Photograph by Lance Adkins
In our era of tech-driven disconnect, in-person community is essential, no matter what form it takes. For some, community is based around common interests and beliefs, while others center activities. Still others find a metaphorical connective tissue in the literal connective tissue at the heart of meat raffle events in the Queen City.
Photograph by Lance Adkins
That’s right, meat raffles. Put minuscule funds (usually a dollar) in the pot, spin the wheel, get some meat if you win. It’s a simple concept with a murky backstory, but as an excuse to get together and have some fun, it’s hard to beat bacon for a buck.
“We like to call it the most wholesome way to get drunk in the city,” laughs Kiel Erdelac, owner of Binski’s Bar in Camp Washington and emcee of the establishment’s weekly meat raffle. “There’s going to be some people chanting ‘Meat!’ If you’ve never seen one before, it can be off-putting. But I assure you that it is more fun to chant ‘Meat!’ than to not.”
The origins of meat raffles aren’t exactly clear, though it’s generally accepted that the tradition began in England during World War II and may have been tied to food rationing, which strictly controlled meat availability. Post-war, the concept spread to other countries, taking a stronghold in geographically northern U.S. states (primarily Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York), where the festive atmosphere of meat-centric bar gatherings gave people something to do during bitterly cold winters. Attendance has traditionally skewed older and weirdly secretive, with news of meat raffles spread across various watering holes throughout the week. In recent years, a younger generation of enthusiasts gets rowdy at social media-hyped events in local bars. Binksi’s is at the center of much of Cincinnati’s meat-raffle movement, which is not by happenstance.
Photograph by Lance Adkins
“I’m from Chicago originally, but I have a lot of family from the upper Midwest, so when I’d go to visit family in Minnesota, we were familiar with meat raffles,” says Erdelac. “I thought that would be a fun thing to bring down to Cincinnati.”
Though he doesn’t take credit for introducing meat raffles to Cincinnati— pointing out Over-the-Rhine’s Dunlap Café has raffled off cuts around the holidays for years—Erdelac successfully instituted Friday-night events at Binski’s, holding around 150 raffles so far. The bar does drawings from a ticket tumbler every 20 minutes, and attendees can buy as many raffle tickets as they’d like but are allowed to win just twice during an evening. (Meatless options are also available for vegans and vegetarians thanks to Harmony Plant Fare.) And the meat up for grabs isn’t off-brand offcuts. It’s sourced from Wyoming Meat Market, a whole-animal butcher in Wyoming that proudly sells Ohio-raised Wagyu beef.
Photograph by Lance Adkins
Sourcing is important to Urban Artifact’s monthly meat raffles, too, where the brewery features meat procured from Hillside Family Farm, which sells locally raised protein at the Northside Farmers’ Market. “We send somebody from our team to the market each month, and they’ll come back with a wagon full of meat, and then they divide it up into all of the packages,” says Scott Hand, cofounder and chief brand officer for Urban Artifact. “So what you’re getting is a collection. Sometimes it’s bacon, sometimes it’s ground beef, sometimes it’s a bunch of steak, pork—it’s everything.”
Similar to Erdelac, Hand cites a personal family connection to upper Midwestern culture as inspiration for Urban Artifact launching its own meat raffle. “My grandparents used to own a tavern up in Milwaukee, and my mother told me that she used to run the meat raffle back when she was a kid,” he notes. “I learned the long history of how they were super neighborhood-organized events.”
Both Hand and Erdelac note that, in introducing meat raffles to locals, a little bit of background information was required, followed by enthusiastic uptake from patrons. “There was a tiny little bit of education about what the heck it is at the very beginning,” Hand notes. “But after the concept is understood, which takes seconds to learn, people love it. You don’t have to be buying tickets, but it’s fun to sit around and watch, and it’s our team who’s running it. So the folks from our taproom, or sometimes it’s our sales staff, are in there calling numbers and making the event fun on the microphone.”
Photograph by Lance Adkins
And while meat raffles are definitely focused on fun, the events also serve as fund-raising opportunities for local initiatives. Any additional proceeds from the tickets at Urban Artifact go back to the Northside Farmers’ Market, while profits from Binski’s meat raffles benefit a variety of local nonprofit organizations. “We just try to work with people that we believe in, for the most part,” Erdelac says. “We work with Planned Parenthood sometimes, or when there’s a certain immigration crisis, we’ll do a cause that is related more closely to that. So it really depends on what’s going on at the time and what our community needs.”
In addition to visiting Binski’s and Urban Artifact, you can find meat raffles at other locales around town if you go looking for them. Mellotone Beer Project invites Binski’s to host meat raffles on special occasions, and Dunlap Café holds its “Wheel of Meat” event around the holidays. Organizations such as the Cincinnati Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Heritage Center of Cincinnati also have raised money at annual meat raffles. No matter where you head to gamble on meat, you’re sure to find a gathering of good people looking to have a good time together. In the words of Hand, “It’s a community here.”
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