Ethan Clifton, Swine City Brewing’s general manager and creative director, said the previous kitchen that operated out of the Industry Drive location ended, and Clifton took some time when brewery owner Dan Ebben was on vacation to work on a potential branding project.
“As I obsessed over it, we were able to make it this fully fleshed out thing ― basically it’s a design project turned restaurant,” Clifton said.
And why hot dogs?
“It’s easy, simple and low overhead,” Clifton said. “And it’s a great blank canvas for us to collaborate with local people.”
One collaboration Swine City is working on with Jupiter Donuts which includes a caramelized hot dog.
“It’s just a simple, blank canvas base that people can really experiment with, and everything’s under $10,” he said.
At the July 12 grand opening of Underdog’s, Clifton and Ebben are working on the first collaborative hot dog with Covington, Ky.-based Farmer Nate’s Hot Sauce.
“Every month we’re going to start collaborating with someone local, and Farmer Nate’s is going to help us kick it off,” Clifton said, adding he’s friends with the owner and they already have some of his sauces and seasoning mixes. “We got a lot of friends in the food industry.”
There are a few restaurants that focus on hot dogs, like the ubiquitous Greater Cincinnati chains Skyline and Gold Star, and other Hamilton County-based restaurants. In Butler County, there are fewer options, like Middletown’s The Jug, Mr. Hotdog and Bourbon’s Kitchen, and the Hamilton-staple Jolly’s.
Ebben said they’re working to collaborate with Hamilton-based Chickpea Chicks on a vegetarian hot dog option.
“As we work to create something out of our kitchen space, we do see a possibility for future expansion because of a simple, novel idea that has a low overhead,” Ebben said. “People will have gotten sick of the $12 food truck meal, and it really doesn’t feel like you should be paying $12 for a hot dog.”
They’ve pushed the idea around town, Ebben said.
While they’re focused on the Industry Drive location, Ebben said the possibility of a second location has been a point of discussion.
“We’re working on it,” he said of a second location. While he would only say “a lot of places” when asked where he’s looking, Ebben confirmed, “If we open another location, it’ll have an Underdogs kitchen because it’s simple, easy and fun.”
Connected with the opening of Underdog’s, the brewery is piloting a Swine City Collaboration 6-pack, said Clifton, which would include hot dog flavor beers (like a Cincinnati Chili Brown, which they’ve done previously), a mustard seltzer, a ketchup seltzer and a relish beer (likely a wheat-based beer).
They’ll have no doubts it would be popular because Clifton said, “Pretty much anytime we do something weird because we want to do it, like a really weird item, it seems to work.”
Underdog’s hours will match the taproom’s hours because most people have a short window of time from ending their workday to getting to bed.
While they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the new hot dog venture may change that, they are open from 3 to 10:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, noon to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
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