The Muse of
Brews
April/May
2008 Column
Due to a rather sudden trip to Europe for work, I missed all the February excitement. I hear that the Second Annual Winter Warmer Fest at the Rock Bottom Brewery was even better than last year. Of the thirty or so beers on tap, Willoughby Brewing Company’s Imperial Wheat got the most votes for best of show. The Cleveland Chophouse Belgian Triple won 4th place, and the other four places in the top six were won by Hoppin’ Frog Brewery with the Smashing Berry Dark, Mean Manalishi Double IPA, Smashing Berry Blonde, and the Silk Porter.
Another one I missed, I didn’t even know about until after I left for Europe. The First Annual Midwest Winter Beer Festival was held on February 23 at the Radisson Cincinnati Riverfront Hotel. There were two sessions, an afternoon session that almost sold out, and an evening session that did sell out. Over 850 people attended. Pretty incredible for an inaugural event, wouldn’t you say? There was a free Friday night Pub Crawl for those attendees and brewers from out of town. So, if you don’t want to miss this one next year, mark your calendars now for February 7, 2009.
With the huge success of this event, they are planning an outdoor summer beer fest, too. Watch their web site, www.cincybeerfest.com for more information.
On April 26, there will be a beer tasting fund raiser for Ferrets Unlimited ferret shelter in Cleveland at the Sachsenheim Hall, 7001 Denison Ave, from 1 until 6 p.m. The “A Taste for Beer” event will feature beers from national and local breweries, including, appropriately enough, beers from Zanesville’s Weaselboy Brewing. For more information and tickets, see www.ferretsunlimited.org. And, speaking of Weaselboy, their tap room in downtown Zanesville is now open.
I recently discovered an interesting place in Hudson called the North End Market. As its name implies, it is about as far north on Route 91 as you can get and still be in Hudson. Looking a little bit like a house, it bills itself as a wine bar/restaurant. They do have an excellent selection of wine and weekly wine tastings, but they also have some very good beer. There are only eight taps, but all are micro or imported brews, plus they have another 50 or more in bottles. The food is excellent and designed to pair well with wine and/or beer; you can get specialty cheeses; and, my favorite; a sampling of gourmet chocolates to pair with your glass of Schneider’s Aventinus or Thirsty Dog’s Old Leghumper. Open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 10 or 11 p.m., the restaurant opens at 5 and reservations are suggested. For more information and a schedule of live music performances, check their website at www.northendwindfoodfun.com
Larry Hazen at Willoughby Brewing Co. is creating his own variations of beer styles again. He has one he calls Ear-ache, which is a “black” version of an IPA to challenge your perception, and try to have you not drink with your eyes. April should still find the Limerick Irish Export Stout and Wild Irish Red on tap. He continues with his Micro-batch beers and you never know what you’ll find as he experiments with chocolate, caramel, banana, peanut butter, flavored tea-infused, and oak versions of his classic porter, Belgian, or stout styles. WBC will be celebrating the repeal of Prohibition with a 3.2% abv beer and a single keg release of a year-old Legislation Ale. Replacing Railway Razz in April will be Cherry-O, a fruit beer made with a blend of sweet and tart cherry puree, along with some toasted oats, vanilla, and oak. Sounds interesting! Wonder what goodies he’ll come up with for American Beer Week in May?
Buckeye Beer Engine continues with their beer and food pairing dinners on the second Tuesday of each month. They range from five to six courses and most will center around one particular brewery. March featured beer from Ommegang. When possible, dinners will include a guest speaker. The Beer Engine will host 420 Hop Fest again this year. The event kicks off on Friday, April 18, and continues through Sunday, April 20. The focus is, of course, hoppy beer. They have been stockpiling hoppy beer since getting word of the current hop shortage. Expect a special guest appearance from “Randall the Enamel Animal,” Dogfish Head’s “organoleptic hop transducer module.” Basically, it is a large filter housing containing a half-pound of fresh whole leaf hops through which Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA pours. Other featured beers will be include those from Buckeye Brewing, Breckenridge, Great Divide, Southern Tier, Arcadia, Victory, Bell’s, and many, many more.
For you “techies,” the Beer Engine is currently making improvements to their website, which will include enhancements that will allow the site to be “mobile ready” for wireless handheld devices. Users will also be able to add the current draft and bottled beer list as an RSS feed. This feature allows you to view the beer list without having to visit the website. A separate feed will display current events. For updates, subscribe to the email list at www.buckeyebeerengine.com.
Kelleys Island Brewery is busy preparing for summer now. With two new beers, Summer Haze, an American hefeweizen and Gale Force Ale, an IPA, and a new menu, you’ll want to visit as soon as the snow melts! They have expanded their outdoor festival and event area and are planning a Kelley’s Beer festival. They also report that a new hotel is to be built next door.
The Brew Keeper in North Ridgeville will have a couple of new brews for April a Honey Wheat and the return of the Mad-arillo IPA. They are also expanding their activities to include a wine bar and winemaking on premise.
The BREW Kettle Production Works, as they are calling their new production site, is nearing completion. By April-May they are scheduled to be producing their Ringneck brands in the new facility. Soon after, the removal of the existing brewery will allow them to add a new grain room and an additional fermentation room at the existing BREW Kettle Taproom and Smokehouse. Brewer, Jack Kephart has been busy brewing the Pre-Prohibition Lager, Vanilla Frambozen and Dark Helmet Imperial Schwarzbier, all scheduled to be on tap and available in bottles this spring.
As of this writing, Ohio Brewing Co./Damon’s Grille is still rumored to be open by St. Patty’s Day, but I’ve heard nothing official. I’ll let you know next issue if it was true. Granite City Brewing in Maumee has had their liquor licenses issued so they may also be open by the time you are reading this.