"Great" Lessons Learned (Great Lakes Brewing)

For me, no trip to Cleveland is complete without a stop at the largest and oldest craft brewer in Ohio.  Great Lakes Brewing is essentially the very young grandfather of the resurgent craft brewing scene in Northeast Ohio.  Of all of the microbreweries in Ohio, they have the largest brewing capacity and therefore have the largest distribution with a presence in at least 13 states.  With that sort of expansion, it’s not surprising that many of their year round (flagship) beers tend to toe the line of mainstream styles and flavor profiles.  That said, even their lightest beer “Dortmunder Gold Lager” comes in at almost 6% ABV which is not something you should take “Lite”ly.

Due to our extended time at Thirsty Dog and checking into our hotel, we arrived late for our scheduled brewery tour.  Lesson 1: You don’t want to show up late for your brewery tour of Great Lakes on the same day as an Indian’s home game or a marathon occurring on the street where the brewery is located (let alone both); doing so will ensure you will only have a tour of your own disappointment.  The brewery is located in a large building next door to the restaurant and gift shop, and seeing the tour had already departed we were informed that we missed the boat.   We were no longer in need of a tour guide; we were in need of a drink.

Me with the monster (not feeling any pain)

A 45 minute wait for a table (see lesson 1) gave us an excuse to visit another of our favorite watering holes around the corner from Great Lakes, McNulty’s Bier Market.  So 3 ridiculously strong Belgium style beers later, we made our triumphant return to Great Lakes and prepared to partake.  Lesson 2: When planning to sample a wide variety of beers, you should never preface this task with consuming large amounts of high ABV Belgium beers.  Realizing that my palate and ability to accurately judge the beer selection were pretty impaired at this point, I made the decision to forgo the sampler and just ordered what I wanted from the beginning, a Lake Erie Monster IPA.  This 9% face meltingly hoppy Imperial IPA (it puts the “I” in Imperial) is one of my favorites, and a good example of how Great Lakes is still producing very good and cutting edge beers despite their size.

It’s no surprise that the gift shop located adjacent to the brewpub is by far the largest store for a microbrewery I’ve ever been in to date.  The beers they make, appeal to both the avid beer enthusiast and the casual beer drinker alike, and the diversity of their beer line is the key to why Great Lakes is as popular and successful as it is.  With a food selection that rivals their beer selection in both variety and quality, I highly recommend a visit to this iconic Cleveland land mark.  And if you needed another excuse to stop in, they provide shuttle service to and from most pro sporting events, and we took full advantage of this service.  Lesson 3: When leaving Great Lakes Brewery, you will already be looking forward to your return visit.  

Indians 5 - Pirates 1

Best Water Bowl Ever (Thirsty Dog Brewing)

Thirsty Dog Brewing has a pretty well distributed line of beers, and at least in the central Ohio market, you can find their Siberian Night (stout) and Old Leghumper (porter) at almost any beer store. Unfortunately, they only really distribute their flagship beers outside of their hometown of Akron, so my expectations were fairly reserved. On this day Thirsty Dog took those expectations, added a heaping dose of malt, barrel aged it, and served it at the perfect temperature.

Located in an older brick industrial building just outside of the University of Akron campus, you can tell right off that this brewery's focus was beer first and tourist trap 10th.  After the somewhat disappointing drive passed Ohio Brewing, my wife and I were pretty much done with the looking part of the trip and ready to start the drinking part.  And boy was I pumped when, upon approaching the inner sanctum of Thirsty Dog, a brewer opened the door and instructed us to head to the tasting room where the "bartender" would be out to serve us. . . I'm sorry,  did you say bartender?!  When I hear "tasting room" I think a tiny bar that a few people can stand next to and sample beers from a few taps. What we got was hop heaven.

Just adjacent to the huge brewing room that greets you at the door, we walked into a narrow but welcoming section of the brewery that probably functioned as storage at one time, but had now been converted into a full bar.  Tables and decorated walls adorned this dimly lit bordello of brew, and you could barely see the bartender behind the draft tower of 12 taps that sit prominently in the center of the bar.  For the second time in as many hours, my legs got a little weak as I tried to take everything in all at once.

They should have sent a poet.

On tap, we could choose from their entire fleet of beers, but my attention was drawn to 2 in particular.  The first was the bourbon barrel aged Siberian Night which comes in around 11 or 12%, and just left me smiling from the time I ordered it to the time I took the last sip.  It starts off pretty boozy in the front and slowly melts back into a chocolate and coffee like finish which make you just want to do it again.  In the interest of remaining coherent for the rest of the day, I followed this up with a few of their lower ABV session beers, but made sure to finish on a high note.  The final beer that I had to try before we left was the Cerberus Belgian Tripel.  I am a big fan of tripels so I've had my fair share of them, but the lemony sweet front and the bubblegum finish was unlike anything I've experienced before.  I enjoyed it so much I grabbed a 4 pack of it and rolled out like it was Christmas.

Thirsty Dog is a must stop for any craft beer fan visiting Northeast Ohio.  They have a wide variety of beers, so no matter what your preference or exposure to craft beer is, you will find something you like.  My wife was a big fan of their Whippet Wheat and Tilted Kilt Scottish.  It's perfect for a short visit like we did, or an extended session of sampling.  Although it's not one of the most well known breweries in Ohio, I don't see that being the case for much longer.  Either way, if you plan a visit to Thirsty Dog, let me know and I'll see you there.

Drive-by Brewing (Ohio Brewing Co.)

The second brewery on the Northeast tour was a quick stop at the Ohio Brewing Co.  I honestly don't know very much about this downtown Akron brewery.  Just came across it as I was planning our overnight excursion and figured, "When's the next time I'll be in Akron?"  So we parked the car and approached the building that our GPS identified as the place.

My wife and I try not to make a habit of walking into random buildings in search of beer.  We're fans of easily identifiable entrances that indicate that this is a house of hops, and guide us into the aromas of boiling malt and fermentation that lets us know our day is about to get a little bit better.

So, which is it?

Unfortunately, the only sign we found was on the side of an office building that most definitely wasn't a brewery.  So we walked around the building and found another building attached to it that looked like a place a brewery might be housed.  But without any additional signage, we both decided that more planning and investigation was probably in order before we're going to be able to check this place out.  Luckily I'm planning another Northeast Ohio trip, and maybe w/ friends this time!

Selle Generator Works

What I can tell you is that the Selle Generator Works building where the brewery is located just looks like it has quite a bit of history within its brick walls.  The young brewery was actually relocated to the Selle Building from its original location in Niles, Ohio.  The fact that it's only been open in this incarnation since the end of 2010, may explain why there wasn't very much information on the web about it or clear indication of how to find it.

The beer list on their website seems promising.  I tend to steer away from beers that breweries identify as their "flagship" brands, so I probably won't be a fan of their "Verich Gold", but some of their seasonal offerings like their "Maple Porter" and the "Smokin Scotch Ale" intrigue me a bit.

(Sidebar:  Why don't I like "flagship" beers?  They tend to be their big seller as they are the most average consumer accessible style of beer, or in other words the closest style that tastes like something that has the word "Lite" in its title or that has a bottle with super sweet VORTEX ACTION.  Unfortunately, even though those styles lack things like hop or malt characteristics, their flavor profiles (or lack there of) tend to be what people have come to identify as what a beer should taste like.)

Anyway, I'll have to revisit this place again later this year and give it a proper review.  And if you come across their beer . . . anywhere . . . let me know what you think.  Although, I don't think their reach extends much further than the Akron city limits.

I've Got a Golden Ticket (Hoppin Frog)

In the world of brewing, there are those that are content to make good beers, and there are those that seek to achieve greatness by pushing the boundaries of traditional beer styles. It is the latter that I want to talk about today: 

My wife and I noticed that we had an open weekend on our schedule so we decided to take a trip across Northeast Ohio.  I know it doesn't sound like the greatest vacation idea, but the opportunity to visit 5 breweries in 12 hours is to me, what visiting Disneyland is to a 6 year old.  So with my wife driving and me to anxious to do anything as complex as steering, we headed North to Akron.  

Yes Please

As the top brewery in Ohio and rated the 17th best brewery in the world by RateBeer.com, Hoppin Frog is a prime example of a frontier brewery.  Although the beer style on the label may sound innocent enough, one look at the ABV will tell you a completely different story.  Fred Karm, the owner/brewer/salesman of Hoppin Frog, completely embraces the concept of "Go big or go home."  The vast majority of the beers that he makes are North of 7% and are full of flavor.  He takes each beer style to its limits, bottles it, and if I'm lucky it'll end up in one of my glasses.

Things you won't find on a visit to this Akron based brewery: a brewpub, taps for sampling, a huge "Hoppin Frog" sign, or lot's of merchandise.  What you will find are beers in a small fridge, Fred, and an opportunity to see how he turns water into WOW.  Although I've been to many breweries and met many brewers, this was the first fanboy reaction I've ever had related to beer.  It was like the scene in Willy Wonka when the kids first see the giant room of candy and the chocolate waterfall.  I kept my cool though . . . for the most part.

Where the Magic Happens

Although the outside of the brewery is very unassuming, the inside was surprisingly spacious.  When you enter the brewery you actually don't see any brewing equipment at all (with the exception of some wood barrels I'll get to later.)  Upon meeting Fred and purchasing a couple bottles from the fridge, we headed to the adjacent room which was lined with stainless steel fermentors and brewing equipment.  At this point, I'm making my wife photograph anything and everything just in case the sensory overload was too much for my brain to handle. 


During the tour, Fred let me know that he was expecting to increase the presence of Hoppin Frog in the central Ohio market, which was music to my ears. He also said he was planning on releasing a very special Barrel Aged Barleywine that sounds absolutely ridiculous and may justify another trip to Akron when it's released towards the end of the year. 

Barleywine Barrels

I'm using the word tour loosely here, there's just 2 rooms in the whole place and the entire experience maybe lasted 10 minutes (and 5 minutes of that was me stumbling over my words.)  None the less, that 10 minute tour already made the entire weekend trip worth it for me.  We had the opportunity to meet the most decorated brewer in our state, buy a couple beers from Hoppin Frogs full arsenal, and see where some of the biggest beers in the world are made.  It was the epitome of what makes the craft beer experience great.  The concept of not only enjoying the product, but to appreciate the time and effort it took to create it and to meet the craftsmen behind it.  And despite all of the accolades and my obvious fandom, Fred was a very gracious and humble host.

Fred (humoring me) and me (trying to be casual)

This Time with Smoke (Barley's 2)

To closeout the Barley's section of the Ohio Brewery Tour, I visited Barley's Smokehouse in Grandview.  Unlike it's older sibling downtown, The Smokehouse has its own building which affords it more room for seating and brewing.  However, the bar area is surprisingly half the size of the other location (go figure).  Not only is the physical size of the building larger, but the food selection includes all of the normal bar fare, with a huge addition of a smoked meat section.  If you like barbecue style food I would check it out, but again that was not the task at hand.

While we waited for a table to open up (25 minute wait on a Friday), I walked over to the bar and dove into a St. Joan's Revenge (their Russian Imperial Stout aged in Jack Daniels barrels.) Now I should have known better then to come out of the blocks in a full sprint, but this 12% beer was too tempting to wait for a table . . .order a sampler . . . drink the weaker beers . . . then try.  No, this was a "do not pass Go", order as soon as you walk in the door type of beer that didn't disappoint.  Although the Jack Daniels flavor was subtle, you could definately taste that it was aged in wooden barrels and you could pretty much taste all 12% of the alcohol in this black but not overly thick beverage.

Now that my taste buds were nice and desimated, the sampler was probably a moot point, but the show must go on:

Barley's Centennial IPA (1994)
MacLenny's Scottish Ale (1993)
Left Coast Pale Ale (2007)
Barley's Hoptopus (2007)
St. Joan's Revenge (2005)

As you can see from the lineup this location featured a much more updated cast of characters and not necessarily the normal fare that a brewpub would shell out to the masses.  Three of the 5 (with the exception of the Scottish and a fore mentioned stout) were pretty hop forward, and despite my bold selection to start the night, I thought the beers tasted really great and fresh.  Not sure if I know the rhyme or reason, but I would say that the experience (at least beer-wise) at the Smokehouse was more enjoyable then the Downtown location.

In closing, if you're heading to a Jackets game and want to grab a bite and beers for the game, I would check out the Barley's Downtown location.  But for my money, I would check out the Smokehouse for a really good beer experience at a pretty down to earth restaurant.

Can't Brew Without it (Barley's)

Across the street from the Columbus Convention Center and around the corner from the Nationwide Arena, you'll find a small brewery nestled in the middle of an office building on High Street.  Barley's Brewing Company, being the smallest of the big 3 local breweries in Columbus (Elevator and Columbus Brewing being the other 2) differentiates itself by bringing a focus to and promoting "real ales."  Essentially real ales are beers served directly from the same container where it matured through second fermentation.  This unfiltered beer, served from a container called a Firkin, tends to lack carbonation and many times is served at room temperature, which sometimes can be a little off putting if you're not ready for it.  For me, it's an interesting departure from the normal drinking experience, so I'm a fan.  Unfortunately, the weekly firkin beer is offered on Friday, and I headed there on a Monday, but it's definitely something you should try out at least once.

Due to it's location near the arena, this 18 year old brewery is a popular pregame spot for many Columbus Blue Jacket fans.  And I, with my hockey jersey sleeves rolled up,  have spent many an afternoon in the slender but inviting dining room that makes up the main eating hall at Barley's Downtown.  The menu features a nice mix of American and German style food that compliments the beer served there nicely.  But you'll have to go to a foodie blog for that review, this is all about the brew.

Barley's isn't well known for traveling too far outside of traditional styles and their beer selection has remained relatively unchanged since they opened the doors in 1992.  They normally only introduce a few new one off batches of beer a year, and those are usually a twist on beers they already brew.  Due to the fact that the brewery shares space with the restaurant and bar, the restrictive space probably doesn't afford them much opportunity to experiment with many test batches.  I assume they're going with the montra that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" which is reflected in the sampler that I received (left to right, with first year brewed in parenthesis):

Sampler

Barley's Pilsner (1992)
MacLenny's Scottish Ale (1993)
Barley's Pale Ale (1992)
Blurry Bike IPA (2009)
GlenLenny's Scotch Ale (1998)
Ol' Ron's Surly Oatmeal Stout (1993)

I'm not going to waste too much time discussing the normal staples that I'll come across at almost every brewery.  There's the token Pilsner for those that prefer to judge beer on how easily you can see through it rather then on taste.  The Pale Ale and IPA were pretty forgettable, and the Stout was on par with a Guiness.  Now this isn't indicative of every experience I've had at Barley's, I actually really like their Centennial IPA which comes in above 7% ABV, I just think I came at a bad time in their beer rotation.  The exceptions being the Scottish Ale which I found to be surprisingly sweet and almost had a cotton candy taste to it, and the GlenLenny's Scotch Ale was the star of the bunch.  The GlenLenny had a sweet and boosy taste that sort of reminded me more of a Belgium tripel then a scotch ale/wee heavy.  I ordered a glass of it for my bonus round and was not disappointed.

So to sum up the experience, I would skip the sampler and go straight to what interests you.  One of the nice things about Barley's is that you can sample a beer for 75 cents, which is a nice deal for 5oz and more ideal than trying to fight through $5 worth of beer you don't want.  Although they don't stray very far from the beaten path as far as their beer selection, the location and overall experience of coming to this brewery makes it worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood.  And if you can, stop by in mid April (after April 14th) when they'll have a bourbon barrel conditioned version of the Scotch Ale I enjoyed, which will probably be off the charts good.  Hopefully, I'll see you there.

Ground Rule Dubbel

One thing about attempting to visit all of these breweries over the summer has become clear, fitting it into my schedule is going to be a challenge.  Not because I have a ton of better things to do, but because of previously scheduled weddings (not my own), the birth of children (not my own), and various trips to other states (not my own.)  If I'm going to embark on this escapade, it'll take some sacrifice on my part so I want to do it right.

With that said, I want to lay some ground rules for the reviews.  Not only am I going to rate the breweries and brewpubs, I'm also going to rate some of the beers themselves.  The beer reviews will not just be limited exclusively to the beer offerings at the brewery, I also want to include beers that are readily available at beer stores. By reviewing locally available beers, it'll allow you to partake in the experience without the gas mileage (if you live in Ohio.)  It's pointless for anyone to actually travel all the way to Hoppin Frog when you can drive down the street and purchase the beer there.  I'll do the leg work, you drink the benefits, local breweries make some coin.  Win Win Win.

A comprehensive review of the each experience will be found here, as well as reviews on both RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com as UnionBrew (feel free to friend or follow me there.)  Obviously beer tastes vary from person to person, so just because I don't like something doesn't mean you won't.  Go out and try some of these beers on your own.  1 Rule though: Support your local breweries!

-If you would like to review some places on your own and post them here, let me know (the more the merrier.)  Feel free to add your review of beers from specific places visited in the comments section.  I can't drink them all, but I'll try.