Ohio Beer Guide

The Most Refreshing Beer in America!

Brew Muse — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:29:40 +0000

Fat Head’s does it again!!!

click here for story

Another Brewpub closed

Brew Muse — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:29:22 +0000

Yet another brewpub has closed; the Brown Derby Roadhouse in Medina closed on Memorial Day weekend. Many brewers have passed through this brewpub. One is now brewing at Gordon Biersch in Columbus, one brewmaster is at Mountaineer Brewing in West Virginia, one went on to brew at the Brew Kettle, and another is brewing at the recently opened Lagerheads in Medina. Other local brewers have helped brew there, but not been the “official” brewer.

The brewing equipment has been taken out and moved to Florida. The site is reportedly going to revert to a company owned Brown Derby, and will be remodeled before reopening.

I always enjoyed eating/drinking there. I am sorry to see them gone as a brewpub.

All aboard the beer trains again!

Brew Muse — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:48:32 +0000

Beer trains are back! Fun ride through the Cuyahoga Valley, while tasting beer and sampling appetizers from Chef Marc, designed to complement each beer. Next one is April 9.

More info here or www.cvsr.com

Head Hunter IPA – BEST in the nation!

Brew Muse — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:23:24 +0000

Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA wins the National IPA Championships! Click here for story.

More new breweries?

Brew Muse — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:30:28 +0000

I’ve already reported about the planned Market Garden Brewery in Ohio City. But there are at least two other planned breweries in Ohio. One is Neil House Brewery in Columbus, and the other is Lager Head’s in Medina.

Neil House is currently a home brew supply shop in Columbus (link to their website is above), and they plan to be brewing by April. Lager Head’s on Abbey Road in Medina is currently a pub & smokehouse specializing in BBQ and good beer (8 taps), with plans to start brewing their own.

Chardon Brew Works – now open!

Brew Muse — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:37:24 +0000

Chardon Brew Works & Eatery is now open on the square in Chardon. The first and only brewery in Geauga County since prohibition, I’m told, opened on March 15, just in time for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration on the 17th. General Manager Mike Chesnut says they have an 80-seat restaurant and a banquet center, and much of their food is cooked with beer. They have six taps which will have two of their own beers (a “house” beer and a seasonal) and four guest microbrews.

Currently they have two beers from Cellar Rats Brewery (Madison) and two from Willoughby Brewing. Their own house beer is Working Man Pale Ale. The current seasonal is Mac’s Irish Red and the next seasonal will be Pride of Geauga Maple Porter.

Brewer/owner Michael Nedrow has a Brew-Magic® (1 keg) brewing system; the same type of system that Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head first started his business on. Calagione still uses the system for experimental beers. Known for its ability to make consistent uniform batches of beer, it can also make several batches in a 6-8 hour day.

Chardon Brew Works opens at 11 AM each day, except Sunday, when they are open 10 AM – 3 PM for brunch.

For more info: Chardon Brew Works, 205 Main St, Chardon, Ohio 440-286-9001

National IPA Championship – 2010

Brew Muse — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:06:03 +0000

UPDATE! On March 13th, Head Hunter IPA beat Ithaca’s Flower Power to advance to the Final Four!. The final four and finals will be held next Saturday in Atlantic City! Good luck, Fat Head’s!

Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA has advanced another round in the 2010 Brewing News National IPA Championship. India Pale Ales (IPAs) from all across the US have entered the competition, 128 in all. The competition is judged like basketball’s NCAA tournament with each beer being judged against one other beer in each round. Several Ohio beers survived the first round. BREW Kettle’s Red Eye PA and Fat Head’s Head Hunter survived the second round and Head Hunter has now made it into the fifth round, the “Elite 8.” Brackets can be found here.

Round 5 will be held on March 13, with the Final Four and championship rounds to be held on March 20 in Atlantic City. Best of luck to Matt Cole and Headhunter IPA! We’re rooting for you!

Hoppin’ Frog wins People’s Choice at Winter Warmer Fest

Brew Muse — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:18:35 +0000

Click here for article and Channel 5 news clip.

Best brewers in the world, 2010

Brew Muse — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:01:48 +0000

Ratebeer.com just published their “best” lists. Best beer, best beer places, breweries to visit, etc. One of these lists contains the top 100 brewers in the world. Ohio has three on the list! Hoppin Frog rates #24 on the list (see Beacon Journal article), Great Lakes Brewing is #35, and Barley’s (Columbus) is #74. Congratulations! This is an impressive showing when you consider how many brewers there are out there.

All on the list are gold medal award winning brewers. RateBeer Best claims to be the largest beer competition in the world, with over 2.47 million reviews of 110,000 beers from over 9680 brewers worldwide. For complete lists see Rate Beer Best 2010

BREW Kettle wins best barleywine award!

Brew Muse — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:35:31 +0000

Don’t miss this year’s Ogrefest at the BREW Kettle featuring BTK’s own Jackhammer Barleywine which won first place at the recent (Feb 13) 5th Annual Barleywine competition held at Cole’s in Buffalo, NY. The competition included barleywines from all across the U.S. See Examiner.com article. Congratulations, Jack Kephart!

For those who don’t know, Ogrefest is a week long celebration of high gravity beers. 24 taps of constantly rotating BIG beers!