2023’s biggest beer stories for Northeast Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio – We like to take a look back at this time of year to the biggest beer stories and ones that caught our eye as well as our palate.

It’s no surprise that Ohio, with 428 breweries, ranks in the top 10 in the country for number of breweries. Roughly a fourth of those are in the northeastern part of the state. They produce some good beer, a ton of news and employ a lot of people.

This is our ninth year of looking back at beer news, notes, sips and suds. Here are our top three stories along with a few other notable ones:

3. Ohio scores big at GABF

Ohio breweries always fare well at the Great American Beer Festival, but this year in particular resulted in a stellar showing: 13 breweries earned 19 medals. Among the winners were four Northeast Ohio breweries – Fat Head’s, Hoppin’ Frog, Noble Creature Wild Ales & Lagers and Royal Docks. The four earned six medals. (Read more: Ohio breweries earn record number of medals at Great American Beer Festival)

2. Financial woes for breweries

Terrestrial Brewing in Cleveland and R. Shea Brewing in Akron both faced recent financial challenges. Just a few weeks ago, Terrestrial announced it entered bankruptcy protection (Read more: Terrestrial Brewing Co. files for bankruptcy protection). And in October, Ron Shea of R. Shea Brewing in Akron announced he was opening a crowdfunding initiative critical for his two-location brewery to survive. Whether this is a unique situation or a harbinger remains to be seen. A year from now this might make our list again; here’s hoping it doesn’t. Shea is a thoughtful guy who is getting squeezed by expanding just months before the coronavirus pandemic’s closure severely limited potential revenue. (Read more: With possible closure looming, R. Shea Brewing launches dire GoFundMe initiative)

1. AB pulls the plug on Platform

In 2019, Anheuser-Busch bought Platform Beer Co. to add to its craft-beverage division. But in February the conglomerate announced it was shutting down almost every aspect of the Cleveland brewery. Platform was left producing only three brands, a drop in the fermenter from its prolific production days. This coming year, Platform would have celebrated its 10th anniversary on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. (Read more: Platform Beer Co. shuts down operations, sources say)

OTHER BEER / BREWERY NEWS AND NOTES IN 2023

Openings and expansions

Barberton-based Ignite Brewing Co. expanded to Brunswick, going into a sports complex with the smart notion that parents can sip a good beer while their kid plays, practices or competes. … Market Garden Brewery chose Michigan as its first out-of-Ohio expansion. … Fat Head’s Brewery launched imperial versions of two of its most popular beers, Head Hunter and Bumble Berry. … Among the breweries that opened: Midnight Owl in Shaker Heights, Franklin Brewing in Lorain, Eleventhree in Chardon and Darkroom in Geneva. … The Brew Kettle expanded (with a great rooftop patio) to the growing Hall of Fame Village in Canton with a joint venture with Topgolf. … Ohio store shelves are bending a bit more: California-based Surreal Brewing Co. brought its non-alcoholic beers to the state. Mason-based Sonder Brewing, an award-winning brewery, is now distributing in Greater Cleveland. And 42 North – owned by a pair of Clevelanders and located outside of Buffalo – recently hit the Northeast Ohio market.

The spirit of suds

One of my favorite moments regarding beer each year is standing in line to enter Winter Warmer Fest in Cleveland’s Flats. Nice to see the camaraderie of craft-beer heads. Brewers personify that spirit throughout the year with an array of philanthropic efforts. Matt Vann of The Jolly Scholar initiated crowdfunding for Les Flake (“The Beer Guy!”), who was injured this year and had surgery. People quickly donated to help the ubiquitous beer vendor at Cleveland arenas and stadiums. … Broadview Brewing Co. and Blue Monkey Brewing Co. each organized charity events to fight food insecurity right before Thanksgiving. … Listing all of the charitable efforts from brewers would fill an encyclopedia volume. It’s proof that craft brewing remains a business whose operators always seem to remember we are a society and should look out for one another.

Debbie Downer drinks beer

The Ohio Craft Brewers Association held its annual conference in Cleveland this year. It’s a great event that has grown over the years. Economist Bart Watson, who covers the brewing industry, had some cautionary words for folks in the industry, though: Sales growth is slowing and changing at a time when demographics are shifting. Stay tuned on the ramifications, though it’s not dire enough to hoard beer just yet. Also: Downstate-based North High Brewing shut down its Ohio City outpost, and Cleveland-based Saucy Brew Works closed its brewpub in downtown Detroit.

Anniversaries

• Happy 40! If you have ever been to the Winking Lizard Tavern you probably have taken a few minutes to peruse the wonderful beer list. (This year the company announced it would move away from housing lizards, and also pared its Lizardville bottle selection.)

• Happy 35! Great Lakes Brewing Co. – the state’s first craft brewery – turned 35. The Ohio City brewery also marked five years since it started an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

• Cleveland Beer Week has chugged along with its scores of events, tastings, tap takeovers, collaborations and more for 15 years.

• Happy 5! The Cleveland Brewery Passport, which is run through Destination Cleveland, marked five years, along with Fat Head’s Brewery in Middleburg Heights, Southern Tier Brewing Co. in downtown Cleveland and Lock 15 Brewing Co. in Akron.

Not local but …

… a story worth mentioning is Bud Light’s fall from grace in May, when Modelo eclipsed Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the country. You can attribute the change to marketing backfire and demographics change.

Best label

I will be the first to admit bias here: I love dogs – I have a rescue pup – and I love Belgian ales. So last month it was a treat to belly up at the bar at Ardennes Brewery in western New York. These cans really take the kibble. The brewery is making great Belgian-style ales in a renovated farmhouse near Seneca Lake just south of downtown Geneva, New York, about five hours from Cleveland. And it’s doing so in the middle of wine country.

A remembrance

Cleveland resident Henry Senyak, a longtime member of the Lake Erie chapter of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, died of cancer. If you get a chance to check out any of the club’s regional gatherings, they are wonderful, nostalgic gatherings of all things beer.

Coming up

It’s clear that 10-Cent Beer Night is remembered as much for beer as it is baseball. And 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the ignoble moment in Cleveland baseball history. (Here’s a 10-cent explainer: Beers were sold for a dime at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, limits were not enforced, people got – surprise – out of hand, and the game wound up as a forfeited loss.) Look for Collision Bend Brewing Co. to do something special, as they have this year and last.

Six-pack of favorites

Our monthly beer column focuses on flavors of what I detect in beers rather than my personal likes or dislikes. But in this annual column I do like to mention beers that I really enjoyed:

• A pal who turned me on years ago to Yuengling’s Lord Chesterfield Ale did so again this year. Still a delicious, light-bodied hoppy, quaffable beer.

• A collaboration from Bitburger in Germany and Deschutes Brewery in Oregon resulted in a very drinkable Dry Hop’d Zwickl.

• Brighten Brewing Co.’s Marzen. The Copley brewery should be a destination for any craft-beer fan. Tom Robbins is a world-class brewer.

• Towpath’n Pale Ale from R. Shea Brewing in Akron. Seems brewers often overlook Pale Ale in lieu of making an India Pale Ale, a seasonal or a creative concoction of some sort. It’s one of my favorite styles when done right.

• HiHO Harvest Ale. Had this wet-hopped Pale Ale recently at Pub Bricco in Akron and really enjoyed it. Then I read that it is about as local as a beer can be. It’s brewed with local squash varieties from Let’s Grow Akron, malt from Haus Malts in Cleveland, and Chinook and Comet hops from Auburn Acres hop farm in Chagrin Falls.

• Jail Hill Cream Ale from Uniontown Brewing Co. in Ashland. The brewery – like many – is a great success story.

Final thoughts

Several years ago, beer-can production surpassed bottles. Breweries – and brewpubs, restaurants, stadiums, arenas and other places – serve them. I’d love to see more organized programs for these places to offer recycling options for pull tabs. Ronald McDonald House accepts them, using the resulting money for various items. It’s a win-win. Folks are helped, and the tabs are kept out of landfills while serving a secondary purpose.

And as I traditionally sign off this column: Remember, it’s not what we’re drinking, but with whom. Cheers, peace to all.

Previous end-of-year beer columns

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016 Part 1 (expansion and growth)

2016 Part 2 (news and trends)

2016 Part 3 (personal observations)

2015

Like beer? Check out GiveThemBeer for gifts for beer lovers. The company offers craft-beer baskets, seasonal selections and more.

I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. For my recent stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays. Twitter: @mbona30. My latest book, co-authored with Dan Murphy, is “Joe Thomas: Not Your Average Joe” by Gray & Co.

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