of cash. Beer drinkers were now coming to the breweries and slapping down money to taste the freshest beer available instead of buying it at a bar, restaurant, or store. They were getting it at the source.
This allowed some new brewers, especially those interested in opening nanobreweries, to get into the craft brewing industry while keeping their day jobs. They could brew during the week and open their breweries on the weekends as they got their businesses off the ground. The money generated by sales at their tasting rooms kept the breweries afloat.
Then in 2013, the state made things even easier. It created a new brewing license for craft brewers. Instead of buying a $3,906 A1 license, any brewer that produced less than 30 million gallons a year—only Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors exceed that amount here—could buy an A1C license for $1,000. Just like that, it was $2,906 less expensive to open a brewery in Ohio.
But I’m getting off track. This book isn’t intended to be a history lesson. It’s about showcasing award-winning, tasty, and unusual Ohio-made beers. Let’s get this out of the way upfront. The beers showcased here are not necessarily the best in the Buckeye State. The best beer is whatever you think it is.
If that’s Thirsty Dog Raspberry Ale, so be it. If it’s Triple Digit Chickow!, so be it. If it’s Columbus Bodhi, so be it. Even if it’s Bud Light, so be it. You get the picture?
There is no way to compile an objective list of the “best” beers when everyone’s best will vary. That’s why this book is entitled 50 Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio. The 50 likely include some of your favorites. Then again, maybe they don’t. But I hope this list will spark debate and, perhaps, give you a reason to sample something you have never tried before.
With hundreds upon hundreds of Ohio-made beers to choose from, it wasn’t easy determining which brews should make the cut.
Sure, picking some was easy. A few have won numerous awards at major beer competitions and earned a spot on pedigree alone. As of this writing, Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA has taken home four medals at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. It has also won gold at the West Coast IPA Festival—the first East Coast beer to do so. That’s not bad for a brewery that opened in 2009. Head Hunter is considered one of the best IPAs in the country. How could it not be represented here?
Then there’s Great Lakes Christmas Ale. In northeast Ohio, it has an over-the-top, cult-like following. You know those people who do nothing but talk about their favorite television shows. Christmas Ale is like that for them. It is the best holiday beer ever, hands-down. No debate allowed. The brewery releases the beer on draft with plenty of fanfare, even including a Santa Claus. The first day it goes on sale at the brewery gift shop, you can watch fan after fan leave with cases in hand.
Meanwhile, there’s Elevator Ghost Scorpion Lager. It has won no awards. But the first batch—made for the Fiery Foods Festival 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
•
