The title should be “Destination: Ohio City” if Sam McNulty’s dream comes true. His dream is to make Ohio City a place where you can have a brewpub crawl and only walk a few blocks. Ohio City is what the neighborhood is called that is across the river from downtown Cleveland. It has long been the home of the West Side Market, and home to Great Lakes Brewing Co since 1988. Sam McNulty opened McNulty’s Bier Markt, a Belgian beer bar on West 25th Street, in 2005. He followed that with two more bars: Bar Cento, an Italian restaurant and wine bar, and the Speakeasy described by McNulty as a “culinary cocktail lounge”, in the same location, and now the Market Garden Brewery and Distillery across the street, in 2011.
Brewer, Andy Tveekrem grew up in Ohio, learned how to brew while attending college, and honed his talents at Great Lakes Brewing Co, followed by stints at Frederick Brewing in Maryland, and Dogfish Head in Delaware, where he helped Sam Caligione push the envelope of beer styles. When McNulty heard that Andy wanted to return to Ohio and start his own brewery, the partnership of Andy Tveekrem and Sam McNulty was born.
The brewery, which was a former grocery and poultry shop, and across the alley from the produce stands at the West Side Market, opened in June of 2011, although Andy started brewing in April. Now, as their one-year anniversary approaches, things are looking rosy for the Market Garden. They have three bars in the building and enough serving tanks to keep 12 beers on tap. Tveekrem says the problem is keeping up with demand, which led to the hiring of two assistant brewers, Jennifer Hermann and John Hill. McNulty says telling the yeast to “hurry up” wasn’t very effective, so they have expanded their fermenting capacity and maxed out the number of serving tanks the “intimate” space in their brewhouse will allow.
They recently opened a new bar, kitchen, and serving area in the basement, nearly doubling their square footage. The space can seat about 60 for private parties, beer dinners, or just overflow at busy times. Plans are to open rooftop beer garden in the spring. Currently the outdoor beer garden is designed to be used year round, and in fact, was wall-to-wall people on New Year’s Eve. The beer garden is equipped with radiant heaters (that will heat your beer if you’re not careful) and a large fireplace.
So what of the beer, you say? The focus at Market Garden is on traditional styles, done well. Andy says he wants to make beer that people want to drink, with “no rutabagas or sheep intestines.” He says there are plenty of people doing things like that. He’d rather sell three beers, than one. McNulty chimed in here saying, “I’d rather drink three beers than one!” The beers run the gamut from a crisp, clean lager to a “porter you can stand a fork up in” (per Tveekrem), with the occasional higher alcohol or barrel-aged specialty beer. I can attest to quality of the Cluster Fuggle IPA and the Festivus Ale, a nicely but not overly spiced Scottish ale that was their holiday beer.
They are open 364 days a year and serve food until 2 a.m. The one day they close is a Sunday in January for an employee appreciation party. Oh, and the distillery part? They are waiting for the licensing to go through and then will start making whiskey and gin, along with the beer. They have an 80 gallon still, which they say will yield about 10% after double distillation, and they look to be the first brewery, distillery, and pub combination in Ohio.
McNulty’s dream is coming true. He is helping to turn the Ohio City neighborhood into not only an entertainment district, but a beer-centric one. He is currently working with two undisclosed groups that want to establish breweries in the area. Although not with an ownership involvement, he is actively courting other like-minded businesses to locate in the neighborhood. Even now you could do a decent pub crawl with the four McNulty-owned establishments and the Great Lakes Brewing around the corner. Speaking of which, Great Lakes brewmaster, Luke Purcell, says Market Garden is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and anything that brings more traffic to the neighborhood is good for everyone. Their numbers are up since Market Garden moved in, and Purcell has already gone knocking on their door to borrow malt when he ran short. Pretty friendly neighbors; but not surprising since it was Tveekrem who hired Purcell at Great Lakes 16 years ago.
Close by, the Light Bistro (28th and Bridge) has also noticed an increase in their numbers. It is a tapas style restaurant with an extensive wine list, a wine retail store, and 15 or so good bottled beers (many from Great Lakes) on their menu. And, a few blocks away, at 25th and Detroit is Massimo de Milano which is home every November to a Microbrew Extravaganza benefit for the Cleveland Free Clinic. So this Ohio City neighborhood is becoming a destination for good beer, good wine, and good food, and if Sam McNulty has his way, there will be more to come.