Tasty Taproom Traditions
Brewpubs continue Cleveland's love affair with beer

We love beer in Cleveland. Clevelanders have a fondness for local breweries and brew pubs. After all, Cleveland has been the home of some great breweries, places that brewed the beer our grandfathers and fathers drank, like Carling Black Label, Pilsner, and Leisy. Some were good while they lasted, like Crooked River Brewing Company, and at least one existing brewery, Great Lakes Brewing Company, not only distributes its beer to retail locations all over the region, but it’s hard to go into a restaurant and not find Dortmunder on tap.

A little-known fact is that The Gund family made their fortune as brewers in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. When George F. Gund came to Cleveland in 1897 to purchase Jacob Mall Brewing Company, a small brewery, Cleveland’s brewing industry had become fiercely competitive due to the downtown in the economy, but Gund was determined to keep his brewery open.

The Cornerstone Brewing Company resides in a historic building on Front Street in Berea. Exposed brick walls, planked ceiling, tall windows, and an open kitchen flanked by black countertops unite old with new in the open dining room. As in many brew pubs, the current brews are listed on a board above the bar. On a recent visit, I chose their current Belgian brew and my husband chose their hoppy Seven beer, then had their Sandstone. The beers are mild but refreshing. There’s more than one reason to visit a brewpub—food is usually casual and well prepared.

The Cornerstone does not disappoint. The burgers are exceptionally good and the crisp-on-the-outside fries are served with their tasty barbecue sauce. The Chicken Apricot Walnut Salad with blue cheese dressing was just the right size for a meal and the dressing didn’t overwhelm the salad. The menu has some interesting items on it--appetizers include Brewer’s Pretzels stuffed with pepper-jack cheese and deep Fried Pickles, and the entrees include a traditional brewer’s feat of grilled sausage with apple kraut and grilled pretzel bread with caramelized onion mashed potatoes.

The Brew Kettle, home of the Ringneck Brewing Company, at 8377 Pearl Road in Strongsville, is in an unimpressive shopping center. Inside is a working-man’s pub with a bar that stretches the length of the narrow bar on the left-hand-side. Brewery serving trays from all over the world hand above the booths along the right-hand-side of the narrow room.

Flights of five of their six beers then on tap can be sampled in 5-ounce glasses with a beer menu introduction, and sitting at the bar with an informative bartender, we were provided with six because we were leery of the vanilla framboisen and the bartender felt we should try it. We thought the six we tried—Imperial IPA, a Munich style lager, an English Bitter, FOTB, an Irish Stout, and a vanilla framboisen—were all complex and robust. The differences between the beers, laid out and sampled against each other, is extraordinary. Is it any wonder they rated so highly on ratebeer.com?

The menu at the Brew Kettle lists typical brew pub fare with a tendency toward German food—the starters include the Weiss wurst platter of Bratwurst, a big soft pretzel, and mustard. The buffalo chicken salad and cheeseburger were satisfactory, but it is clear that the focus of the Brew Kettle is the beer. At the back of the restaurant is the brewery with equipment for novice brewers to make their own beer. Framed nods to old Cleveland breweries, Carling Black Label, Pilsener Brewing Company, and Leisy Brewing Company, line the back wall.

We recently stopped in at The Great Lakes Brewing Company at 2516 Market Street in Ohio City around 9 on a Friday night, and the after-work crowds had dissipated. The pub was full of pleasant rivalry and a cheery buzz of human voices. We sat at one of the high tables in the bar where we could admire the beautiful woodwork and bottles along the black wall and witness the local Ohio City regulars greet the bartender and their friends with familiarity.

The most popular Great Lakes brew is probably Dortmunder Gold, which can be sampled at many Cleveland area restaurants, but the Elliot Ness and Burning River Red are my favorites. The space at Great Lakes includes a well-windowed dining room, a large outdoor patio, and a cellar with a stage where local music is played. Great Lakes Brewery takes its food seriously--the burgers and the salmon flatbread pizza are full of flavor and go well with beer. The establishment focuses on food and beer pairings during its monthly Brewmaster’s dinners and festivals like the Octoberfest! during Labor Day weekend with a German-inspired menu and live music. The brewery also offers monthly brew schools and tours and tastings.

A beer engine is a devise used to pump beer. But it’s also the name of Buckeye Brewing Company’s Beer Engine brew pub at Madison and Arthur in Lakewood. This latest addition to the brew pub scene is off to a good start. A long winding bar lined with wooden-chair stools and two large televisions dominate the indoor space, but the outdoor patio on Madison is a great place to watch the neighborhood from under an umbrella. The four Buckeye beers brewed at the brewery off West Boulevard and formerly located off Miles Road in Bedford Heights are listed on the paper menu with 23 other beers on tap from Trapist triples to Belgian wittes to fruit beers and stouts—the paper menu means the selections constantly change. Four-ounce samples of Buckeye’s Fuggle, Wheat Cloud, Altbier, and Amarillo give a sense of the range of the beers produced by under head brewer Garin Wright.

My favorite is the one made with Amarillo hops. The other beers on tap can also be sampled in groups of four, and the back of the menu lists other beers available by the bottle, with Buckeye 76 IPA and Buckeye Hippie IPA appearing with Panil Barriquee, a Flemish sour ale produced in Italy, and Flying Dog’s Oak Aged Gonzo. All burgers can be substituted with a marinated Portobello cap or black bean burger, and the menu offerings include breaded mushrooms or vegetable medley, and platters of fish and chips with blue cheese slaw or a smokehouse sampler with rosemary mashed potatoes.

The Rocky River Brewing Company, at 21290 Center Ridge Road, has special events on its calendar, including a Halloween Party in October and Night of the Long Cock in November. It’s a popular spot because of outdoor seating in the summer and a pub atmosphere inside. The menu includes creative items like Reuben pierogies, a chicken Waldorf salad sandwich, Asian nachos, and sun-dried tomato pesto Mahi Mahi. The food seems to be the focal point, but the beer is local and worth trying for comparison. The Elmwood Cabin Fever, considered a heavy ale, is excellent, but not always available, and the Summer Solstice is light but interesting.

The Rock Bottom Brewery on the west bank of the Flats in the Powerhouse complex is not a Cleveland brewery, but Clevelander’s awareness can be raised at this establishment, so I mention it here. Rock Bottom solidified our love for brew pubs with its casual yet sophisticated menu and décor. The restaurant prepares great food (especially the fish and chips made with salmon) and the beer is full-bodied. Related to the Cleveland Chophouse, which also serves its own beers and has well-prepared food, neither of the brew pubs are local breweries—they’re part of a national chain that began in Colorado.

Cleveland’s love of beer and its history as a beer-brewing city makes breweries and brewpubs a good choice for an evening out. We still have more on our list: the Thirsty Dog Brewing Company and Willoughby Brewing Company. Maybe we’ll see you there!

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com
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