Real ales in northeast Ohio?

[Caffinehog]

Anyone know anyplace that serves cask-conditioned real ales in northeast Ohio? Or is my homebrewed special bitter my best bet?

[DreamWeaver]

I'm thinkin yours is better.:cool: Unless ya consider Drew Carey homebrewing his "Buzz Beer" out in his garage. I just checked the Ohio Revised Code for alcohol laws and right now almost every law has been repealed. Up till now I don't think Ohio was even allowed to have "Brew Pubs". Or at least call them that. Thats why we were so low on the state list. I smell a future market! I live in the middle of the state, all the way to the left. A small town/village of 1100pop and we have 1 cop, 1 light and 7 bars... no Brew Pubs. I recently asked about cask-conditioned ales at a local beer store and they had no clue what I was talking about. A few years ago (97?) we were the least populated county (Mercer) in Ohio with the most beer sales of any other county per person, in Ohio... not a real beer anywhere. Well not in stores anyway. Looks like that is about to change!
-DRWeaver-

[ZSK]

Have you tried Great Lakes? I don't know if they have any cask ales on site or not. The stuff in bottles and in kegs is really good.

[HarkJohnny]

There are 3 brewpubs here in Cincinnati, if you count a Rock Bottom franchise. The other two are BarrelHouse, which does on occasion serve a cask ale, and Watson Bros. Both making some VERY good beer and grub.

[Caffinehog]

Looks like I'm getting my wish. Bukeye brewing is going to have some!!!!!

[unkle bik]

Just got back from the Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in Toledo.
Sampled an IPA that was cask-conditioned. Very hoppy & much darker than most IPA's.
I asked what the IBU rating was, but no one could give me answer. (i think they thought i was nuts.)
Nice place with a little beer museum inside complete with Toledo brewing artifacts.

[Beaver]

Originally posted by unkle bik
Just got back from the Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in Toledo.
Sampled an IPA that was cask-conditioned. Very hoppy & much darker than most IPA's.
I asked what the IBU rating was, but no one could give me answer. (i think they thought i was nuts.)
Nice place with a little beer museum inside complete with Toledo brewing artifacts.

Employees at some brewpubs can be a little clueless sometimes. I asked a waitress what style they considered their Doppel Jabi (start with IPA, and doubled the malts and hops). She came back and said it was kind of like a lager but they considered it an ale. So then I asked is it an IPA, an Imperial / Double IPA, a barley wine? She looked at me like I had horns on my head. :D

I did email the head brewer later and got my response though.

[HarkJohnny]

Originally posted by Caffinehog
Looks like I'm getting my wish. Bukeye brewing is going to have some!!!!!

ooh I had some of their Hippie IPA the other week... very good stuff!

[Caffinehog]

Just had an Adnams bitter from the cask, and it's worth every penny.

[steveh]

Originally posted by Caffinehog
Just had an Adnams bitter from the cask, and it's worth every penny.

Had one of those during the Chicago Real Ale Fest pub-crawl. Little, typical Chicago corner tavern named "Mac's" with two beer engines pouring real ale, and I agree - the Adnam's was quite good.

S.

[Caffinehog]

Went back today for Bells batch 6000 and old engine oil...

More yummies! Plus it was bread day, so they had a huge selection of yummy breads.

[steveh]

Bell's Batch 6000 Cask Conditioned..? Hmmmm --

What did you think of the Harviestoun's? I have notes on it from the Chicago real Ale Fest that I need to post at Tasting Notes, but short story is that I thought it was pretty terrific.

S.

[Caffinehog]

No, the bell's wasn't cask conditioned....
but it was good.

[Caffinehog]

Can't say I took notes on the old engine oil, but it was good. The guy at the bar described it as, "almost a brown porter, but slightly different." I agree.