Did you miss the International Beer Fest at the IX Center in Cleveland in May? It was billed as the largest showcase competition of world beers in the Midwest, and it did not disappoint. This was a “first annual” and is only going to get bigger and better as the word spreads. Gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded in 24 categories plus best of show. The list of Ohio medal winners is too long to list here; 36 of the 75 medals were won by Ohio craft breweries. As this was a first annual event, the overwhelming number of entries likely came from Ohio brewers. Next year, look for more participation from brewers around the nation and world.
The big winner was the Brew Kettle Production Works with six gold medals and three others, including the Best of Show for their White Rajah IPA. Other Ohio breweries winning medals included Buckeye Brewing (3), Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon (4), Great Lakes Brewing (3), Hoppin’ Frog (5), Lagerheads (2), Mt. Carmel (1), Ohio Brewing (2), Rivertown (2), Thirsty Dog (3), and Willoughby Brewing (2). There were some outstanding beers, and a few surprises. Rivertown Brewing from Cincinnati won the Silver Best of Show and the Gold medal in the Wild and Sour Ales category for their lambic.
Sour ales are growing in popularity, I’ve noticed, and it’s nice to see more and more brewers opting to make this style. I recently had the opportunity to try Weasel Boy Brewing’s first sour ale, Zur Brun Fret on tap at their brewery and was impressed. This beer is a blend of the Plaid Ferret Scottish Ale aged in a bourbon barrel spiked with brettanomyces, and the River Mink Mild Brown Ale aged in a cabernet barrel and spiked with lactobacillus. It was a great first try at a sour beer; just think how good the next one will be!
Ohio Brewing Co. won gold medal for their Alt-ernative Amber and a silver medal for their Steel Valley Stout at the International Beer Fest. As you are enjoying the local minor league baseball games this summer, please note that you can get Ohio Brewing’s beers at the Akron Aeros and Mahoning Valley Scrappers games now. As fall approaches, their Ohiofest, an Oktoberfest style beer will again be available on draft, and now also in six packs, as Ohio Brewing has a new bottling line in operation. Ohio brewing is also expanding their distribution throughout Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania.
Speaking of Pennsylvania, have you heard yet that Yuengling beers are coming to Ohio? The Pottstown, PA brewery is expanding just to meet the needs of us Ohio beer lovers, and hopes to start shipping to Ohio by October. There’s a lot of excitement about this long-awaited event, but I wonder if it’s not a bit like Coors when it was not available here. Do people just want what they can’t have? We will see.
Elevator Brewing Company in Columbus, welcomed summer with the successful launch of Three Frogs IPA in bottled six-packs. Due to growing demand for bottled products, the brewery is in the process of adding a second storage cooler. Elevator’s Oktoberfest lager, an autumn seasonal favorite, is scheduled for release in August. Upcoming specialty releases include Barrel-Aged Brown Ale, Imperial Bavarian Lager, and the “Big Vic” Imperial Mogabi, named for Masterbrewer Vic Schiltz.
From the organizers of the Big Tap In (Boardman, Oh in April) comes another new beer festival, the OctoBREWfest. It will be held Saturday September 17th at the Stark County Fairgrounds in Canton. The event will feature German beers as well as other unique seasonal, harvest, pumpkin and Octoberfest type craft beers from over 50 breweries nationwide. Food, entertainment and souvenir tasting glass included. VIP entry and main event entry tickets are available at www.octobrewfest.com. Don’t wait too long, the VIP tickets sold out for the Big Tap In, if you recall. The proceeds from this event will benefit the Alliance Firefighters Charities.
The Main St. Grille and Brewing Co. will be releasing two new seasonals in late August; Die Dunkle Gans, a smooth, malty, German style dark lager, and then Okt-Uber-Fest. Look for them both at the Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest September 2-5 as well as OctoBREWfest in Canton.
Rocky River Brewing Co. is brewing a Roclytoberfest beer in time for the German Festival at the Berea Fair Grounds. Their popular Cleveland Brown IPA will be out in time for the kickoff of the NFL season (whenever that happens). Rocky River is now a Browns Backer Bar, so everyone is invited to stop by on days when the Browns are out of town and have a few pints with other Browns fans. Brewer Jim Lieb is also working on a new beer, Midnight Subchaser, which will be a dark German hefeweisen, brewed similar to their Subchaser but darker with just a hint of the dark malts in the flavor.
Mark your calendars for Cleveland Beer Week, happening from October 14 – 22, all over Cleveland area. Events will be listed on their website (clevelandbeerweek.org) and again will include the popular Grape vs. Grain kick off event and Fat Head’s Celebration of the Hop IPA festival and competition and numerous other events.