through Dec. 28. It stands at the intersection of German tradition and hometown culture. While many American Christkindlmarkts lean into Old-World nostalgia, this one doubles down on what’s distinctly local: the influence of German immigrants, the brewing culture they established, and foods – like the meat-and-grain sausage goetta – rarely found at holiday markets elsewhere. That focus makes sense in a city whose sister city is Munich and whose beer heritage once rivaled major brewing capitals.
Cincinnati’s German roots shape everything here, says Nate Whittington, director of operations at Moerlein Lager House, which produces much of the food and drink on-site. “A lot of what we do is geared toward the heritage of Cincinnati. We have a large German population and tie into local traditions with a local twist.”
The market unfolds just outside the lager house, which sits above the Ohio River with views of the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Moerlein, founded in 1853 by a German immigrant, grew into one of America’s largest breweries before Prohibition. After a revival in the 1980s, it returned home in 2004 under local owner Greg Hardman, who later helped launch the Christkindlmarkt on the restaurant’s west lawn.
“We were sitting around five years ago, and Greg said, ‘We need to do a market,’” Whittington recalls. Early years experimented with an ice slide and later an ice rink. Now the centerpiece is a 100-by-50-foot heating-equipped tent with a bar, a stage, and long German beer hall–style tables. Steam from hot drinks gathers beneath the canopy, carrying the aroma of glühwein, mulled wine steeped with clove, anise, orange peel, and coriander.
Food remains the backbone of the market. Inside the tent, visitors find schnitzel, Bavarian pretzels, roasted almonds, kettle corn, and raclette cheese scraped from a bubbling wheel. When the raclette warms, the aroma rises sharply before melting into the crust of a toasted baguette.
But the menu doesn’t stop at German classics. Whittington, who grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, still remembers his first encounter with the region’s signature pork-and-oats staple. “I was like, goetta-what?” he says. Now he oversees dishes that celebrate it. Local favorite Glier’s brings goetta sliders and nachos, making this likely one of the only Christkindlmarkts in the country serving the peppery, crisp-browned mush that locals grow up on.
Avril-Bleh Meat Market, another Cincinnati institution, supplies the sausages. Owner Len Bleh and his son Matt represent the fifth generation of the downtown butcher shop, founded in 1894. Bleh takes pride in old-style sausage-making still done in a USDA-inspected facility “people find hard to believe” exists in downtown Cincinnati.
The meat market’s white brats are finely ground pork seasoned with salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and parsley. “They’re white because they’re not smoked,” Bleh explains. Instead, they’re poached, shocked in ice water, then browned on the grill. He also produces the Beer Baron sausage, a smoked all-pork link with mustard seed, paprika, garlic, and a hint of cayenne; and Nuremberg sausages, made once a year specifically for the market. The market’s schnitzel is hand-cut and breaded and served with apple kraut made at Moerlein using apples, bacon, onions, juniper, coriander, and house-brewed beer.
On the sweeter side, Servatii Pastry Shop – the presenting sponsor – anchors dessert. Owner Greg Gottenbusch represents the third generation of a family whose baking lineage traces to Germany’s master-chef tradition. Servatii’s apple strudel layers almond filling, cake, and homemade apple mixture inside puff pastry, finished with apricot glaze and powdered sugar. Employees warm strudel in outdoor ovens and build giant cream puffs filled with Bavarian cream. Their pretzels follow a centuries-old Bavarian recipe of flour, water, yeast, malt, and salt. “It’s a great opportunity to bring the family down for a German festival,” Gottenbusch says.
Beverages stretch beyond beer. Brü Brothers Coffee operates two chalets, including one near the kids’ zone, where hot cocoa arrives piled with toppings. “We’re trying to bring that coffee shop experience to the market,” says owner Jim Boyd, who works the booth himself. The menu includes peppermint mochas, chai hot toddies, espresso Martinis, and mulled cider spiced with whole cinnamon and star anise.
The market layers in family-friendly attractions – character days, live music, a massive LED screen, and Hardman’s Steampunk Donuts – alongside special tastings like the Holiday Beer Extravaganza, featuring more than 20 breweries pouring seasonal styles.
Whittington sees the setting as essential. “It’s right on the Ohio River, where you can see the bridges going to Kentucky. It’s a family-friendly event, and it combines the holidays with a lot of Cincinnati traditions.”
Dining and Cooking