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Marc Bona, features writer, cleveland.com spoke to Bill about Brownhoist Cider Co. looks to open taproom in 2024 in Cleveland - Green Valley Brewing Co. finds home in Hudson - 2023’s biggest beer stories for Northeast Ohio
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Brownhoist Cider Co. looks to open taproom in 2024 in Cleveland
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/12/brownhoist-cider-co-looks-to-open-taproom-in-2024-in-cleveland.html
CLEVELAND, Ohio – It’s been said an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But grow ‘em, press and juice them and they keep the lawyers in business.
That would be Ed Vargas and David Doughten, veteran defense attorneys who for a few years have been working on Brownhoist Cider made with apples from Doughten’s land in Portage County.
It’s one of the very few in the region that grows, picks, crushes, juices, ferments the apples, then cans and labels the product, Doughten said.
“Everything in cans right now, every apple that went into making the juice, passed through either my hands or David’s,” Vargas said.
Years ago, Doughten acquired land in Hiram Township near LaDue Reservoir. It was rough, bramble overtaking the property and hiding its potential.
“One of the neighbors said, ‘Oh yeah, there used to be an orchard,’ " Doughten said. “You couldn’t even see the trees it was so overgrown.”
In addition to being lawyers in the same city, both had an interest in apple cider. One day Vargas asked Doughten how many trees he had, thinking it would be just a few.
“He didn’t know I had 310,” Doughten said. “He didn’t believe me.”
So Vargas and his wife checked out the property with Doughten. Their friendship and interest in cidermaking led to a mutual decision.
“We said, ‘Let’s do this,’ " Doughten said. “This seems doable.”
In Ireland, he added, “They don’t call it ‘orchards’ there. They’re apple gardens. One thing I found out - we’re not a farmer. It’s an insult to farmers that we can go out there and prune a tree and pick an apple. We’re orchardists - in particular apple gardeners - and I’m fine with that,” Doughten said.
Doughten took an apple-cider course at Cuyahoga Community College. They spent two years clearing the land.
“You couldn’t get to the trunk of a tree,” Vargas said.
Now, the area is 60% cleared. They hired some professional pruners, and ‘We’re slowly getting it,” Doughten said.
They started test pressings in October 2020 and received a federal license to produce in June 2021 at the original location - the Brownhoist Building - 4403 St. Clair Ave. Ohio license followed in February 2022.
Doughten and a business partner sold the original building but he maintains some space there, and in December 2022, he bought the building across the street at 4310 St. Clair Ave. Buildout started in spring 2023 on the tasting room, which they hope to open by spring.
The first year they started with 5- and 7-gallon carboys. Now have 248-gallon tanks for front-end fermenter space.
“We used to bring all the apples here, across the street, in the back of the Brownhoist Building,” Doughten said. “We used to grind and press all of our apples there. We said, ‘This will work.’ "
What also is working is their healthy apple crop in Hiram, which is yielding more fruit than they can process now, so they are hoping to hire a crew. They learned you cannot tell by look or leaves what the varietal is without a DNA test. So they refer to their apples as red and yellow.
They go for subtle flavors, and alcohol is akin to a hearty but not over-the-top beer - around 6.5%.
“We are not sweet,” Vargas said. “We’re not dumping sugar or fructose to please someone’s palate.”
Vargas’ point is important: Well-made craft ciders often are complex in flavor, like a well-made beer, while mass-produced ones can be overly sugary.
They decided on an apple blossom as a logo to avoid any potential issues regarding Apple Computer or the famed Apple Records label.
To go with their amiable personalities, the names riff off their legal profession. One is a take on Doughten’s nickname - “Reasonable Doubtin’.” They made a double-hopped cider and didn’t know if people would like it, so it became Hung Jury.
Doughten jokes, “Maybe we were drinking Bourbon, maybe not” when they mulled names.
The plan is to have eight on tap plus two to three experimental or seasonal taproom pours.
They also have several restaurant accounts, including Mabel’s BBQ, Fat Cats, Goldhorn Brewery and Soho Chicken + Whiskey.
“We were very keen on making sure we were associated with quality food,” said Vargas, adding they say no to some account opportunities because they want to make sure their current group is satisfied with inventory.
They also sell four-packs by style or mixed.
“This is a tasting room. We don’t want to be a bar,” Doughten said.
The bar seats about six, and the minimalistic space, which has a to-go cooler and a few tables, covers about 2,500 square feet.
Doughten joked about his “interior design expertise.”
“It was, ‘We have a lot of this; where can we use it?” he said.
“One of our friends defined the look here as industrial cool,” Doughten added. “It’s kind of the metal-Clevelandy (look) and all the woods and reds and greens that reflect the orchard.”
The duo kids around, but they are serious about the venture, managing overhead and inventory.
“We want to be a tasting room that has some unique goodies that is small as opposed to a restaurant that has some cider,” Doughten said. “We’re taking our time on that.”
Brownhoist’s tasting room is just waiting on a final state permit, which they expect soon.
“We’re ready to go,” said Vargas, who founded the Cleveland Bourbon Club in 2010 in Ohio City with a few other lawyers.
They are considering tapas / small-plates, a patio and urban garden down the line. So far, their venture is playing out and evolving, from embracing their mutual interest in cider, to clearing the land, to getting the taproom into shape.
“We thought about naming it Serendipity Cider because it’s all kind of accidental,” Doughten said.
Green Valley Brewing Co. finds home in Hudson (photos)
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/12/green-valley-brewing-co-finds-home-in-hudson-photos.html
HUDSON, Ohio – John McGroarty is a veteran of the Northeast Ohio brewing scene, and he has now settled into his own place – Green Valley Brewing Co. in Hudson.
And business at the brewery – which opened on Oct. 28 in the former Malted Meeple – has been brisk.
“We’ve come a long way,” McGroarty said. “We’re trying to make every day better than the last.”
Walk in, and the bar is to the left. On the right is the brewhouse in sight of several tables. Initially the space on the right was intended for private events, but it doubles as overflow because the brewery has been busy.
A founding-members club honors early supporters with sponsorships in the brewery – chair backs, bar chairs, a mural wall and other spaces. The program was started to offset the furniture cost. McGroarty said they wanted more than typical pedestrian tables.
“We didn’t want to come in and just do the vanilla metal chair-metal table that every brewery goes with. We wanted to be unique,” he said. “My business partner, Nick (Speck) is huge into woodworking, so we wanted to make sure we incorporated tons of different species of wood in here.”
You can find maple in the construction. The back bar is reclaimed wormwood. Arches and planter boxes are reclaimed oak. Tables are oak, bathrooms are elm.
A pal of McGroarty’s, Brett Dickerson, designed the cool, colorful tap handles via 3D printing.
And pouring from those handles is a well-chosen collection of beers.
McGroarty spent two years with Karbach Brewing in Houston but also made the rounds at Northeast Ohio breweries: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., Canton Brewing Co., Butcher and the Brewer and HiHO Brewing.
Now, he brews on a 10-barrel system.
“I didn’t want to go any smaller,” he said. “It’s nice not to have to brew three or four times a week. Now we’re probably brewing about eight times a month.”
Those brew sessions have yielded “a diverse tap list.”
That means beers McGroarty makes are ones he is passionate about as well as crowd-pleasers. Recently the brewery was pouring nine beers:
• Keep it Simple Smash Pale Ale, 6%
• Boxcar Blonde Ale, 4.9%
• Wise Goat Weizenbock, 7.1%
• Bound for Glory Altbier, 5.2%
• Loose Caboose Belgian Wheat, 6.2%
• Happy Daze Hazy IPA, 6.7%
• Hard Pilz to Swallow Keller Pilsner, 5%
• Ever Evolving, West Coast IPA, 7%
• Tree Hollow Farm Ale, 6.9%
Tree Farm is the top seller because of the season, he said, with the two IPAs not far behind.
In the works: A Milk Stout, another Hazy IPA, a German pilsner and a seltzer.
“There’s such a wide world of beer out there,” McGroarty said. “With a lot of the collabs we did we try to do underappreciated styles.”
Cores are constantly evolving, he said, and a few might be added in the first quarter of 2024.
“We’d rather be too busy than too slow,” McGroarty said.
And that’s been the case in the less than two months Green Valley has been opened.
“The community has shown huge support,” he said. “It’s great to see the same faces a couple of times a week.”
Six-pack of facts about Green Valley Brewing Co.
• It’s at 53 Milford Dr., Hudson, right off of Ohio 303 in northern Summit County, less than 30 miles from downtown Cleveland.
• The family-friendly brewery has a dedicated parking lot and huge patio.
• Hours: 3 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.
• For food, wood-fired pizzas, hot sandwiches, appetizers and salads are offered.
• A merchandise area with shirts is available.
• Two Hudson breweries are nearby: The Brew Kettle at 11 Atterbury Blvd. is less than a quarter-mile away. Hop Tree Brewing at 1297 Hudson Gate Dr., is less than three miles away.
2023’s biggest beer stories for Northeast Ohio
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/12/2023s-biggest-beer-stories-for-northeast-ohio.html
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.