Start Your Engines
Drive-thrus make easy work of filling your tank

By Rick Pender, Gregory Flannery, Steve Ramos and Felix Winternitz

It’s not everywhere in America that you can buy beer, wine and other spirits without leaving your car. Come to think about it, it’s a curious notion: Does the inconvenience of walking inside stop you from buying groceries? Do you purchase alcohol so often that drive-thrus are an essential time-saver in your everyday life?

Photo: Wendy Uhlman (L-R) Geoffrey, Zachary and Timothy Bobst provide the kind of personal service that’s made Luckie’s Drive Thru the readers’ favorite.

In an era when we try to segregate drinking and driving, Greater Cincinnati has many popular places where you can get a six-pack just by rolling down your car window.
In a recent language survey that queried more than 8,000 respondents about what they called establishments for purchasing liquor from your car, nearly half the sample said they’d never heard of such a thing. Elsewhere around America, these businesses might be called party barns, beverage barns, beer barns, brew-thrus or even bootleggers. Around here, we call them drive-thrus or pony kegs, from the half-kegs of beer (7.75 gallons) you can pick up from their loading dock. These days the term applies to just about any place selling beer and snacks.

To tap into the best of Cincinnati’s drive-by filling stations, CityBeat assembled a crack team of brewmeisters. Here are their reports:

Luckie’s Pony Keg
This is the king of Cincinnati pony kegs, according to the vote of CityBeat readers (see Readers Picks). Luckie’s straddles the opposing worlds of blue-collar factory jobs and luxury SUV dealerships with a simple, all-appealing pitch: “The Coldest Beer in Town.” That’s something all pony kegs claim, of course, and it’s fair to say that the bone-chilling temperature inside Luckie’s coolers is the same as its peers.

  What’s unique about Luckie’s are the familiar faces behind its two drive-thru windows — they know all their customers by name and what they order. Brothers Geoffrey, Zachary and Timothy Bobst bought the business in 2000, and they’ve worked hard to update its selection while maintaining longtime favorites. They offer an impressive selection of wine and coffee and micro-brews such as Abita and Bell’s. But there are also stacks of Milwaukee’s Best, lottery tickets, cans of chewing tobacco and diet pills.

Luckie’s is one of those rare Cincinnati spots where people from all walks of life mingle naturally. Sleek Mercedes pull up behind beat-up Plymouths, and everyone is happy to be there. The pony keg is about people who cherish their business, value their customers and love what they do. Yes, wine and beer go hand-in-hand with love — that’s why the condom display is located next to the drive-thru window. (SR)
8600 Blue Ash Road, Deer Park, 513-791-0581

Photo: Wendy Uhlman Dry Run Beverage in Newtown caters to the country club set, so the manager says he reads Wine Connoisseur and Wine Spectator “to keep up on things.”

Dutch’s Pony Keg/ World of Beers
If Luckie’s is about rich man and poor man getting along, then Dutch’s is the private club of pony kegs catering to an elite customer who’s never seen a wine bottle with a twist-off cap. This has a wine selection better than most fine restaurants, and you’ll never find a can of snuff on its premises. All of which suits its East Side clientele just fine. (SR)
3378 Erie Ave., Hyde Park, 513-871-1446

Dry Run Beverage
This is anything but — dry, that is. If you make a run to this drive-thru located just east of bustling downtown Newtown, you’ll encounter an impressive selection of exotic wines and imported beers. Little wonder. It’s poised on the edge of the ritzy Ivy Hills Golf Course community, where half-million-dollar mansions swallow the landscape. On a recent afternoon, the SUVs, BMWs and other assorted acronyms were queued up, engines purring as if imported oil was as infinite a resource as imported ale (they’ve even seen a golf cart here on occasion).

“ I cater to the Ivy Hills community,” the manager told us as our turn arrived. “I read Wine Connoisseur and Wine Spectator to keep up on things.”

Indeed, a bottle of Boone’s Farm would seem as out-of-place here as a Little Kings chugger.

There’s no climbing out of your vehicle: The staff scurries around, filling front seats with bottle upon bottle, as requested. The huge fridge cases that line both sides of the spacious barn make it easy to survey the inventory.

On this particular weekend, the manager was recommending Yellow Tail and one or two other vintages but finally sold us on the Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay ($10.99, $2 cheaper than at Wine World nearby). This drive-thru also offers Ohio Lottery tickets and the predictable chips and snacks and promises state minimum prices on the booze. (FW)
7607 Route 32, Newtown, 513-271-6618

Eighth Street Drive-Thru
Location is everything in this business. This drive-thru is across the street from a funeral home and around the corner from St. William Church. The market for after-services — and before — must be considerable. This small establishment has the essentials: cold beer, cheap wine, chaw. But the only frills are a rack with car-sales magazines.

For kicks, my guest ordered a half-dozen Groelsch. The server allowed that the house was fresh out. We bought Red Stripe instead.

“ That’s a far cry from Groelsch,” said the server.

Maybe he got it.

I asked for Joker rolling papers.

“ That’s the one kind I don’t have,” he said.

That didn’t seem likely, but there was no sense in pressing the point. The slow-burning qualities of rice paper are lost on some. “Give me the everyday one-and-a-halfs,” I suggested.

“ Do you have any onion dip?” I asked.

“ No.” (GF)

4205 W. Eighth St., Price Hill, 513-244-5001

Harvest Drive Thru
The salmon exterior here — none dare call it “pink” — signals a more inviting drive-thru experience. The color selection makes sense once you turn into the entrance. On one wall is a sign boasting, “Ice Cream Sold Here.” On the other is a sign saying, “Live Bait, Full Line of Tackle Sold Here.” I wanted to try an order of night crawlers and Rocky Road, but my guest opted for another six-pack of Red Stripe.

This is a drive-thru with more than the usual inventory. Several varieties of over-the-counter painkillers are available. In the far right corner I spied what looked like bean dip. I decided to try my luck.

“ Onion dip?”

Just like that, the server had a jar in my hands — real glass.

“ Rolling papers?”

“ What kind?” she said.

“ Joker.”

“ One-and-a-quarter or one-and-a-half?”

We’ll be back. (GF)

4017 North Bend Road, Cheviot, 513-481-2352

Hungry Harold’s Quik Mart/ Steve’s Drive-Thru
It’s hard to find true drive-thrus south of the river, perhaps because of the dominance of the “big-box” merchants like Party Source in Bellevue and Cork & Bottle in Covington. Drive-thrus that are part of gas stations — like this one attached to a Marathon Station — can only sell beer, not wine, because of Kentucky state law.

The convenience store — with beer stocked from the other side of the same cooler that serves drivers — has a full array of the necessities that go with drinks: smokes (including a least a dozen varieties of cigars), fatty snacks and lottery tickets. Hungry Harold’s also offers an ATM, a photocopier, a cappuccino machine and delicacies such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Of course, you have to get out of your car to pick them up.

From the drive-thru you can stock up on beer in cases, six- and 12-packs, plus lots of 40 oz. bottles. The usual American brands dominate, but you’ll find few microbrews and imports including Pete’s Wicked Ale, Killian’s, Red Stripe, Hofbrauhaus Munich, Beck’s Dark and Dos Equiis. You can also grab a gallon of milk, bottled soft drinks and a bag of ice. (RP)

2301 Alexandria Pike, Highland Heights, 859-781-7856

Liquor Kwik
If you need a broader array of choice and potency in Northern Kentucky without leaving your car, try the drive-up window here. Just north of MainStrasse Village in a cheesy, pseudo-Tudor building with stucco and dark wood trim, you can be served with a full array of beer, wine and the hard stuff. They’re open from 6 a.m.-1 a.m., and you have to fork over cash at the window. (If you walk inside, you can use your Visa, MasterCard, Discover or a debit card with an ID).

There are many beer choices here, from blue-collar favorites like Stroh’s, Milwaukee’s Best, Colt 45 and Pabst Blue Ribbon to mainstream Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Lite, MGD, Red Dog, Michelob to higher end choices like Heineken and Guinness.
Liquor Kwik is also a full-fledged liquor store — don’t forget those untaxed Kentucky prices — and they have a decent wine selection, too, right down to Boone’s Farm ($1.99 a bottle). You can stock up on snacks as well.

By the way, Liquor Kwik expects you to behave yourself, in or out of your car. A big sign proclaims, “No Drinking on Parking Lot: Violators will be prosecuted.” (RP)
430 Bakewell, Covington, 859-431-5380

Mike’s Pony Keg
The most nostalgic drive-thru is tucked behind a storefront on a busy thoroughfare. Drivers pull up to a ramshackle porch, the entrance to the wooden icehouse that holds the beer. Mike’s has a limited selection — more Budweiser than microbrew — and the main appeal seems to be its retro appearance, an authentic throwback to long-ago days where customers bought blocks of ice for their homes.

Mike’s looks like it always has, and one hopes it never changes. (SR)

7013 Montgomery Road, Silverton, 513-791-9957

Mt. Washington Ice & Beer
This is more of a drive-by than a drive-thru, but locals have been pulling up to this unpretentious loading dock since the mid-1940s. Nestled just off the main drag of the downtown Beechmont strip, behind the Mount Washington Bakery and directly across from Kroger, this institution is where brew lovers flock.

The owners are chatty and knowledgeable, offering hundreds of beer choices, all available by the individual bottle as well as the six-pack — a plus for those who like to sample just one before committing to a label.

“ Right now, I’m recommending seasonals,” said the proprietor, pulling bottles of St. Brigid’s Great Divide Porter, Great Lakes Conway’s Irish Ale and Goose Island Kilgubbin Red Ale off the outside shelves. He dashed inside the walk-in cooler to nab ice-cold versions of the same.

Beyond the basic chip and dip offerings, Mt. Washington Ice & Beer offers the typical snacks plus a few unique delicacies such as Kaiser of Cincinnati’s Jumbo Dill Pickles, conveniently packaged for carryout. (FW)
6139 Plymouth Ave., Mount Washington, 513-231-8824