What to Sample -Ohio Surrounding States

I've only got a two short months until I am a Ohio resident.

What are some are MUST TRY breweries in the state, and your favorite brews there? Why do you like them?

What are the coolest places to tour?

What part of the state?

The state at large:

Thirsty Dog
Great Lakes
The Brew kettle
Jackie O's
Hoppin Frog
Triple digit

In columbus:

Seventh Son
Zauber's
Four String (i don't like the beer but it's more about the styles the brew)
Wolfe Ridge
Barely's
Land grant brewing (coming soon)
Pigskin Brewing (coming soon)
Hoof Hearted
Rockmill (belgians)
Elevator Brewing (< horny goat is one of my favorites)

There is also a nano that just started brewing but i haven't heard much

I know you weren't asking for a list but i don't have a bunch of time to review each one. If you are going to be near columbus, there is the Ohio Taproom. It's a growler filling station that has only Ohio beers on tap. It's a really nice place to try some of what Ohio has to offer and get a great growler as well.

There are plenty more that aren't in my list.

Great Lakes is one of the grandfathers of this industry and probably the most important brewery to tour. They are a very traditional craft brewery, not unlike Sam Adams. Sam Adams itself has its roots and most of its production in Cincinnati, but the brand is generally tied with Boston of course.

There are good breweries throughout the state. Where will you be? A real up-and-comer standout is Weasel Boy Brewing in Zanesville.

^ yes the are a good one too.

Buckeye Lake brewing isn't bad either.

Dolomieu said:

What part of the state?

I know you weren't asking for a list but i don't have a bunch of time to review each one. If you are going to be near columbus, there is the Ohio Taproom. It's a growler filling station that has only Ohio beers on tap. It's a really nice place to try some of what Ohio has to offer and get a great growler as well.

There are plenty more that aren't in my list.

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The list is great! Thank you!

I've heard of a few, but most are new to me.

Specifically, from Ohio, I've tried Mad Tree, Triple Digit, and and least one other than I can't remember the name of right now.

I'm moving to Cincinnati specifically, but I'm planning on many out-of-town beer excursions. It's like traveling to see a sporting even to me.

I've had Great Lakes recommended to me 9 hours away here in North Carolina, but I didn't actually see it until I visited Cincy. Can't wait to give it a try, and especially to tour their facilities.

Well if you are in the cincy area, find Jungle Jims. It has the largest bottle shop in the state. I believe triple digit is brewed at listerman's or another brewery, IIRC.

Some other cincy breweries.

Moerlien
Rivertown
Rhinegiest
Listerman
Mt. Carmel

Great Lakes brewpub is in a really neat area of cleveland.

Willoughby Brewing Company is a MUST. Willoughby is definitely my favorite, they have a peanut butter cup coffee porter to DIE for and the food is absolutely incredible. Other than that, some more to check out are:

(cleveland area)
Great Lakes - Wonderful food. I usually get a burger ever time I go, so good. Pretty cool, the meat they use for their burgers is from next door at the west side market and the cows for the burgers eat the spent grains from the Great Lakes beer. Great pizza as well and they offer tours so I would definitely take a tour if I were you!

Fat Heads - Once again awesome food. Lots of great beers and some guest beers on tap. Must check out. Lots of award winning beers, Head Hunter IPA and Hop Juju are probably two of my favorites.


The Brew Kettle - Best smoked wings ever. Last time I was there they had 30 beers on tap, their beers and guest beers. You can also brew there. And theres a cool wine place next door.


Rocky River - Not really a must visit in my opinion, good food, decent beer, but worth a stop if you're ever in the area.


Catawba Island Brewing Co. (Port Clinton OH)

Hope that helps!

Moving to Cincy, you are planting yourself smack into the middle of the microbrew resurrection. Mad Tree is ok....tasting room is rather large, 15 brews for tasting. Triple Digit is a product of one of like 4 LHBS within 20 minutes of anywhere in the area. Once you get into town, you'll have plenty to go see. The ones Dolo mentioned are in an area called "Over the Rhine"....incredibly rich in the history of beer making in the US. The old Morlein Brewery tour takes you more than two stories below street level into the recently re-discovered lagering tunnels....cool stuff!!
Not to mention the brew clubs....
Welcome to Cincy! When you get settled, hit me up, we can definitely hit some tours.....

beernbourbon said:

Moving to Cincy, you are planting yourself smack into the middle of the microbrew resurrection. Mad Tree is ok....tasting room is rather large, 15 brews for tasting. Triple Digit is a product of one of like 4 LHBS within 20 minutes of anywhere in the area. Once you get into town, you'll have plenty to go see. The ones Dolo mentioned are in an area called "Over the Rhine"....incredibly rich in the history of beer making in the US. The old Morlein Brewery tour takes you more than two stories below street level into the recently re-discovered lagering tunnels....cool stuff!!
Not to mention the brew clubs....
Welcome to Cincy! When you get settled, hit me up, we can definitely hit some tours.....

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that's awesome! I hope someone is making use of them again.

beernbourbon said:

Moving to Cincy, you are planting yourself smack into the middle of the microbrew resurrection. Mad Tree is ok....tasting room is rather large, 15 brews for tasting. Triple Digit is a product of one of like 4 LHBS within 20 minutes of anywhere in the area. Once you get into town, you'll have plenty to go see. The ones Dolo mentioned are in an area called "Over the Rhine"....incredibly rich in the history of beer making in the US. The old Morlein Brewery tour takes you more than two stories below street level into the recently re-discovered lagering tunnels....cool stuff!!
Not to mention the brew clubs....
Welcome to Cincy! When you get settled, hit me up, we can definitely hit some tours.....

Click to expand...

This gets me incredibly excited - espcially the Morlein Brewery! Thanks for your reply. We are going up there to view several houses and hopefully put an offer in next weekend. Once we finally get the move done, I'll look forward to hitting some of these places up with you.

Dolo- well, they are cleaning them out, not sure they will use them, hard to get to. They were found accidentally by a former owner of the building or maybe right after Morlein bought it, can't remember. They busted a hole in the floor, found the first level basement, and then the heavy equipment came in to be able to climb down in, but the access is still via narrow hand made stairs and walkways. They used a really cool copper or galvanized pipe system overhead with big holes in the floor and ceiling to create a convection current, cooling it down to about 40 something degrees in there..... (thank you Cincinnati Underground Tours for that info...lol). Was an amazing piece of American Beer history.

Gravy- Awesome, look forward to it.