Ohio made an impressive showing at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver, Colorado this year! In no particular order, but starting with a gold medal: Hoppin’ Frog Brewery won the gold medal in the field style category for their Frog Hollow Double Pumpkin ale. Best pumpkin ale in the nation! Then Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon won a silver medal in the American Style India Pale Ale Category, out of 142 entries (the largest category at the GABF) for their Head Hunter IPA. Fat Head’s also collaborated with Bear Republic in California on a beer call Ryevalry that won a gold medal in the American-Belgo-Style Ale category. BREW Kettle won a silver medal for their Red Eye PA in the Imperial Red Ale category, out of 43 entries, and a bronze medal for their Jack Hammer Barleywine! This is a first GABF medal ever for BREW Kettle and they were the only Ohio brewery to win two medals!
Weasel Boy Brewing in Zanesville won a bronze for their Anastasia Russian Imperial Stout, out of 76 entries in the imperial stout category. This also is a first GABF medal for Weasel Boy. Columbus Brewing Co won the bronze medal out of 24 entries in the Kellerbier/Zwickelbier category, for their Summer Teeth. That’s six medals for Ohio breweries if you were counting, congratulations to all!
Cleveland Beer Week is now over, but it was fantastic. Nine days filled with dinners, tastings, festivals, pairings, and more. Fat Head’s IPA festival was held during this week, and a new IPA king was crowned! The Celebration of the Hop Festival was a competition of 40 IPAs from around the country including 15 west coast IPAs from Bear Republic, Coronado, Green Flash, and Pizza Port. BREW Kettle emerged a clear winner. The judges named BREW Kettle’s White Rajah IPA as the best IPA and the Brew Kettle’s Old 21 as the best Imperial IPA. The two beers then faced off against each other for “Best of Show” and the Grand Champion belt was won by…insert drum roll here…Jack Kephart, BREW Kettle’s brewer for the White Rajah IPA! BREW Kettle is putting White Rajah into their distribution lineup and will be bottling it soon. Also they will have their new expansion, with 70 additional seats and an all new kitchen open before Christmas.
Since last issue, two new breweries have opened in Ohio. One is the Wooden Shoe Brewery in Minster, Ohio which is a microbrewery only, and not a brew pub. They are reviving the Wooden Shoe beers that originated in 1869, survived prohibition, and were popular beers in their time. They have a German style lager, and a bock beer, currently available in bottles. The other new brewery is Little Mountain Brewing in Kirtland. This is exciting as it is a brew-on-premise. Northeast Ohio lost one of these with the recent closing of the Brew Keeper in North Ridgeville. For now, Little Mountain is a brew-on-premise, but plans are to have their own beer available, and eventually maybe a brew pub.
Most breweries are now preparing for the holidays, and Fat Head’s is no exception. Their Christmas Ale is out and flowing now, and will soon be available in 12 ounce bottles, with Head Hunter IPA to follow. Stone Brewing brewer (Mitch Steele) and Matt Cole collaborated on a Black Rye IPA (32%Rye) utilizing new hops from a breeding program known as Apollo and Super G to create a spicy, hoppy, chocolate infused hop bomb without roasty undertones. This brew has lots of hop flavor (87 IBUs) with a deep chocolate malt character. The holidays also mean the return of Pumpkin Chucker Stout, brewed with 200 pounds of pumpkin pulp, 15 pounds of melted chocolate and pumpkin spices. Cole says this is the hardest beer they make, but a real delight to drink. Make reservations now for their beer dinner on December 14, featuring Troegs brewery and wild game.
When brewer Jay Cox was asked what’s new at Cornerstone Brewing Co, he sent this: (Too funny to change into my own words): “Well it is the end of an era here at Cornerstone Brewing Co. Our beloved longtime brewer Erik Rothschiller has moved on to greener pastures. When you ask? His last day was the 29th of October. Where you ask? We are not sure. Why? Never you mind, Mr. Nosey McNoserton. Nevertheless, we here in Northeast Ohio will miss him. In his place, his long time sidekick in crime, the Barney Fife to his Andy Griffith, the Chewbacca to his Han Solo, Jay Cox has taken the reigns. His 4 plus years in the brewhouse doing all of the grueling work has prepared him for what hopes to be a long future at Cornerstone Brewing Co.
“On the brewing front we are looking forward to tapping our infamous Xmas Ale just around an appropriate time of Thanksgiving as opposed to early October. We are also going to mix things up a bit around the house. We have O’tay Buckwheat Porter coming out; a different take on a brown porter, and something we have never done. That will be our goal from now on: stuff we have never done before. There are a lot of uncovered flavors out there in the beer world, and we want to find them. So stop on in to our two locations in Berea and Madison.”
Main Street Grill in Garrettsville just tapped a fall beer called Possum Hollow Pucker, which is a hearty, malty ale with a slightly tart finish, accompanied by subtle notes of apple & spice. Soon to follow will be the 12 Daze of Christmas a Belgian quadruple aged 11 months on dried cranberries.
For holiday specials, Hoppin’ Frog will be releasing rare or never before seen cases a couple weeks before Christmas, available only at the brewery. These are in very limited quantities, so keep your eyes close to HoppinFrog.com or the other social media outlets to find out when in December they will be released. First, is barrel-aged Frosted Frog Christmas Ale, an imperial nut brown ale with lots of Christmas spices. The barrel aged has given it added depth of flavor and a great complexity. The other is the rare DORIS The Destroyer double imperial stout, cellar-aged nine months for peak flavor. These are some of Hoppin’ Frog’s best beers so get ‘em while you can!
Indigo Imp Brewery is excited to have its second Non-Profit Happy Hour in the brewery on Friday January 28 from 4:30 – 7:30 pm. The host for the event is Cleveland Area Mensa. The non-profit happy hour is a great way to raise funds without a lot of effort. The first one, held during Cleveland Beer Week, raised $1K for a Cleveland baseball team. It is also the only way for people to enjoy Indigo Imp Beers in the unique manufacturing setting of the brewery. Any non-profit interested in hosting a monthly happy hour should contact Kathy at Indigo Imp Brewery 216.881.0650 or send a comment through the website www.indigoimpbrewery.com/contact.php .
Ohio Brewing Co. is now brewing all their beers at their new Akron brewery, and will be adding bottling equipment soon. Their new holiday ale, Jingle Bell Ale is now available in bottles and draft, and their O’Hoppy IPA is back after a one year hiatus. Look for them at your local grocery or good beer store!
A recent visit to Lagerheads Brewing Co. in Medina (actually Abbeyville) found a complete range of beers on tap, including Barnburner Lager, White Water Witte, Bed Head Red, Abbeyville Abbey, Tyranny American Pale Ale, and Savage Stout. I had the sampler and there weren’t any that disappointed. The good beer plus their Smokehouse menu, and plenty of seating in the restaurant or bar, makes Lagerheads a “must visit” place.
Last but certainly not least, for all you homebrewers out there, don’t miss your chance to enter the Wizard of Saaz homebrew competition, hosted by the Society of Akron Area Zymurgists. It’s open to all homebrewers and includes all 2008 BJCP styles 1-23. Last day for registration is December 31, 2010, and the judging will be January 15, 2011. More information and registration details at www.hbd.org/saaz/wos