I'm curious, what is everyone else's favorite Ohio beers? In no particular order, these are mine (without repeating a brewery):

 

Ryesing Up - Blank Slate Brewing Company | Cincinnati [saison]

Emancipator - Christian Moerlein Brewing Company | Cincinnati [Doppelbock]

Anastasia - Weasel Boy Brewing Company | Zanesville [Russian Imperial Stout]

12 Dogs of Christmas - Thirsty Dog Brewing Company | Akron [Winter Warmer / Christmas Ale]

The Great Pumpcan - MadTree Brewing Company | Cincinnati [Pumpkin Ale]

Gramps - Rhinegeist | Cincinnati [barleywine]

Hop JuJu - Fat Head's Brewery | North Olmstead [Double/Imperial IPA]

Chillwave - Great Lakes Brewing Company | Cleveland [Double/Imperial IPA]

Roebling Porter - Rivertown Brewing Company | Cincinnati [Porter]

Chickow! - Triple Digit Brewing Company | Cincinnati [Double/Imperial Brown Ale]

 

Honorable Mention:

Mystic Mama - Jackie O's Brewery | Athens [iPA]

Out of curiosity, how widely available are each Ohio region's most prominent micro brews in the other regions?

I would say just about every Cincinnati brewery sells beer in Kentucky. Beyond that, not many sell in other states.

 

Great Lakes is by far the largest (OH, IN, IL, MI, KY, MN, WI, WV, NJ, NY, NC, DC, VA, PA). Fat Heads has a strong presence in Pennsylvania and (I just found out) have a brewpub in Oregon.

 

Beyond that, most of them stick to Ohio or if they border another state, perhaps they go there (Jackie O's into West Virginia and Kentucky)

^Sorry, I mean within Ohio. I know GLB has a deep distribution network, but is it fairly easy to find Fat Head's or Thirsty Dog in Cinci? 

Top 10 Ohio beers without repeating breweries

 

Bodhi- Columbus Brewing - Double IPA

Oil of Aphrodite- Jackie Os - Imperial Stout

Maple Porter - Ohio Brewing - Porter

Bushwacker Brown - Fat Heads - Brown

Infusion A Coffee Porter - Hoppin Frog - Porter

New Stunt IPA - JAFB - IPA

Tripel - Rockmill - Tripel

Raspberry Leghumper - Thirsty Dog - Porter

1st batch of El Lupelo Libre DIPA - Brew Kettle - DIPA - I had it before it won the best Imperial IPA award in the US.  Following batches have been boozy.

Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter - Willoughby Brewing - Porter

 

 

 

^Sorry, I mean within Ohio. I know GLB has a deep distribution network, but is it fairly easy to find Fat Head's or Thirsty Dog in Cinci?

 

Ah. It's common to see Fat Head's and Great Lakes in Cincinnati. I also see Brew Kettle more than most non-Cincinnati Ohio beers. Thirsty Dog is usually available in bottles and I sometimes see Hoppin Frog.

 

I almost never see Columbus-, Toledo-, or Dayton-based breweries in the Cincinnati area. Occasionally I see one on draft, but it isn't very often.

I see Columbus Brewery, Jackie O's, and Rivertown here in Cleveland a fair amount.

10. Crooked River Cool Mule Porter

9. Rock Bottom Walleye Wheat (pre 2002 when they screwed everything up)

8.Diamondback Lambic

7. Wallaby Red Roo

6. Burkhardt Brewing Eclipse Porter

5. Great Lakes Edmund Fitz (On Nitro)

4. Great Lakes Alchemy Hour

3. Liberty Brewing Dragonslayer

2. Western Reserve Lake Effect Winter Ale

1. Burkhardt Brewing Mug Ale

Out of curiosity, how widely available are each Ohio region's most prominent micro brews in the other regions?

 

MadTree just became available in Columbus last week if my memory serves me right.

Oldfield's, a tavern in the OSU area, serves only Ohio-brewed drafts -- 22 taps with an ever-changing rotation of brews from every corner of the state.

In no particular order, without repeating breweries:

 

Rhinegeist - Uncle

Rockmill - Saison (though I will drink anything they produce and they are prob my fav ohio brewery)

Great Lakes - Christmas Ale (tradition!)

50 West - Coffee Please

Madtree - Axis Mundi

Christian Moerlein - Zeppelin

Blank Slate - Ryesing Up

 

hmmm, apparently I need to drink more beer from around Ohio. I will definitely reference the preceding lists. I know I have had some good stuff from Jackie O's but I can't really recall any one in particular.

 

my all time favorite beer of anybody anywhere is great lakes holy moses. i also like thirsty dog 12 days of xmas. i have a craft beer coffee shop in my neighborhood that are fantatics about thirsty dog, so i can try their brewhaha's often. its called upright brewhouse if yr ever in ny and the west village. thankfully i can also get great lakes regularly now in hoboken at cork city pub, where they are huge, huge fanatics over it. to the point of going out in vans and bringing back kegs on their own accord. ive had indigo imp and market garden, but not regularly enough to say much. otherwise, i am out of the loop. i used to like columbus brewing nutbrown ale too back when we lived there, but that was early 90s.

1. Citramax IPA-market garden

2. Chill wave-Great Lakes Brewing

3. 216 ale- Portside Brewing

4. Columbus IPA- Columbus Brewing

5. Frosted Frog-hoppin frog

6. Headhunter- Fat heads

7. Pumpkin Saison- Nano Brew

8. Nosferatu- Great Lakes

9. mystic mama- Jackie O'

10. Hippie IPA- buckeye

 

I'm deeply in love with the NE Ohio beer scene right now

It's interesting to see the regionalism in everyone's answers. I haven't really spent any time in Cleveland, but their beers can be found in Cincinnati fairly often. And I've been to a couple breweries in Columbus, but their beers are almost never seen in Cincinnati.

^Exactly. Just recently have seen Dayton's Warped Wing cans in Cincinnati and found one Elevator beer at Hyde Park Wine & Spirits last week.

I'm surprised Riverghost (the distributor owned by the Rhinegeist guys) hasn't made a move into northern Ohio yet. Aside from Chillwave, Rhinegeist's pale ales and IPAs beat the pants off anything (of those styles) from Great Lakes. The only way I could see someone disagreeing is if they are really into the Dogfish Head type of English-influenced east coast IPA, which Lake Erie Monster is a pretty good example (second only to Dogfish Head 90 Minute). Rhinegeist holds its own against San Diego darlings Stone and Ballast Point. I'd put Truth between Stone IPA (not as good as Truth) and BP's Sculpin (better, but also way overpriced).

Liquor laws are really weird. They might not be able to distribute in Ohio because they brew in Ohio. There are a lot of laws to prevent breweries and distilleries from owning distribution companies. I didn't even know it was legal for Rhinegeist to do it.

Ohio, Indiana, and about 30 others states allow self-distribution. Cincinnati is currently home to 4 self-distributors: Listermann, Rhinegeist, Double Barrel (I think), and Cellar Dweller.

http://queencitydrinks.com/beer/3-tier-system-breweries/

 

I believe all the Rhinegeist cans you see in stores are self-distributed.

^Yeah I'm not familiar with the intricacies of the distribution system in Ohio (or other states). Here is a good overview of Riverghost/Rhinegeist.

 

Riverghost Distributing: Explosive growth prompts Rhinegeist to open distributorship in Kentucky

 

The move doesn’t come without certain limitations though. Goulding said they are not allowed to own a distributorship in Ohio and they can’t open brewery operations in Kentucky now. However, one of the reasons the team decided to self-distribute in Ohio is that there is no cap on distribution growth. Goulding said many states aren’t so lucky.

 

“It’s state by state. In about half the states in the nation, you have to sell your beer to a distributor. Sometimes you even have to buy it back through that distributor at your own location,” Goulding said.

 

When considering how they wanted to start their distribution even before their Kentucky expansion, Goulding said they took the concept very seriously. He said they looked to existing brewer-distributors when weighing their options.

 

“Some of the bigger distributors in the country are craft brewers like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. They still self-distribute in their home market because that’s how they started and that’s what they’ve maintained,” Goulding said. “I think it forces you to focus on the end product and the consumers drinking it. It’s easy to get detached when you’re just looking at reports all day long and you’re not talking with customers.”

 

The Ohio rules have allowed Rhinegeist to grow unfettered. While Goulding admits that it has caused them to lose some efficiency, he believes it makes for a better product overall. He cited businesses such as Stone Brewing or Windy City in Chicago as brewer-distributor companies they intend to imitate.

It's interesting to see the regionalism in everyone's answers. I haven't really spent any time in Cleveland, but their beers can be found in Cincinnati fairly often. And I've been to a couple breweries in Columbus, but their beers are almost never seen in Cincinnati.

 

The few times I have been to Halfcut in OTR they seemed to have a really solid cross-section of Ohio beers. The beer-focused bars are doing a good job seeking out the best of Ohio, but I agree that most bars around Cincy are going local and national-craft before looking around the state. Great Lakes is the exception though because they penetrated the market before our current batch of local craft brewers got off the ground.

I'm surprised Riverghost (the distributor owned by the Rhinegeist guys) hasn't made a move into northern Ohio yet. Aside from Chillwave, Rhinegeist's pale ales and IPAs beat the pants off anything (of those styles) from Great Lakes. The only way I could see someone disagreeing is if they are really into the Dogfish Head type of English-influenced east coast IPA, which Lake Erie Monster is a pretty good example (second only to Dogfish Head 90 Minute). Rhinegeist holds its own against San Diego darlings Stone and Ballast Point. I'd put Truth between Stone IPA (not as good as Truth) and BP's Sculpin (better, but also way overpriced).

 

FWIW, I sense that Fat Head's may now be the flagship IPA in NEO among beer snobs, not anything by Great Lakes.  That said, I quite like 90 Minute IPA, so I might be in that bucket you describe.  I'll have to track down some Lake Erie Monster some time.

 

It's real bummer we can't organize a "Ales on Rails" tour through Ohio on the 3-Cs line.  That would have been fun.

^ i would be just as happy to do that craft beer tour on the c-a-c commuter rail line!

I'm surprised Riverghost (the distributor owned by the Rhinegeist guys) hasn't made a move into northern Ohio yet. Aside from Chillwave, Rhinegeist's pale ales and IPAs beat the pants off anything (of those styles) from Great Lakes. The only way I could see someone disagreeing is if they are really into the Dogfish Head type of English-influenced east coast IPA, which Lake Erie Monster is a pretty good example (second only to Dogfish Head 90 Minute). Rhinegeist holds its own against San Diego darlings Stone and Ballast Point. I'd put Truth between Stone IPA (not as good as Truth) and BP's Sculpin (better, but also way overpriced).

 

FWIW, I sense that Fat Head's may now be the flagship IPA in NEO among beer snobs, not anything by Great Lakes.  That said, I quite like 90 Minute IPA, so I might be in that bucket you describe.  I'll have to track down some Lake Erie Monster some time.

 

It's real bummer we can't organize a "Ales on Rails" tour through Ohio on the 3-Cs line.  That would have been fun.

 

It’s a summer seasonal, as is “Chillwave” (formerly Alchemy Hour and should have been “Surfin’ Cleveland” for reasons having to do with when it runs out). 

 

IPAs were originally developed for Brits in India, they are really supposed to be summertime beers.  GLBC’s year round one is Commodore Perry, which isn’t bad at all.

 

I'm going to have to try more Ohio Brewing brands since I love "Jingle Bell Ale" and I have heard from multiple sources that Portside Maple Stout is the best beer ever.

 

^Pretty sure Fat Head's Head Hunter isn't seasonal (see top of http://fatheadsbeer.com/beer.html). 

 

That Alchemy Hour ("Cleveland Surfer") was the best damn beer....

 

Having said that, I'm never disappointed in Great Lakes Dortmunder.  Good flavor, never gives me a hangover.

 

Another local Cleveland brew I really enjoy is the Market Garden Pearl Street Wheat.  It very closely resembles authentic German wheat beer flavor and taste, with a hint of citrusy aromatics.  I love to drink this stuff but it tears me up the next day

^Pretty sure Fat Head's Head Hunter isn't seasonal (see top of http://fatheadsbeer.com/beer.html). 

 

Neither is Commodore Perry.  Chillwave (formerly Alchemy Hour) and Monster are. 

 

 

I'm going to have to try more Ohio Brewing brands since I love "Jingle Bell Ale" and I have heard from multiple sources that Portside Maple Stout is the best beer ever.[/color]

 

 

Portside Maple Stout is brewed by Portside.  Ohio Brewing has Maple Porter which hasn't been brewed in a couple years but is a seasonal.  The next seasonal from Ohio Brewing should be out sometime in January is the Double Irish Red.

^Pretty sure Fat Head's Head Hunter isn't seasonal (see top of http://fatheadsbeer.com/beer.html). 

 

Neither is Commodore Perry.  Chillwave (formerly Alchemy Hour) and Monster are. 

 

Ah, got it, sorry, I thought your were referring to Head Hunter.  I guess I'll have to wait till next summer to try some Lake Erie Monster.

GLBC Blackout Stout is very good but doesn't get a lot of attention because it comes out at the same time as Christmas Ale.

 

Blackout Stout with St. Brendan's Irish Cream (Luxco-Paramount) and Paramount's Irish Whiskey (or Cleveland Whiskey's) can be called a Danny Greene.

It’s a summer seasonal, as is “Chillwave” (formerly Alchemy Hour and should have been “Surfin’ Cleveland” for reasons having to do with when it runs out). 

 

IPAs were originally developed for Brits in India, they are really supposed to be summertime beers.  GLBC’s year round one is Commodore Perry, which isn’t bad at all.

 

I'm going to have to try more Ohio Brewing brands since I love "Jingle Bell Ale" and I have heard from multiple sources that Portside Maple Stout is the best beer ever.

 

I believe IPAs were developed for ocean trips (between India and Britain) because the hops help to preserve beer. I don't know why that is, and it's especially interesting since hops flavor is the first thing to noticeably change (it gets weaker rapidly) as beer ages.

 

I don't know why they would be "supposed to be summertime beers" unless that's the only time ocean trips were made between India and Britain...which I highly doubt.

 

In a world full of amazing IPAs, Commodore Perry doesn't stand out at all. Not that it's bad. Chillwave and Rhinegeist's Truth do stand out.

Its a summer seasonal, as is Chillwave (formerly Alchemy Hour and should have been Surfin Cleveland for reasons having to do with when it runs out). 

 

IPAs were originally developed for Brits in India, they are really supposed to be summertime beers.  GLBCs year round one is Commodore Perry, which isnt bad at all.

 

I'm going to have to try more Ohio Brewing brands since I love "Jingle Bell Ale" and I have heard from multiple sources that Portside Maple Stout is the best beer ever.

 

I believe IPAs were developed for ocean trips (between India and Britain) because the hops help to preserve beer. I don't know why that is, and it's especially interesting since hops flavor is the first thing to noticeably change (it gets weaker rapidly) as beer ages.

 

I don't know why they would be "supposed to be summertime beers" unless that's the only time ocean trips were made between India and Britain...which I highly doubt.

 

In a world full of amazing IPAs, Commodore Perry doesn't stand out at all. Not that it's bad. Chillwave and Rhinegeist's Truth do stand out.

 

Its not good at all. Im a huge GLBC fan...but their originals that they sell around the country are all weak in my opinion and im surprised they get the hype they do based on what is served around the country.  Their best beers are the seasonals and pub exclusives.  Not a fan of Commodore, Dortmunder, Burning River, Ed Fitzgerald or Eliot Ness.  THeir best beers are Holy Moses, Nosferatu, Chillwave, Lake Erie Monster IMO.

 

Honestly, Great Lakes is not even close to the best beer in cleveland.  Again, my opinion.

Just had the Blackout Stout and loved it. I think it's my favorite GLBC beer. Either that or Chillwave (fka Alchemy Hour). I agree with you, Believeland, I don't care much for the GLBC staples.

glbc is like the sierra nevada or anchor steam of cleveland craft beers. it's the respected original, but rather conservative and the craft beer world has moved well beyond it.

It's also available everywhere in Cleveland, so even if you're hanging out in some horrible place because of your coworkers, or buddy's new girl you don't have to drink piss water.

^yeah thankfully.

 

the thing is glbc is a respected middle tier craft brewery now. it's the upstart micro-craft brewers are where all the action is.

 

same situation in ny with the newer brooklyn brewery vs finback, singlecut, etc. -- and i imagine other places as well.

^yeah thankfully.

 

the thing is glbc is a respected middle tier craft brewery now. it's the upstart micro-craft brewers are where all the action is.

 

same situation in ny with the newer brooklyn brewery vs finback, singlecut, etc. -- and i imagine other places as well.

 

Karl Strauss in San Diego. They were a bold alternative in the 90's. Now they're fairly bland by today's standards.

 

For the record I think GLBC is way better than Karl Strauss. And Gordon Biersch.

 

 

I think GOrdon biersch and the other one are pretty stale. gLBC is still very innovative and always releasing new and tremendous things. Just not in love with the originals

To each their own, and there are dozens of beers out there that I really enjoy but GLBC's Burning River Pale Ale is *my* beer. Not sure what exactly sets it apart from the dozens of other pale ales I've tried - none quite have that intangible that Burning River has. The closest I can think of is Dales but even that doesn't have whatever it is that Burning River has - I'm not a homebrewer nor do I care enough to dissect the ingredients but something GLBC does with Burning River just works with my palate. I've heard some say it skews more IPA as pale ales go?

 

Or, maybe it's like the packaging reads - "our American Pale Ale combines a citrusy Cascade hops flavor with a fruity assertiveness" - a beer that combines a little bitterness with fruity assertiveness? No wonder I feel a kinship there  :-D

Four Strings - Brass Knuckle

Columbus Brewing - Bodhi

Great Lakes - Christmas Ale *draft(classic at this point)

Four Strings - White IPA

Great Lakes - Edmund Fitz

North High Brewing - Double IPA

Seventh Son - Oat Brown

It's also available everywhere in Cleveland, so even if you're hanging out in some horrible place because of your coworkers, or buddy's new girl you don't have to drink piss water.

 

Dortmunder is anyway, and many bars will carry one other kind, plus Christmas Ale when it's available.