New to Ohio (2016)

Has this hit distro yet in NE Ohio?

 

Yes. Limited # of cases started this week. Will ramp up volume over next couple weeks.

 

Does anyone know where I could find one bottle of Black Maple in Columbus? I've missed this one every time. I would love to find one.

 

Just saw this conversation on Twitter. Apparently Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati is going to be getting some. Could be kegs only I guess, maybe not bottles...will have to wait and see.

 

So this just happened.



R Shea is doing crowlers now, and while there are so many beer geeks creaming their shorts over beers inspired by things with things added to things, it needs to be said that I've seen very few brewers that are able to bring the intended flavors to the front more than this guy. I know at the very least I'm going to start seeing what some of my out of state friends think of this stuff.

 

But lizardville is getting their own varients I thought? (Being extremely sarcastic!)

 

Lizardville on Polaris had a bunch of them on Friday night.

 

Been there a few times, but I don't care for their stuff at all. The flavored stouts in particular, have been quite bad IMO. The "Elvis" was so artificial and chemical tasting, I couldn't get myself to finish the sample size. Bleh.

They have some stuff with good flavor, but the nitro-like carb on everything kills it for me. I won't be back there for some time to see if they improve. Not trying to be a hater, just sharing my thoughts.

 

Yes I know I remember this in an earlier convo. I think the mouthfeel is actually quite an accomplishment, but I don't think they'd be able to maintain it if they scale up as they intend, as it is the result of the smaller batch system using pressurized fermentation. If I recall correctly, they don't have to carb, which is probably what you're finding to be lacking, but I kind of like it. The fact that they can pull off a nitro-like feel, yet still have a huge aroma profile (as most nitro beers are muted in that regard) is quite unique.

I understand what you're saying with the artificiality being a turn off in beers, but after having certain exceptionally hyped up beers by Funky Buddha, Toppling Goliath, Cigar City, J Wakefield and others that are escaping me, to be frank, this guy does flavoring via food and drink inspirations better than any of them at the moment. All I'm saying is, if the masses of beer geeks that traded away half of their cellars for some of these select whales suddenly had R Shea pop up in their backyard, they probably would have regretted chasing those whales, if they don't already.

I know speaking for myself I've been disappointed more than not when I try to seek out hyped beers that are basically just flavored to mimic some non-beer food or drink, and I always come back to classic unadulterated styles that are executed at a higher level. However, going to R Shea is a fun experience and there's a lot of powerful and unique flavors and aromas he's producing for what it's worth. On the one hand, he is catering to a certain crowd down there in the valley, but on the other, he did go on a trip recently to Florida's big breweries, so I think that leaves little room for mystery as to why he has taken this particular path.

 

So on Saturday we stopped by Hansa brewing, the new German-beer focused brewery just outside of Ohio City (basically next door to Great Lake’s for the most part).

Atmosphere was fantastic… A lot of seating in a bright, open area that has the German-type charm to it. Super clean as well. Service was fantastic overall. Prices are great, everything is a flat rate $5 and served in half liters or other proper glassware for the style. Full liters are $10, flights of 4 for $5 as well.

We tried every (house) beer on the menu, which consisted of the following:

Kolsch
Hefeweizwen
German IPA
Schwarzbier
Dopplebock
Lichtenhainer (think smokey berliner!)
Cuyahoga Common (not a real style, collab with one or two other places).
Oktoberfest

The beers were solid! The Lichtenhainer was super unique, never had anything like it before. A cross between a Rauchbier and Berliner is the best way to describe it… Sour/tart, smokey and very refreshing. The Oktoberfest, Schwarzbier and Kolsch followed on my preference list. The German IPA was unique with the nobel hops used, and the Common and Hefeweizen were probably near the bottom of my preference list. They also had 4-6 guest taps, which were awesome from Land Grant in Columbus.

They also had their own (small) parking lot, which helps in that area. They have food, but we only tried the pretzels which were good. Other food looked pretty awesome from what I saw.

Well worth stopping in here! Don’t expect Hofbrauhaus quality German lagers just yet, but they are still damn tasty and well executed.

 

What is the process for approving labels? Why is it taking so long? I'd imagine it wouldn't really take that long for this process to happen, we've already seen some out of state 12%+ ABV beers enter the state. You'd think they would move pretty quickly to approve one of the bigger 12%+ draws in the area.

 

Wow, this brewery is finally open? Dude has been talking about opening for what seems like ten years.

 

Yup! A few weeks ago they opened their doors. I only recently heard about it as the brewer is on a few homebrew groups I follow and he had mentioned it.

Oh, and it looks like Fat Head's may be opening a brewpub in Ohio City from what I heard... Some building or something just bought out by them closer to the market and such. Would be a perfect move for FH IMO if true.

 

Finally got to stop by Goldhorn brewery in CLE after work. They've been open a few months, but haven't seen much chatter on here about it. No cans/bottles, draft/growlers only. Space is pretty nice. Their style is crisp, clean beer with a focus on lagers and traditional euro/american styles. Nothing outside the box really and no "identity" other than just straightforward style approaches. All breweries need time to figure stuff out, but the beer is decent at best. The IPA is a flashback to the 1990's/early 2000's if you're feeling nostalgic.

 

@MikeCactusGordon

That is one of our "to-do" breweries in the next few weeks, along with Brick and Barrel and Sibling Revelry (but that one doesn't excite me at all for whatever reason). Appreciate the little review on Goldhorn, sounds like it could be pretty cool.

 

I would add Avon Brewing Co to that list if you haven't been there yet.

 

Yes! That one is on there as well... Forgot about that one.. Worthwhile?