Cleveland and surrounding area

[sprague11]

Just came back from the area. Most of what we did was family trip stuff, but I did manage a couple stops:

Fat Heads - we stayed byt he airport, so Fat Heads was about 5 mintues from the Hotel. Great food and beer (HeadHunter IPA was top notch!) and 4 of us ate and drank for under 80 bucks. Grabbed a growler of HeadHunter for the hotel.

Warehouse Beverage in South Euclid was the only bottle stop we did. In a not-so glamourous area of the city, but the selection was anything but poor. Some bruery bottles, Ballast Point, Six Point, Left Hand, Bells, Great Lakes, Stone, JW Lees, Headhunter in bottles, and all the Ohio-area micro's.. Only grabbed a smaller handful of bottles as I spent a fair bit earlier in the trip, but not a bad stop at all - the prices were comparable with what you would pay in Buffalo.

Most of the local restaurants at least have a couple Great Lakes taps.

[Peter Collins]

I've contributed to this thread as I'm not unfamiliar with Cleveland but wanted to bump it up to see if there is anything new over the last year or so.

I'll be there in December for a week hanging out in the Cleveland Heights area and plan on visiting the usual haunts: Melt, Happy Dog, Winking Lizard, Dewey's, Whole Foods, Warehouse Beverage. Hoping to get to Great Lakes in the pub part to try some new things.

Anything new or different I should check out?

[cratez]

IMHO Tremont Tap House (south of downtown) and Buckeye Beer Engine (Lakewood) are worth considering since they were the best bars that I hit there by quite a large margin. Neither are new per se but both are very stellar. Melt and Great Lakes, as you mentioned, are also must-visits. Not sure if you'll be with a significant other but if you are Mike Symon's Lolita restaurant is a great option for dinner. Incredible food, well-selected bottle list, and only minutes away from the Tap House. Being east of the city you would have to cab to these places, which may or may not be an issue.

[El Pinguino]

Anyone know of recent developments in the beer world in Cleveland?
Will be there later this month for a few nights.

[icemachine]

Anyone know of recent developments in the beer world in Cleveland?
Will be there later this month for a few nights.

Anything to report? Headed down there after Thanksgiving for a few days with the wife

[El Pinguino]

Cleveland is an interesting city. I spent most of my time in what is called the "Ohio City" part of Cleveland, but managed to get out for a day and explore. The city is pretty spread out, so sadly you really need a car to get to the top places.

There are 5 breweries near Ohio City area with another 5 in development, so I think Cleveland as a whole will be more exciting in a years time.

I stayed at the Aloft Downtown Cleveland. Right around the corner from it was the Portside distillery and Portside Brewery, which are set to open any day now.

In a funny twist....and most people don't seem to know this...but a number of the best beer bars and breweries in Cleveland are owned by the same guy.

Sam McNulty opened The Bier Markt years ago and also owns the Market garden Brewery and Nano Brewery, plus some other eateries.

Nano Brewery was tiny, but a lot of fun. Definitely my favourite spot downtown.

Market Garden is bigger...it's kind of the bigger brother to Nano. They test beers at Nano, if they sell well, they may produce them on a larger scale at Market Garden. It had a bit more of a "party" vibe to it, but is right near the market so worth a stop.

Great Lakes was solid. I thought the food was decent, not special. I'd compare their experience to that you get at Mill Street Brewpub but with slightly better beers.

I quite liked The Brew Kettle in Strongsville. Great food and bbq, and a very solid tap list. Probably my overall most enjoyable stop.

Conversely Tremont Tap House was a bit of a let down. Their tap list was on par with Brew kettle, but they had better bottle selection. The service was "meh", and it didn't help that one of the owners/workers was drunk as a skunk with some other workers at the end of the bar. They were doing a private tasting of sorts and he had no quams verbally harassing the staff that were working and, in his own words "being a douchebag".

If I had happened to be seated at a table or on the patio away from that, I would have enjoyed it more and would recommend it as a top place to go.

For cheaper eats with some decent beers, Happy Dog can do the job.

For bottles, the Save on Tobacco in Mentor was great and had a ton of stuff. I also visited the Lizardville bottle shop and Winking Lizard bar in Bedford Heights. A few different selections, but nothing special for bottles that I was looking for.

Never made it to Fat Head's further south, although everyone raved about it. Indigo Imp was closed the day i wanted to stop by. They are quite different as they use open fermentation for their beers.

Have fun!

[icemachine]

Thanks El Pinguino , that's a really good roundup. We'll be staying Thursday night-Sat Midday so I should get a chance to check out a few of these places

[icemachine]

In very fortuitous news, it just happens to be Cleveland Beer Week next week

Some of these Satellite Taproom events look pretty sweet

http://www.clevelandbeerweek.org/Events

[El Pinguino]

Bonus!
Hope you get to try out some great beers.....!

[munrets]

Just bumping up this thread as a few of us are heading down for a Raps game.

Anyone been lately to Cleveland? Any and all recommendations, especially for bottle shops, are greatly appreciated.

[biegaman]

Anyone been lately to Cleveland? Any and all recommendations, especially for bottle shops, are greatly appreciated.

My favourite stop for bottles is Mack's Beverage (technically in Parma) and Warehouse Beverage is also very good. Between the two you should be set

I'd also recommend a stop at Fatheads (growlers!) and really enjoyed Townhall, Melt, City Tap and the Winking Lizard (kind of an institution in those parts).
GO RAPS GO!

[Cass]

Any recent visits to Cleveland? They agreed to a Quick Beer video so will be heading down there in early May. Never visited before!

[Cass]

First of a few episodes from Cleveland coming from A Quick Beer!

I split the conversation I did with Great Lakes into two parts, here's the first one:



The episode about the broader scene will be really good so consider this a Cleveland appetizer!

Sorry Ontario GLB if you're reading for cheating on you!