Summer’s over already? Don’t you wish you could replay some of the great beer events, dinners, and festivals Ohio has had this Summer? A number of “first annual” events, new events and new breweries tells me it’s a sign of increased awareness and popularity of good beer in Ohio. And now we have one more new first annual event on the way! Cleveland Beer Week kicks off on October 16 with a ceremonial keg tapping at the Independence Winking Lizard. This will be followed by a week jam-packed with beer events all across the city. From special prices on beer at your favorite good beer bar or brewpub to beer dinners, beer schools, beer/food pairings, chocolate and beer pairings, meet the brewer events, quiz nights, and tastings, there will literally be hundreds of beer happenings all week. It will run through Saturday October 24, and end with the Cleveland BREWzilla, which will be a monster of a beer tasting, featuring crafts and imports from more than 50 breweries. Tickets, complete schedule, and more information can be found at www.clevelandbeerweek.org. Proceeds benefit the Malone Scholarship Fund
So as the days get shorter and the leaves change, what does that bring to mind? Oktoberfest? Halloween pumpkins? Most every brewery has it’s version of an Oktoberfest and a pumpkin beer. At the recent Oktoberfest at the Berea Fairgrounds, There were at least 15 breweries present for the Microbrewer’s competition. Ohio Brewing Co. won the peoples’ choice award for the best Oktoberfest style, and Fat Head’s Güdenhoppy Pils was voted best of show! This unfiltered German style Pilsner is crisp, herbal, and has a snappy finish. And did someone say Pumpkin? Fat Head’s is making a Phantom Pumpkin Ale brewed with local Ohio pumpkins, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and a touch of nutmeg. Look for the return of Voodoo Monkey Chocolate Stout with some kegs getting dosed with coffee to produce a beer called Shock The Monkey. As brewmaster Matt Cole tries to fill all his new expansion tanks, look for more lagers and a couple of filtered beers—like maybe a Kolsch and an Alt Bier. The gold medal-winning Headhunter IPA is now almost always on cask. Fat Heads is hosting their own IPA Festival on Oct.7 from 12 -5 p.m. It will be held in a large tent, and over 30 of the country’s best IPAs and double IPAs will battle it out for top honors.
Cornerstone Brewing Co. passed up the traditional Oktoberfest beer and instead made a Kristal Weizen and a Keller beer with a kick of smoke to it. Both are gold, however only one is filtered, and brewer Jay Cox says you have to guess which one is which. October means the return of Linus’s Revenge Pumpkin Ale, a medium-bodied pumpkin ale brewed with warm fall spices, and enough pumpkins to keep local farmers in business. And lastly the ever popular Rusty Pheasant Rye ale will make an appearance. Not like the American over hopped rye beers that most of America has been accustomed to, but a nice clean, crisp, dry rye ale, very easy on the palette.
Another brewery starting to get some notice is Jackie O’s in Athens. They were at the recent Blues & Brews at Stan Hywet, and have an impressive lineup of beers. Their fall offerings will include Burnin’ Hill, a smoked amber ale brewed with peat smoked malt (used in scotch making), local Sticky Pete’s Maple Syrup and Cantrell Honey. This full-bodied (6.75% abv) beer exhibits a subtle earthy smokiness along with sweet notes from the maple syrup and honey. Also look for Barking Pumpkin. Brewer Brad Clark takes locally harvested pumpkins, covers them with honey and brown sugar and cooks them in their pizza oven. Then he adds cinnamon, ginger, coriander, allspice, nutmeg and more brown sugar to the boil and ends up with a behemouth 8%abv pumpkin ale that he then ages on cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans.
Jackie O’s also will have a number of creations emerging from the barrel cellar in the next two months, such as Thorogood, a strong scotch ale aged in a bourbon barrel with a hint of smoke, vanilla and coconut, and Chungas Old Bruin, a 9% abv barrel-aged sour brown ale aged on tart cherries, and Cabernet Barrel Cherry Man, a chocolate porter aged in a cabernet barrel with tart and sweet cherries. Clark describes it as “a true cherry delight that hides its 9% abv very well,” and “dangerously drinkable and hard to pass up.” Also worth noting is their new website (www.jackieos.com) and their new restaurant expansion, and new fermenters. Mark your calendar to attend their 4th Anniversary Extravaganza on December 4 and 5 when they will have over 40 house brewed ales on draft over the two day period.
Main Street Grill and Brewery is hosting the Harvest Moon Beer Festival at Nelson Ledges on October 10 from noon-3 p.m. and from 5-8 p.m. Twenty-one breweries will be pouring, and there will be food and live music. Main Street will be pouring their Octoberfest style lager called Harvest Moon and Inconceivable a double IPA (110 IBU) that will be aged on oak chips.
Rocky River Brewing will be tapping their Monster Mash Pumpkin beer in early October, followed by a Christmas beer in mid November. Brewer Jim Lieb will also have a Baltic Porter on tap in October. For Cleveland Beer Week, he says all brewers will be brewing the same style of beer (tentatively a brown IPA) and will be available at each brewery for $4 per pint all during the week.
Hoppin’ Frog is kicking into high gear after celebrating its 3-year anniversary in September, with several new beers and a Grand Champion medal with Mean Manalishi Double I.P.A. at this summer’s US Beer Tasting Championship! Mean Manalishi’s hop character comes from the addition of Columbus and Summit hops. Summit hops are also used in abundance in Hoppin’ Frog’s newest double IPA, released in September, called Hop Master’s Abbey. Initially a special release beer, it is a Belgian abbey-style beer but with tons of hop flavor and aroma, as Hoppin’ Frog is known to deliver. Its popularity has driven Hoppin’ Frog to make this a year round beer.
Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale is a seasonal release for Fall, and will only be available for a few months for distribution. Great pumpkin flavor from roasted and caramelized pumpkin, along with a spice combination from an old family recipe makes Frog’s Hollow a very well balanced and substantial beer. Expected to be available through November, it has 8.4% abv and very low bitterness. Lastly, look for a one-batch beer called Fresh Frog RAW HOP Imperial Pale Ale, to be released exclusively from the brewery on Saturday, October 10. This beer is brewed with fresh, wet hops picked on the west coast, and brewed only a couple days later. It has a fresh hop character unlike any other beer they make, and should be refreshing, and very interesting to taste when it is ready. Follow the progress of this beer on their newly-designed website, at HoppinFrog.com.
Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. continues with the beer trains on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad on October 2 and November 6.Thirsty Dog Pumpkin Ale is available in bottles now so lap some up before its gone. This beer was produced with all locally grown pumpkins and squash roasted at the brewery. Nov 1 is the long anticipated release of Cerberus Belgian Trippel, available at the brewery starting Sunday November 1 at 2 p.m. with a one-case per customer limit. Thirsty Dog will ring in the Holiday season with the release of Twelve Dogs of Christmas with its first keg tapped at the Cleveland Brewzilla event. On October 18, join Tim Rastetter and John Najeway of Thirsty Dog and Abbe Turner from Lucky Penny Creamery at the Independence Winking Lizard for a beer and cheese pairing.
Indigo Imp is hosting a cask-conditioned ale and cheese tasting on Oct. 22 at their brewery as part of the Cleveland Beer Week festivities, with some of their own beers, guest beers, and paired with cheeses from Heinen’s Fine Foods, another very active participant in Cleveland Beer Week with daily beer events at one or more of their stores.
The Buckeye Beer Engine also has events planned daily during Cleveland Beer Week, and may be adding more. Check their website or better, sign up for their email newsletters at www.buckeyebeerengine.com for updates.
The Free Clinic Microbrew Extravaganza will be held this year on Friday, November 13, from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. at Massimo de Milano. This year there will be 11 brewers participating, including several new ones. Tickets are available on line at www.thefreeclinic.org and proceeds benefit the Free Clinic. It’s always a good time with brews, good food, live music, door prizes, and a raffle!
Add Willoughby Brewing to the list of breweries making a pumpkin ale. This year they are making a double batch of the Pumpkinhead Ale as so many heard how great it was and found it gone before they got to sample the “pumpkin pie in a glass!” They are getting ready to brew a Romanov Russian Imperial Stout for the fall, along with Nugget Hop IPA, another in their “One Hopper” series of IPAs. Brewer Jason Sims says raspberry prices have fallen so Railway Razz is back, too. If you’ve been in their beer garden patio, have you noticed the hops growing? They will be using them to brew a Hopback, high IBU beer. Then as fall turns to winter, look for the return of their Wenceslas Ale.