I'm going to update in case anyone else wanders by.
I'm from the west side.
My favorites:
Tap houses
Yard House - Huge selection of premium quality beer, all on draft. Not much local.
The Rail - Large selection of Ohio beers on draft. Right next to a Beer Garden with rare beers (owned by the same company).
Winking Lizard - Huge selection, mostly bottles. Usually a few local offerings but not a lot. Numerous locations around Cleveland.
Breweries
Avon Brewing Co - I live right by it so maybe I'm biased, but they have great beer and a significant bottle list as well, lots of local stuff.
Great Lakes Brewing Co - well established Cleveland brewery. Consistently good beer, conservative approach.
Platform - specializes in small and experimental batches. Huge draft list of their own beer that constantly rotates.
Fat Head's - High quality beer, large variety of styles.
Masthead - My beer enthusiast friend downtown loves it. I only had a couple beers but very good so far.
These breweries are average in terms of beer quality, in my opinion:
Cornerstone Brewing Co
Market Garden
Bad Tom Smith
Rock River Brewing Co
Saucy Brew Works
Railroad Brewing Co
Brew Kettle
Butcher and the Brewer
Buckeye Beer Engine (or now just called Beer Engine?)
Disappointing breweries:
Nano - minimal selection, poor service
Sibling Revelry - weird fruit and flavored stuff that doesn't turn out well.
Franklin - no tap room
Haven't been to these breweries:
Goldhorn, Forest City, Terrestrial, Noble Beast, Collision Bend, Bottlehouse, Hansa, Boss Dog, Working Class, Brick and Barrel, Bottlehouse, Bar Cento, Willoughby Brewing Co, Bookhouse Brewing, Hofbrauhaus, McNulty's Bier Markt, The Jolly Scholar, Brim Kitchen & Brewery, The Cleveland Brewery
May be more. Seems like they pop up every month.
Wow looks like I've been slacking!
Portside mentioned earlier is now closed.
