The Brown County Chamber of Commerce recently announced the winners of this year’s “Best of Brown County” awards. The Best of Brown County was created to celebrate all that Brown County has to offer including food destinations, live entertainment, and local historic sites. Over the next several weeks, Wade Linville (editor of The News Democrat, The Ripley Bee, and The Brown County Press) will be visiting each of the locations that earned a “Best of Brown County Award” and writing about his experience. This is part three of Wade’s Best of Brown County Experience featuring Brown County’s 2022 winner of Best Pizza, The Ripley Boat Club.
The winner of the Brown County Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 “Best of Brown County” Pizza Award was The Ripley Boat Club, a non-profit club that helps local children through donations and provides college scholarships for students of Brown County.
Setting The Ripley Boat Club’s pizza apart from others in the county is the quality of the ingredients, according to longtime Ripley Boat Club Treasurer Curt Spiller.
“You can’t get any pizza in Brown County like you can here,” said Spiller.
Spiller said they use only high quality toppings, sauces, and special crust.
“The crust has a lot to do with it,” said Spiller.
According to Spiller, pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms are among the most popular toppings on Ripley Boat Club pizzas, and they also have an awesome breakfast pizza.
The Ripley Boat Club is seasonal, and the busy weekends during the summer account for the majority of its pizza sales.
The competition for best pizza in Brown County is pretty fierce with so many excellent pizza establishments in the county, and The Ripley Boat Club is truly deserving in being selected for the Best of Brown County Pizza Award.
“We’re honored,” said Spiller. “We were glad to be nominated and given the award.”
The Ripley Boat Club started out selling hot dogs and hamburgers from a small boat on the Ohio River near lower Front Street in Ripley. Around 30 years ago, they purchased a larger boat that they currently have today and started selling pizza.
The Ripley Boat Club’s pizza has gained a reputation in Ripley and surrounding areas over the years, and proceeds from sales go to a worthy cause.
The Ripley Boat Club helps local children and other organizations through donations. The Ripley Boat Club hands out scholarships to local students, and this year gave out six $500 college scholarships to a student from each of the five high schools in Brown County and one student of the Southern Hills Career Technical Center.
The Ripley Boat Club also donates money to the local school district for sports, and donates money to the Ripley Lions Club. It also donates money to local food banks and donates money that goes to help local underprivileged children at Christmas time.
As for its pizza, even the pickiest of pizza lovers would enjoy a mouthwatering Ripley Boat Club pizza. But as a warning to those who decide to partake in The Ripley Boat Club pizza experience – once you’ve started, you may not be able to stop.