The Muse of
Brews
June/July 2008 Column
The most exciting thing to happen in Akron this year so far was the opening of a new brewpub downtown! Ohio Brewing Company is now officially open! We have been waiting for this and it was worth the wait. Operating in conjunction with Damon’s Grill, they are located at 222 South Main Street in the old O’Neils Department Store building. The brewery is prominently featured in the front window, behind an expansive bar. They have six taps of their own beers, and 8 guest taps, and a hand pump. I attended a pre-opening event and was impressed with the beer (brewed by award-winning brewer, Dennis Holland), the menu, and the size of the place!
Their menu includes additional items not found on all Damon’s location menus, such as mussels steamed in beer. They also have a coffee bar on site, the Other Brew, where they brew locally roasted fine coffees. For entertainment, check out the darts, billiards, and at least 25 big screen HD televisions, and occasional live entertainment in the bar. Buzztime Trivia will also be available.
Ohio Brewing’s regular beers are Verich Gold, a clean crisp flavorful Kolsch; Cardinal Ale, award-winning Irish red ale; Alt-ernative Amber Ale, a medium bodied, dryish altbier; O’Hoppy Ale IPA, a nicely balanced American-style IPA with 70 IBU’s, and, my favorite, the Steel Valley Stout, an excellent dry stout with lots of roasted flavor and aroma. They also had the Airdock Amber Light, and easy drinking reddish amber ale. Seasonal offerings upcoming include their Maple Porter, a robust porter balanced with real maple flavor; Polymer Pilsner, a hoppy Czech style pilsner; and Wright Brothers Wheat, a medium bodied American wheat ale.
The Akron firefighters were also excited about the new brewery in town. It seems the vent stacks for Ohio Brewing’s brew kettle exit out of a second story window above Main Street. When brewing his first batch of beer, Dennis Holland wondered why there were four fire trucks and lots of sirens outside! Holland now has to notify the fire department every time he brews. Really! Stop in and check out the new brewery in town and be sure to join their mug club. They are open 7 days a week and have happy hour from 3-7 p.m.
Now, get ready for the most exiting thing to happen in Ohio this year! Ohio Brew Week returns for a third year, from July 14-19. This is the world’s ONLY week-long festival celebrating Ohio craft beers and designed to build enthusiasm for the Ohio microbrew industry. The festival focuses on educating and entertaining people about microbrews. Athens is the perfect town for this event because of the density and closeness of the pubs, taverns and locally-owned, independent restaurants. Restaurants will emphasize beer-flavored foods all week, and beer/food pairings. There will be a Cooking Competition with awards and great prizes for selections made with Ohio microbrews. There will be a Microbrew BBQ Cook-off, and the only Brew Choo Choo in the world (ride the historic Hocking Valley Scenic Railway and sample homebrews and microbrews to great local musicians as you cruise through the valleys and hills where coal and bricks once ruled.)
Ohio Brew Week’s featured speaker this year, Ray Daniels, is a nationally known beer expert and will delight and charm the crowds with his vast knowledge of microbrews. There will also be a BJCP sanctioned homebrew competition on Saturday, July 19. The week-long OBW event will feature more than 75 craft beers from 22 microbreweries around the state. OBW is about creating jobs, building awareness and market share for Ohio’s microbreweries and supporting independent owned businesses. Visit their website, www.ohiobrewweek.com for more details of events and activities.
Congratulations to Great Lakes Brewing Company, the only Ohio brewery to win a medal in the recent World Beer Cup, with a bronze medal for their Blackout Stout. They are celebrating their 20th Anniversary (which is officially September 6, 2008) with the limited release launch of their Imperial Dortmunder. This will be a more robust interpretation of their flagship Dortmunder Gold Lager. The Imperial Dortmunder will be released late June/early July in specialty 4-packs throughout the Midwest. In addition, GLBC will be celebrating its anniversary with "20 Days of Celebration and Promotion" in the GLBC Brewpub beginning Sunday, August 17th with a GLBC Staff Reunion and culminating on Saturday, September 6th with a big party.
And here’s an event that excites me. Do you like sour? Lemons? Sauerkraut? How about sour beers? Sour beer is certainly not the most popular style in the world of suds, and that, in addition to cost per ounce, makes it harder to find. A Belgian lambic is what most think of when mentioning sour ales, but what about Flanders Red and Brown, German Berliner Weisse, some Witbiers, Saison, Kentucky Brown (a sour mash beer), and other experimental sour beers? On Saturday, June 21, Buckeye Beer Engine will have many, many sour ales available for you to taste at their Summer Solstice Sour Beer Tasting. Here is a sampling of what they’ll have: Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus, Classic Gueuze, Kriek, Iris, and others; Boon Framboise, Gueuze, and Kriek; Rodenbach Grand Cru, Panil Barriquée, and just about everything from Jolly Pumpkin.
The Beer Engine is also gearing up for summer by switching out some of the heavy hitters with Summer wheats, Witbier, fruit beers, and quaffable Pilsners, and, the patio is now open. On Friday, July 25, the Beer Engine will host "Christmas in July." They have once again have been stockpiling treats such as Great Divide Hibernation, Corsendonk Christmas Ale, Scaldis Noël, Delirium Noël, Gouden Carolus Noël, and others. Get breaking news from Beer Engine by subscribing to their email newsletter at www.buckeyebeerengine.com.
The Cornerstone Brewing Company in Berea has plenty of styles on the horizon to welcome the summer weather. They will have Summer Gold, which is a Bohemian pilsner. Also coming up is their Summer Ale, which is bright, crisp and made with lemon grass and ginger. What better way to honor the spring honey harvest than to have a Belgian-style honey triple, and don't forget to try their Dockside Wit, and their Springwine (wheatwine).
At the Brew Kettle in Strongsville, their new production brewery is almost completed and will likely be online by the time you read this. Their Dark Helmet Imperial Schwarzbier is on tap now, and look for the bourbon-aged version later in the year. Their Solstice White Wit Bier will go on tap in June, probably before the actual solstice.
Weasel Boy Brewing in Zanesville will be releasing their Blackfooted Porter. This is an English-style brown porter brewed with a large amount of wheat malt to lighten the body. It has all the flavor of a porter, but lighter in body and more refreshing for the warmer months. Look also for the Ornery Otter Blonde, a light, crisp and refreshing blonde ale with moderate alcoholic strength for good summer drinking. The taproom and patio is gearing up for summer weather with new deck furniture and new screens in the taproom windows. They will feature acoustic music on select weekend evenings throughout the summer so watch the website for details. The taproom is now open Wednesday through Saturday.
One more thing. Have you heard about Indigo Imp Brewing Co.? Check their website at www.indigoimpbrewing.com, and you will find pictures and news of their construction progress in downtown Cleveland, near East 36th and Superior. Nice touch, to keep us informed! And love the logo.