GOTL Brewing Co.

Found this brew pub while driving thru Geneva on the Lake, a small town on Lake Erie an hour or so east of Cleveland. I think it is relatively new. The deck behind the pub overlooking Lake Erie is awesome! What a great place to have a beer and a meal, especially at sunset. It was quiet when we were their on a Tuesday evening, but it looks like a place that draws big crowds on weekends. As of July they only had 2 beers brewed on premise: an ale and a lager, priced very reasonably at 5.50 for a 16 ounce serving. Both were fine, although not as memorable as the view! We enjoyed our dinner - a fish fry for me and a perch sandwich for my companion. Very tasty, fresh with a good batter that wasn't greasy. I would definitely return for the atmosphere, and hopefully more interesting beers will be brewed in the future.

A previous reviewer encapsulated this rather well as a hole in the wall in a decaying once-touristy area. I am disinclined to disagree.

While ostensibly a brewery, I observed no actual brewing space nor equipment while here. Granted, I only walked through the actual building itself, as I opted to sit at the outdoor bar area facing Lake Erie, so it's conceivable that there is a brewing operation somewhere inside. Given that the place did not even have any aroma I'd associate with an active brewery, however, well.

The food was unremarkable, the service fine, whatever beer was under their house Vienna tap handle decent. One cannot escape the somewhat greige-bland "death-bag" of decay settling into the entire area, however. The view is great, as long as one focuses on the lake itself.

This place is a shithole in a lake tourism town that's seen better days.

We visited on a Saturday evening just after an Indians game wrapped up. There were plenty of people shuffling out as they only seemed to have come here to watch the game, so prompt service seemed like it would be a no-brainer. As we bellied up to the bar, an incessant and deafeningly repetitive CO2 pump was having a heyday just behind the bar--it actually became painful.

It took ten minutes for a bartender to actually come to the bar and take an order, at which point we had to order "A BEER," since there was no list and the tap handles weren't specific. So instead of providing a list, since they likely don't have one, they go on a verbal spiel, describing all the styles as if it's our first time having a beer. The DFH we had was fine, but the "house" Pale Ale looked and tasted pretty spot on for a Stone, and I highly doubt this place is putting out that kind of quality at this point in their illustrious history. I'm so certain of the fact that they are trying to pass off other beers as their own that I'm not even going to add the beer to review it.

In any case, this could be a cool place, but because of its location and the low standards of the folks that come to this standing summer fair and campground, they probably don't have any issue making the minimal amount of money they need to keep afloat, given the limited beer bar choices with a view. So I doubt they have any incentive to improve on any of these aspects.

The have basic ass bar food complete with sticky, unwiped bartop, and an outdoor area with a view of the lake. What more could you ask for? I'd say, a lot. This is one of those places where, even on a beer website, I'm recommending you simply get out of town and go to wine country. Hell, even if you really don't want any of the wine in Geneva, some of which is actually quite good, some of the wineries have some quality beer bottles to offer.