Ohio Beer Guide: Brew Muse News

Those of you who read the Cleveland Plain Dealer or Crain’s Cleveland Business may have noticed a recent article about a new brewery scheduled to open in Cleveland in early 2007. Moulton Brewing Co. is currently under construction at 3751 Carnegie Avenue. Owner Natasha Moulton-Levy has recruited Brian Lottig, formerly a brewer at Great Lakes Brewing Co., as vice president and brewmaster. Lottig says his style of beer-making is European, with big flavor, but not over-the-top. Look for a pale ale and a helles lager for his first brews. With a reported investment of $1.5 million, and Lottig and other key employees with experience in the industry, this is exciting news for Cleveland!

The 9th Annual Free Clinic Microbrew Extravaganza will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2006 from 7 p.m. until midnight at Massimo da Milano, 1440 West 25th Street, Cleveland. Tickets for the event, which include beer tastings from many of the area's microbreweries, a catered buffet, live music by Cleveland's Punch the Clown band, and a chance to win some great raffle prizes, are $50 in advance and $55 at the door. For more information or to order tickets by phone, call the event hotline at (216) 707-3525, or e-mail fcab2004@yahoo.com. All proceeds from Microbrew Extravaganza benefit the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland. I’ve attended this event in the past, and it’s a wonderful event for a worthy cause.

Rocky River Brewing Company will release the HopGoblin IPA in October in addition to the ever popular Monster Mash Pumpkin Ale. The latter is brewed with fresh pumpkin and a secret blend of six spices that only the brewer’s mom knows! Space Monkey will also return this fall, a coriander laced Belgian strong ale, and everyone’s favorite, the award-winning Oompa Loompa Chocolate Stout. Well, everyone but Matt Cole, the brewer, that is. HIS favorite, the Blitzkreg Altfest will also be back on tap, though. Santa's Lil Helper will return just before Turkey day. Look for hand filled bottles of it for the holidays, as well as Coopers Kolsch and Pirate Light. Subchaser Hefeweizen will be available almost year round now.

On a recent visit to Rocky River Brewing, my personal favorite was the Sömmer Keller Bier. This hazy yellow German Pilsner was crisp, refreshing, and pleasantly hopped at about 50 IBUs, a perfect summer beer! I also finally got to try the gold medal-wining Baltic porter Neptune’s Nemesis. This beer is perfection on the other end of the scale. With its aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, and molasses, its well-balanced flavors, and its 7.5% alcohol content, this is a good one to warm your insides. Although I’m not a major fan of smoked beers, the RRBC Smokestack Porter is an excellent one. Matt Cole smoked the malts himself using alderwood (after much experimentation with other kinds of wood), and the resulting aroma is reminiscent of a campfire. I was surprised to find the smoky flavor much more subtle than the aroma, I liked it!

Have you tried McNulty’s Bier Market yet? Across the street from Cleveland’s West Side Market and around the corner from the Great Lakes Brewing Company, it’s easy to find. They also have an impressive array of beers on tap, with the primary emphasis on Belgian beers. They have 35 actual taps, but about some of them are repeated, so about 20-25 different beers on tap, including such things as St Bernardus Abt 12, Blanche de Chambly, LaChouffe, Rare Vos, Rodenbach, and Piraat Triple, with a few IPAs (from Dogfish Head, Brooklyn, and Harpoon) thrown in for the non-Belgian beer-lovers.

Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron will roll-out its first beers on or around mid-October. They will start with four very flavorful styles of ale. The first is Gulden Fraug, a Belgian-style golden ale at 10.5% abv with smooth malt flavors and a slightly spicy Belgian abbey ale character to add traditional flavor and complexity. Next is Hoppin' To Heaven IPA., a classic, robust American IPA with a hoppy, assertive, and citrusy character balanced with a full-bodied, rich malt taste. The third beer is B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher, which stands for Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout. Named for its intensely deep roasted and full-bodied flavor and the extreme weight of barley used to make it, BORIS the Crusher will crush your taste buds under its intense weight. And, finally, IPA and Stout converge for a really great flavor combination in a beer, appropriately named Bodacious Black & Tan. The assertive hoppy character of the IPA is perfectly complimented by the intense deep roasted flavor of the oatmeal imperial stout. All beers will be sold in 22-ounce bottles and kegs through select distributors in Ohio and neighboring states, or directly from the brewery (330-352-4578).

October brings Oktoberfest celebrations at several locations. On October 6th at Kellys Island Brewery, they will have a homemade German-food buffet that will feature their Angler's Ale and Kelleys Gold, the latter having just been proclaimed the “favorite wheat” at Ohio Brew Week in July. Don’t forget their 7th Annual Chili Cook-Off on October 14^th, too! Details online at www.kelleysislandbrewpub.com.

On October 13 and 14, the Brewkeeper in Bedford Heights will be celebrating Oktoberfest, complete with a bratwurst eating contest on the 14^th. The good thing about the Brewkeeper’s small batches is the selection is constantly changing. The bad part about the small batches is when you find something like Mad-arillo IPA on tap; it might not be there the next time you go! I guess the solution is to go often. And hurry, before they move to North Ridgeville early next year.

As always, if you have any news, comments, or questions, email me at brewmuse@ohiobeerguide.com … and thanks to those of you who DO keep me posted. It is appreciated!