Ohio Brewery News
3.4.2021
CENTRAL
Opening a small business is hard. Opening a small business in the highly regulated alcohol industry is even harder. Opening a small business in a highly regulated industry during a global pandemic, well, you get the idea. Even with all of those obstacles, 47 new Ohio brewery locations opened their doors to the public in the past year and more are on the way. Among those is Buzzsaw Brewing Company, a Belgian-inspired brewery that has been in planning since 2017. Their initial canned beers started popping up on central Ohio retail shelves last month, including Buzzsaw pale ale, Dubbstep Belgian-style dubbel and Treasure Trove Belgian-style tripel. The brewery does not have a public taproom yet – that’s in their future plan – but will continue to roll out new beers to their retail partners in the coming months. Sign up for Buzzsaw’s newsletter and follow them on social media for the latest: buzzsaw.beer
GREATER CLEVELAND
Winter Warmer Cask Day is this Saturday, March 6, and while we can’t have a traditional beer festival this year, we can still give northeast Ohio craft beer fans of taste of what makes Winter Warmer Fest so great. 38 breweries will tap unique, small batch beers in their taprooms this weekend. A few highlights:
- Hofbrauhaus Cleveland re-opens this week and will tap eight beers from their cellar on Saturday, including bourbon barrel aged Doppelbock and Maibock.
- Noble Beast Brewing will tap a cask of Murder Ballads Baltic porter conditioned with cacao nibs and vanilla beans, as well as a sneak preview keg of Eau Rouge Flemish-style red sour ale, foeder aged for two years.
- Eighty-Three Brewery in Akron will serve casks of Berried to Death fruited gose and Hold Music Limbo hazy double IPA through their beer engine.
All participating breweries will have a very limited number of collectible Winter Warmer snifter glasses available while supplies last. See the full list of beers and breweries at ohiocraftbeer.org
NORTHEAST
Muskellunge Brewing is celebrating the bock family of beers this weekend at their taproom in downtown Canton. Brewer Frank Estremera will tap four styles of bock, a strong, German-style lager with malt-driven flavors, on Friday, March 5. Judy’s Buck, a traditional bock that took home a bronze medal from the U.S. Open Beer Championship headlines the group of releases, which also includes Pacu doppelbock, Saugeye weizenbock and the brand new Brookie dunkler bock. Bock beers were traditionally served in March, brewed with the previous year’s barley and hops crop and fermented for months in the cold winter temperatures. Modern technology allows for quicker, more consistent lagering, but this month still holds high significance for bock beer fans. Find out more about the bock celebration at Muskellunge at facebook.com/muskybrewco
NORTHWEST
For a craft beer lover, having one of your favorite breweries name a beer after you is quite the honor. That’s what happened several years ago when Bowling Green Beer Works named a west coast-style IPA after brewery regular and craft beer evangelist Dr. Mike Coomes. Prof Coomes – the beer – has been a fixture at BG Beer Works for almost as long as Prof Coomes – the man – has been. A triple IPA version of his namesake beer, dubbed Angry Coomes, hit the taps this past Monday. Considering that the original Prof Coomes IPA claims on the label to be “as bitter as you are,” this new, scale-breaking 160 IBU monster would be a palate bruiser if not for the hefty and intense malt backbone, which provides just enough balance and contributes to the beer’s whopping 11% ABV mark. Enjoy a pour at the BG Beer Works taproom while supplies last. Follow the brewery on social media for more: facebook.com/bgbeerworks
SOUTHEAST
If you’ve been following Jackie O’s on social media for the past few weeks, you are probably counting down the seconds until the brewery puts their 15th anniversary bottles on sale at jackieos.com. To date, seven of the eight anniversary beers have been announced for the online bottle release, including three variants of barrel aged Dark Apparition Russian imperial stout, a new entry into the Cellar Cuvee series featuring a blend of beers aged in barrels for nearly three years, and the long-awaited return of Dynamo Fuzz, a brewpub favorite barrel aged peach sour ale available for the first time since 2015. Set a reminder and snag the bottles of your choice on Monday, March 8, then tune in on Facebook Live on Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. as the Jackie O’s crew will hold a virtual tasting and Q & A session. Get all the details at facebook.com/jackieosbrewery
SOUTHWEST
One of Cincinnati’s longest running craft beer traditions, Bockfest has taken on a new form in 2021 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Normally consisting of a goat parade through Over-the-Rhine, rowdy festivities in the Bockfest Hall and copious amounts of strong lagers from breweries all over the city, Bockfest’s 29th iteration will look considerably different than past years. The party will be spread across 35 Cincy-area venues, including 14 Ohio Craft Brewers Association member breweries From Friday, March 5 through Sunday, March 7. Visit the real goats at Fibonacci Brewing’s urban farm in Mt. Healthy, try the new Colonel Copper Kupferdoppelbock at Rebel Mettle Brewery downtown, or head up to Sharonville for Third Eye Brewing’s Total Debockery collaboration with Krampuslauf Zinzinnati. See the full list of beers and events at Cincy-area breweries at bockfest.com
WEST CENTRAL
Every spring, as college basketball nears its annual championship tournaments, brackets pop up to determine the best of anything and everything, from dog breeds to Taylor Swift songs. Eudora Brewing Company is using the popular March pastime to pit their flagship beers in a sales competition against each other for the next six weeks to crown a champion. Bangarang IPA, Mother Fuggle brown ale, Sundowner blonde ale and Bee’s Knees hoppy amber ale all get first round byes, but don’t be surprised if a lower seed like Ohio Lager, Maniac cherry sour ale or Thunderball oatmeal stout makes a deep run through the tournament. The tournament is currently underway, so stop in at Eudora’s spacious taproom in Dayton, buy a pint of your favorite brew and root it on to victory! Find out more at facebook.com/eudorabrewingcompany