Craft Beer Downtown Cleveland?

are you looking to buy or drink

 

City tap

 

There's a nice place inside of the Galleria mall called Wink's Bar & Grille. Steps away from the Rock Hall and part of a local chain called the Winking Lizard.

http://winksbar.com/

 

This is the best place downtown. There is also Winking Lizard, City Tap and Lincoln Tap House.

 

ABC tavern, Tremont Taphouse, Happy Dog

 

None of which are downtown.

 

I'm heading this weekend, what local/Ohio beers do I need to try?

 

Get to Fat Head's and try everything. Then go to a good shop and pick up White Rajah and Columbus IPA. I was told World of Beer in Lakewood will have cans of the two Jackie O's released as of June 1; I figure other places will get them too, but WOB is worth a stop either way. Also, Deagan's(across the street from WOB) had Bohdi and Uncle Rusty on tap last week. One other good stop would be to get some Willoughby Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter. The Brewpub is a bit far from everything else, but you can get it on tap at Wink's Bar downtown.

 

Thanks. I'm taking my dad to a Tribe game for his birthday so will likely be limited to anything I can find downtown near the ballpark. Will I be able to find White Rajah and Columbus IPA on tap?

 

This is walking distance from the field and they have a great line-up at this time:

http://winksbar.com/beerlist.php

Not sure where you can find Rajah downtown, but check the other places mentioned above.

 

Winks isn't open late, so it may be best to hit it before you go...

 

Winking lizard downtown near the stadium will have rajah bottles. It could be on tap there or city tap but most likely not.

 

Nope, Rajah is not on the World Tour this year so Winking Lizard will 100% not have bottles.

 

Hopping Frog Gangster Frog IPA if you can find it. Of the local IPAs around here that's my personal favorite.

 

I will be there in a couple of days and am interested in hitting the local breweries. Indigo Imp is out since they are only open on Fridays and I'm there Saturday through Thursday!

I see there is Great Lakes Brewing Company and Portside Distillery downtown and The Bottlehouse Brewery out east.

Anybody had experience with these locations?

Also, is there a local bottle shop that will ship? I'd love to send some "un-gettables" back home to California with minimal fuss...

 

Check out Rozi's in Lakewood for shipping. I know they have online ordering so I am assuming they could ship any purchases. They also have a very good selection.

In my opinion, the places to hit are:

Fat Heads - North Olmsted (Westside) - best brewer in the Cleveland area
Willoughby Brewing - Willoughby (Eastside) - really stepped their game up lately and the peanut butter coffer porter is worth the trip alone
Great Lakes - Cleveland (Ohio City) - might find one or two cool pub exclusives, but its worth it for atmosphere
Market Garden - literally right across the street from Great Lakes - gets a bad wrap but I enjoy the beers
Nanobrew - a block away from Market Garden - not too many house brews but if you're in Ohio City you might as well check it out

Never been to Bottlehouse or Portside. Don't feel as you're missing anything with Indigo Imp. Most of there beers are not so good and you should be able to find them all in bottles if they still interest you.

 

Imp is pretty terrible, so you are not missing anything. I went to The Bottle House when they first opened and it was average. They may have improved by now. If you are out that way, hit Melt and the Whole Foods on Cedar.

I have not been to Portside yet; went last week but forgot they are cash only. They do make some interesting sounding beers though and I may try to go down this Sat. One other thing, that whole area is under construction, so plan for a little extra travel.

Great Lakes is good and Nano is decent. Tremont Taphouse is a must and ABC Tavern across from Nano is worth the stop. I would also try to hit Fat Head's, Willoughby(although the Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter can be had at Winks Bar Downtown), Brew Kettle and maybe Beer Engine if you have time. If you are at the Beer Engine, may as well stop at Deagan's and World of Beer. No shortage of great places around town.

 

Interesting... Heard a couple of people recommend Fat Heads and Willoughby, but those don't show up in the BA search for "Cleveland". And that's why we come to the forums!

Well, I'll need to be sticking pretty close to downtown, so I don't know if I can convince the non-drinkers to take a 10 mile trip in the opposite direction, so Fat Heads might be out.

And Willoughby is 30 miles away from our hotel, so I don't think that's going to happen, either.

But you never know...

Thanks for the info!!