Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio. Rick Armon
in Columbus—was so insanely hot, people vomited after drinking it. Yes, that’s right. People who like insanely hot foods threw up. How could any beer adventurer not want to sample it? I did. And I immediately started drinking milk because it burned all the way down my throat into my stomach.
So let’s see. An award-winning beer, a popular beer, and an unusual beer—there are at least three reasons why a beer could make this list of 50 must-try brews.
To qualify, a beer has to be available either year-round or on a seasonal basis. In other words, you, the reader, have to be able to buy it. One-offs, those brews made only for special occasions or events, weren’t considered.
When I first started discussing this idea, I thought it would be difficult to come up with 50 beers. Boy, was I wrong. As a newspaper reporter who has covered the beer industry for more than a decade and a beer blogger who has traveled the state tasting all that Ohio has to offer, I compiled an initial list of 76 beers. But that was my working list before I visited the new breweries that have opened in recent years, before I reached out to brewers and others I respect to get their opinions, and before I realized that there were way too many India pale ales and stouts on my list.
Self-doubt crept into my head early. How could I possibly pare the Ohio craft beer industry to just 50? How could I leave out this beer or that beer? What did I get myself into? Then, I would sit at a brewery, sampler in hand. I would recall how exhilarating it is to talk with brewers about the beer itself, to see their absolute passion for what I was sipping. For me, beer is about more than just the liquid. It’s also about the personalities and stories behind each brand. That’s what I want to share with you in this book.
I’ve also included other beers to try if you enjoy the one showcased.
Now, if I had limited this book to 50 beers, it would be pretty short. And, as I’ve mentioned, beer is about more than the liquid for me.
So I’ve included four other chapters. I recommend 10 cool breweries to visit and have a beer. There’s a chapter telling the stories behind the 10 coolest brewery names. There are profiles of 10 influential people in the Ohio craft beer industry. And I describe 10 quintessential Ohio foods and recommend a beer to drink with each one.
One last word of warning—I started researching this book in 2014. There has been an explosion in not only the number of breweries that have opened in Ohio but also the number of beers produced.
It hasn’t been easy trying to keep track of everything new. The task, as my editor Ricky Huard kept reminding me, was a “moving target.” It indeed was. One beer originally to be featured in the book was scrapped at the last minute because the brewery closed. In another case, a brewery changed its name. Then, there were all the breweries that decided to redesign their beer labels after I had taken photos. And, as happens all too frequently in the craft beer industry, brewers came and went while I was writing and rewriting.
Trying to keep on top of it all was both a fun and frustrating process.
Cheers!
Albino Stout
Butcher and the Brewer | www.butcherandthebrewer.com
Butcher and the Brewer
2043 E. Fourth St.
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 331–0805
First brewed: 2014
Style: Other/specialty
Alcohol content: 5.4 percent
IBUs: 15
Available: Year-round on draft
IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft coffee beers to try:
• Wolf’s Ridge Clear Sky Daybreak
• Willoughby Kaffee Kolsch
• Woodburn Han Solo
• Jackie O’s Cool Beans
• Lineage Oscura Obscura
FORMER BUTCHER AND THE BREWER brewmaster Eric Anderson likes to have fun and mess with people—especially beer drinkers. He decided to call his raspberry wheat Framboyzee (pronounced fram-BOY-zee) because, over the years, he got tired of people mispronouncing framboise (pronounced fra-bwaz). He also opted to call his German hefeweizen Hasselhefe because Germans love them some David Hasselhoff of Baywatch fame.
But those beers pale in comparison to the Butcher and the Brewer’s Albino Stout, a brew so offbeat that it messes with your senses. It’s straw in color but features a robust coffee aroma and flavor. In other words, it’s a light-colored beer that tastes like a dark beer.
“If you drink it with your eyes closed, you’d think you’re drinking a dark beer,” Anderson says while sitting at the brewpub’s bar. “I just think it’s funny. It’s playful.”
The recipe stemmed from his frustration with beer drinkers who say they don’t like dark beer. Anderson wanted to poke fun at them and prove that a beer’s color doesn’t define its flavor.
The reactions after the first sniff and sip are precious. Many don’t know what to say. Anderson had planned to make Albino Stout just once. But the beer sold so well that it made its way into the brewery’s regular lineup.
“The one rule I live by is brew what you want to drink,” Anderson says. “That’s how I do it. What’s the point of copying everybody else? Every recipe I make starts from the ground up. I don’t clone Sierra Nevada and then try to tweak it like I want it. Everything starts from the bottom. It’s like being a chef.”
AlpenGlow
Fat Head’s Brewery | www.fatheadsbeer.com
Fat Head’s Brewery
Production brewery/tasting room:
17450 Engle Lake Drive
Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44130*
(216) 898-0242
Brewpub:
24581 Lorain Road
North Olmsted, Ohio 44070
(440) 801–1001
First brewed: 2010
Style: Weizenbock
Alcohol content: 8.5 percent
IBUs: 22
Awards: Gold medals in 2014 and 2016 and a silver medal in 2012 at the Great American Beer Festival
Available: Year-round, but availability varies
IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft beers to try:
• Great Lakes Glockenspiel
• Willoughby St. Otto
• Market Garden Big Wheat
•