Bookhouse Brewing

Beer & baseball with the unusual suspects. Tomorrow brings Detroit so this is literally the Cleveland last hurrah post-game brewery one-two (three), as it is. Something different, something new; to us, anyway. We could have walked to here but would have had to have walked back and what with fuck that, you know… fuck that. Parked around the corner and did the much more desirable ½ block walk. Housed in an old brewery building from the 1800’s, turned and turned and turned again. Curtained up front windows have me naturally suspicious. I hope this isn’t fight club again…

Enter in through a small front corner room with a ramp and a step up. Blue painted walls over blue vertical wood slat trim. Slat wood floors, track spots, potted plant standalones and others dangling in the window cut throughs. Bright local art & framed prints, and an old handpump trio of a certain badassedness. Shelved red bound books on one wall and shelved blue bound books on the opposite wall. A few tables, and a step through to a really cool outside garden space under partial awning with paper lanterns and vine lined trellis.

Through and up to the rear, there’s a tiny little 3 sided ‘U’ shaped wood plank topped bar with a lip, panel base, a wood foot bar, and an ornate overhead. Seating for 6 on one side, 4 across the way, and service to the front side. Tower of a dozen and a half non-descript handles and a few Lukr. Barback wall is blackboard listing tap selections in 2 rows (beer, style, ABV) + light foodings, cider, wine, & N/A along the perimeter, as well as the ‘tap lines cleaned’ date posted, in alt colored chalkings (Goddamn, I love tap lines cleaned indicators. I wish everyone would do this). A single shelf with booze and glassware shelved below + more stacked on a piece behind the bar.

Brick walls and gray painted pieces & ceiling. b/w honey comb tiling around the bar and wood slat floors beyond there. Track spots & softball lights mounted. Old prints of the original owners. A cooler here with on prem bottles (including 2 De La Senne offerings and an Oxbow, yo), shirts & a merch rack there, you know how it goes. Tables off the bar for the sitting at. Prep area on the end for the light foodings they do; the 4 rolls of the metropolis (hotdog roll, sausage roll, pepperoni roll, & banana pepper roll), and pretzels & cheese. Brewery in a side room on the end, and another small room forward with pressed tin wall & ceiling. Shelved books & board games. More local art. Some 2 dozen tables in all between the spaces.

12 beers up at current, a very good spread of styles (Big Change, IPA, 7%; Whoops! Downunda, NEIPA, 6%; Double Whoops! NEIPA, 7.8%; Shandy, 2.6%; Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Rustic Witbier, 4.8%; Golden Hour, Golden Lager, 6.2%; London Porter, 5.5%; In Plain View, Pastry Stout, 11%; Ginger Gold, Pumpkin Ale, 6.5%; Festbier, Marzen, 6%; Habitual Line Stepper, Maibock, 7%; Oude Vlaamse Kriekenbier, Flanders Red/Brown, 7.65%).

Got in on some of this and some of that. London Porter, yum factor a million, that’s much yum; Oude Vlaamse Kriekenbier, Flanders Red/Brown, vinegary, sweet, & sour, spot on, well done; Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Rustic Wit, coriander, quite nice; Festbier, good maltiness, tasty; Golden Hour, Golden Lager, like a lighter Festbier. London Porter & Oude Vlaamse Kriekenbier for the wins, but there was not a clunker in the lot. Well done!

Wednesday is trivia night and we are in it. Beers were quite good. Chill house. We did dig it here. An excellent place to close out our Clevelandings.

 

Charming interior with brick walls. There are a number of tables and a double-sided bar rail where you can order beer with about six barstools on each side.
Four picnic tables on the patio with a partial view of downtown. There were 13 beers on tap covering a variety of styles. The ones I tried were pretty good. Overall a nice place to hang out and have a couple of beers. Pretty ideal to bring a book or a computer and do some work.

Intimate mellow English style pub, still seats among constant in out. Major league bartender who handles it all. Some pretty decent brews. Worth the stop.

An informal place that is across the river from downtown. Located on a busy street but once inside it’s quiet. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about their beer. When I visited in May 2024, there were 12 beers on tap with good variety.

A stunningly cozy and mellow presentation, each room is uniquely decorated and comforting without being too bookish or librarian. Bookhouse is a nice blend of book store* and brewery that I didn't realize was a niche that needed to be filled. *(To be clear, I don't think any actual books are for sale).

Stepping up to the heftily wooden bar, I'm further taken aback by the diverse selection on the menu. They've got everything from dunkels, dark Czech lagers, Texas bocks, rauchbiers and more. Of course, they even offered a few IPAs and hard ciders for the kids. Either way, I couldn't wait to dig in.

Every beer was good to great--if not just satisfying per style, sometimes hitting the bullseye. I'd probably be here weekly if I lived closer.

Outstanding place, very chill relaxing vibe with bookshelves and plant decor around the space. Several smaller rooms where you can easily get cozy and hang out solo or with friends.

Bar is straight back with a service area to order beers and limited food (pretzel/pasties/charcuterie/cheese plate). The bartenders brought out food to our table in another room which was nice. They were efficient but still managed to be friendly.

Selection was good, had a nicely crisp hoppy lager, a solid IPA, DIPA, and some interesting guest drafts, including a dark lager from Eighty-Three Brewery that was great.

Overall i’d say to put this one on your short list of CLE breweries to visit. The vibe here was nice, and the cozy pub feel sure beats drinking in an empty warehouse, aka the "modern brewery taproom experience".

Relaxed setting in a 19th Century brewery. Compartmentalized space with an outdoor seating area. Beer menu with a good mix of ales and lagers. (as well as a smoked hefeweizen) This had the type of pub atmosphere that I could easily spend the day here.

 

Brand new brewery just around the corner from Saucy Brewing. Fantastic old building with an interesting history. Most of the beautiful tables are made from the buildings old flooring, and a portion of very old tin ceiling has also been salvaged. There is also beautiful new woodwork throughout.

Fortunately the beers are the equal of the building, very well done. I had their Ipa, Celestial Map, and it was clean, crisp, and very well made. The wife had a gose, Three Out Of Five, which was also well above average. No food served.

Service was fantastic.

I will certainly return on my next trip to Cleveland.