Marc Bona, features writer, cleveland.com spoke to Bill about 22nd Berea’s National Rib Cook-off & Beer Fest to return Memorial Day weekend - 1st Progressive Field Grand Slam Beerfest set for summer - 4 Greater Cleveland restaurants lauded by Food & Wine; Ohio ranked as 9th best pizza state - Market Garden Brewery’s ‘Beer and the Shot’ promotion takes off across the country

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22nd Berea’s National Rib Cook-off & Beer Fest to return Memorial Day weekend

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/05/22nd-bereas-national-rib-cook-off-beer-fest-to-return-memorial-day-weekend.html

BEREA, Ohio – Signs of coronavirus restrictions easing keep coming into focus: Organizers have announced the 22ndBerea’s National Rib Cook-off & Beer Festwill return over Memorial Day weekend.

The Berea City Club-backed event, which started in 1998, will return with bands, beer and – of course - ribs at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds.

The festival is set over four days of the holiday weekend with $5 cash-only admission unless noted:

• Noon to 11 p.m. Friday, May 28 (free admission until 5 p.m.)

• 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, May 29

• 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, May 30

• 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, May 31

Kids under 12 get in for free, and active military personnel showing military ID will be admitted free on Monday - Memorial Day. The rain-or-shine event includes free parking.

Ten rib teams from all over the United States will compete in three categories: Best Ribs, Best Sauce and People’s Choice.

Rib prices (chicken and other dishes will be available)

Full slab dinner, $25

Full slab, $23

Half slab dinner, $18

Half slab, $16

1/3 slab, $12

Two-bone sampler, $6

Four-bone sampler, $11

Pork sandwich, $8

Chicken sandwich, $8

Brisket sandwich, $10

Other features

• Craft breweries include Yuengling, Platform Beer Co., Saucy Brew Works and Rhinegeist.

• A kids activity area includes a rock-climbing wall, super slide, swings and more.

•Corvette Cleveland’s Car Showwill include more than 40 vehicles 4 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Live musicwill be on center stage. The schedule:

Friday - Cruisin’, 4:30 p.m.; Bronx Country, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday - The Foogazies, 1:30 p.m.; Tiny Hands Band, 4:30 p.m.; Revolution Pie, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday - Chardon Polka Band, 1:30 p.m., Seven Nations, 4:30 p.m; Cleveland’s Breakfast Club, 7:30 p.m.

Monday – Yearbook, 1 p.m.; Seven Nations, 4 p.m.

Safety guidelines and protocols will be in place.

1st Progressive Field Grand Slam Beerfest set for summer

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/05/1st-progressive-field-grand-slam-beerfest-set-for-summer.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Tickets go on sale 9 a.m. Monday, May 10, for the baseball-themed inauguralGrand Slam Beerfestat Progressive Field.

Two sessions (2-5 p.m. and 8-11 p.m.) are scheduled for Saturday, July 31. More than 150 craft beers, seltzers, wines and cocktails will be available. Brewery list is in the works.

Organizers said the event, in partnership with Cleveland Beerfest, will benefit The Music Settlement of Cleveland and celebrate Cleveland’s brewing history and future.

The fest originally was planned for last summer. News of the fest was released in January 2020, less than two months before stay-at-home orders were announced in Ohio, halting public gatherings and summer festivals.

Various price levels are available; each comes with 25 sampling tickets for 5-ounce beer pours (less for cocktails). Prices increase Thursday, July 1, and again on the day of the event:

General admission, $45.

Early admission, $70:Buyers get in one hour early with access to warning track for exclusive beers and receive coupon code for one ticket to an Indians game in August or September.

SuperFan, $95:Includes photo opportunities at home plate with special entry line, one hour early admission, access to warning track and Home Plate Club for exclusive beers, coupon code for one ticket to an Indians game in August or September, access for souvenir digital photo, $10 voucher for a concession-stand item.

Designated Driver Tickets, $10:Includes voucher for concession-stand item.

For several years, beer fests have been held at area minor-league stadiums like Canal Park in Akron, Classic Park in Eastlake and the now-named Mercy Health Stadium in Avon.

The night of the beerfest, the Indians play the White Sox in Chicago.

Related coverage:Grand Slam Beerfest set for Progressive Field

4 Greater Cleveland restaurants lauded by Food & Wine; Ohio ranked as 9th best pizza state

CLEVELAND, Ohio –Food & Wine magazinehas ranked Ohio the ninth best pizza state in the country, citing a slew of restaurants including Greater Cleveland spots Geraci’s,Harlow’s,Il Rione and Mama Santa’s.

The ranking is a timely look at pizza, a sector of the restaurant industry that held up well during the pandemic, with its delivery distribution already established at a time when the takeout model was being embraced and enhanced.

“Pizza-wise, this is as balkanized a state as you will find, each city and region very much into their own style,” writes the magazine’s David Landsel.

Says the magazine about the four places:

“In Cleveland, there are pan-style pizzas topped with a provolone at institutions like Geraci’s in University Heights, now over a half-century old, or Mama Santa’s, in the city’s Little Italy. … At some point, however, you’ll be happy to snap back to the pizza present, and there have been some impressive new developments - there are the lovely, neo-Neapolitan pies at Il Rione, one of Cleveland’s best restaurants, summer nights and Margherita pizzas on the patio at Harlow in Lakewood. …”

The magazine did a nice job of covering the entire state, with Steubenville, Youngstown, Columbus, Miamsburg and Dayton all getting nods, as well as Akron for its accompanying cheese-topped salads (clearly a hat tip to Luigi’s).

By the way, it was an East Coast triumvirate at the top, with New Jersey, Connecticut and New York taking the first three spots, respectively.

Here’s the full list.

Market Garden Brewery’s ‘Beer and the Shot’ promotion takes off across the country

CLEVELAND, Ohio –Market Garden Brewery’s Beer and the Shot promotion has spread across the country.

The promotion, announced for St. Patrick’s Day, was simple, purposeful and nostalgic: Sign up online, show proof that you are fully vaccinated, and get a craft beer for a dime. It recalled the infamous, raucous 10-cent beer night at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1974. Market Garden’s promotion has had a lot more success, being that the Indians had to forfeit their game against the Texas Rangers almost 50 years ago.

The brewery, in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, launched the promotion to coincide with the Wolstein Center mass-vaccination site. Initially, it was for the first 2,021 people – a limit the brewery subsequently lifted. About 10,000 people signed up, and about half plunked down a dime for a draft.

“We thought this would be a fun campaign to encourage people to do the right thing,” said Sam McNulty, one of the owners. “I’m a firm believer of carrots working better than sticks. In my mind the best carrot is a delicious craft beer.”

McNulty knew state law would prevent giving away the beer, but it would work as an “homage” to 10-cent beer night.

That tribute garnered some notice outside of Ohio.

Over the recent NFL Draft weekend, a group of folks from New Jersey visited Market Garden. McNulty said he thought they might have been involved in politics, but wasn’t sure. But because they were traveling, they brought their vaccine cards and learned about the promotion.

“They kept asking the server and manager ‘How does this work?’ “Every single one of them showed their card and got the 10-cent beer,” he said, adding one of them had mentioned “We should do this in New Jersey.”

No more than 48 hours later, McNulty said, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced the campaign would roll out statewide.

“We were blown away,” McNulty said. “This is impressive to go from inspiration to operation in 48 hours, statewide.”

New Jersey isn’t the only place to follow Market Garden’s idea. Buffalo, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C, the entire state of Washington and Connecticut also followed suit, he said. The promotions vary, based on state law (in Ohio, for instance, it’s illegal for businesses to give away beer.) Often, it’s craft breweries that have embraced the idea.

Now, McNulty would like to see it spread – in Ohio.

In a subsequent Ohio Restaurant Association virtual meeting with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and other state officials, McNulty sparked the proverbial lightbulb when he told the group: “Well, I think we’ve got an idea here …”

McNulty said he is “suggesting the lieutenant governor and governor roll this out statewide.” He said he has not heard back yet.

The idea “makes it kind of fun and brings some levity to the situation.Everyone can agree on the excitement and fun of getting together after getting your Covid vaccine and having a 10-cent beer,” he said.

It’s a chance to “raise a glass to reopening society and putting the pandemic behind us.”

Related coverage:‘Beer and the Shot’ vaccine promo offered at Market Garden Brewery