Great Lakes Brewing Company

41.4843807°N 81.7045187°W / 41.4843807; -81.7045187

Great Lakes Brewing Company
IndustryAlcoholic beverage
Founded1988
Headquarters2516 Market Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio
United States
ProductsBeer
OwnersPatrick and Daniel Conway
Websitewww.greatlakesbrewing.com
Not to be confused with Great Lakes Brewery (Toronto).

Great Lakes Brewing Company is a brewery and brewpub in Cleveland, Ohio. The first brewpub and microbrewery in the state,[1] Great Lakes Brewing has been noted as important to Cleveland's local identity and as one of the initial forces behind the revival of the Ohio City neighborhood on the near West Side.[2] In 2015, it was the 21st-largest craft brewery by volume and the 28th-largest overall brewery in the United States.[3] The company was established in 1988 by brothers Patrick and Daniel Conway, both St. Edward High School graduates, in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood, located near St. Ignatius High School and the West Side Market. The brewpub and restaurant remain in their original locations, while production has expanded to adjacent properties.

The present site allows visitors to enjoy a glass of beer in the original brewpub which features a Tiger Mahogany bar from the 1860s, a Beer Cellar and the Rockefeller Room, named after Standard Oil founder and Clevelander John D. Rockefeller, who was thought to have worked in the building. There is a gift shop selling beer, along with apparel and barware. Tours are available on the weekends.[4] Since its inception, Great Lakes has also served as an incubator for Northeast Ohio brewers, with brewmasters at nearby Market Garden and Goldhorn Brewery in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood both being alumni of Great Lakes.[5][6]

Distribution

As of 2023, Great Lakes' products are heavily distributed in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. They can be found in Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Southeast Michigan, Indiana, and west to Minnesota and Wisconsin, south to Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, and east to Syracuse, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.,[7] with the New York City market added in October 2023.

Beers

Year-round
BeerPack % ABVIBUDescription
Vibacious Double IPA6
(12 oz. & 19.2 oz cans)		9.040A smooth and hoppy double India pale ale.[8]
TropiCoastal Tropical IPA6, 12
(12 oz. cans)		6.060An India pale ale with notes of tropical fruit.[9]
Hazecraft IPA6, 12
(12 oz. & 16 oz. cans)		6.740A hazy India pale ale named in honor of Ohio's contributions toward space exploration and brewed with Simcoe, Azacca, and Lemondrop hops.[10]
Crushworthy Lo-Cal Citrus Wheat6, 15
(12 oz. & 16 oz. cans)		4.010A light-bodied wheat ale brewed with orange and lemon peel and purée, with 105 calories per 12 oz.[11]
Great Lakes IPA 6, 12
(12 oz. cans)		 6.5 50 An American India pale ale named in honor of the Great Lakes region where GLBC is located.[12]
Dortmunder Gold Lager 6, 12, 15
(bottles, 12 oz. & 16 oz. cans)		 5.8 30 An award-winning Dortmunder-style lager, which was originally named "The Heisman" after the famous football player and Cleveland native. It is GLBC's first beer, as well as the brewery's best seller.[13][14] Available for a limited time in retro 35th anniversary packaging as of August 2023.[15]
Eliot Ness Amber Lager 6
(bottles)		 6.1 27 An amber lager named after Eliot Ness, the famed prohibition agent and eventual Director of Public Safety in Cleveland. Ness frequented a tavern that is now the site of the GLBC's brewpub, which also has a connection to the Conway family: GLBC co-founders Pat and Dan's mother served as one of Ness's stenographers during his time in Cleveland.[14][16]
Commodore Perry IPA6, 12
(bottles, 12 oz. cans)		7.770A British-style India pale ale named in honor of American naval officer Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, whose contributions in the War of 1812 include the Battle of Lake Erie.[17]
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter6, 12
(bottles)		6.037A porter named for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which frequented Cleveland ports and sank in 1975 with many Northeastern Ohioans aboard. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is often named in the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) as the most stylistically correct representative of a porter within the porter category.[14][18] Available in 12 oz. cans exclusively in the fall edition of the "Gimme Five!" variety pack.
Midwest IPAVariety packs
(12 oz. cans)		7.045An India pale ale with a "sensible" amount of hops, marketed as the "unofficial IPA of Midwest Nice."[19] Available exclusively in the fall edition of the "Gimme Five!" variety pack and in the "Hop Madness" variety pack (as of September 2023).
SunSail Hard Tea6
(12 oz. & 19.2 oz. cans)		5.0N/AA hard iced tea flavored with lemon.[20]
SunSail Peach Hard Tea6
(12 oz. & 19.2 oz. cans)		5.0N/AA hard iced tea flavored with peach.[21]

Seasonal
BeerPack % ABVIBUAvailabilityDescription
Conway's Irish Ale6, 12
(bottles, 12 oz. cans)		6.325JanuaryAn Irish ale brewed in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day and named after Patrick Conway, a Cleveland policeman who directed traffic for 25 years near the brewery and the grandfather of brewery owners Patrick and Daniel Conway.[22]
Kickaround POG Tart 6, 12
(12 oz. cans)		 4.3 10 March A tart ale brewed with passion fruit, orange, and guava.[23]
Rally Drum Premium Lager 6
(16 oz. cans)		 4.2 20 March An American-style lager and the official craft beer of the Cleveland Guardians, named in honor of longtime Guardians drummer John Adams. Available exclusively at the GLBC gift shop, at select retailers in the greater Cleveland area, and at Progressive Field at all Guardians home games for the 2023 season.[24]
Watermelon Crushworthy 6
(12 oz. cans)		 4.0 10 May A light-bodied wheat ale brewed with watermelon purée.[25]
Mexican Lager with Lime 6, 12
(12 oz. cans)		 5.4 20 May A Mexican-style lager brewed with lime.[26]
Rocket Pop Hard Seltzer 6
(12 oz. cans)		 5.0 N/A July A hard seltzer flavored with cherry, lime, and blue raspberry, inspired by the classic Bomb Pop frozen confection.[27] Available exclusively at the GLBC gift shop and at select retailers in the greater Cleveland area.
73 Kolsch 6
(16 oz. cans)		 5.7 20 August A kolsch-style ale brewed in collaboration with former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas.[28] Available exclusively at the GLBC gift shop and at select retailers in the greater Cleveland area.
Oktoberfest6, 12
(bottles, 12 oz. cans)		6.520AugustGLBC's interpretation of this Bavarian festival's namesake Märzenbier, a tribute to Cleveland's German heritage.[29]
Cran Orange Wheat6
(12 oz. cans)		5.517SeptemberA wheat ale brewed with cranberry and orange.[30]
35th Anniversary Barrel Aged Imperial Amber Lager 4
(bottles)		 12.1 27 September A limited-edition release based on the recipe for Eliot Ness Amber Lager, aged in bourbon barrels and released in celebration of GLBC's 35th anniverary.[31]
Cookie Exchange Milk Stout6
(12 oz. cans)		5.515OctoberA milk stout flavored with speculoos flavor and vanilla extract, with a rotating cookie-inspired flavor (2023 flavor: caramel vanilla shortbread).[32]
Christmas Ale6, 12
(bottles, 12 oz. & 16 oz. cans)		7.530OctoberAn ale brewed with spices and honey. Introduced in 1992 and available exclusively during the holiday season, it is consistently GLBC's second-biggest seller.[14][33] Christmas Ale's popularity and cult status have been officially recognized in recent years by GLBC with a "first pour" celebration at the GLBC brewpub, held annually in late October.
Barrel Aged Christmas Ale 4
(16 oz. cans)		8.030OctoberGLBC's bestselling Christmas Ale aged for six months in bourbon barrels.[34]

Imperial IPA series

Introduced in 2021, GLBC's Imperial IPA series consists of five premium quality, high-alcohol content (minimum 8.0% ABV) imperial IPAs.

BeerPack % ABVIBUAvailabilityDescription
Chillwave Imperial IPA4
(16 oz. cans)		9.080FebruaryAn imperial India pale ale named as a tribute to Lake Erie surfers.[35]
Lake Erie Monster Imperial IPA4
(16 oz. cans)		9.580AprilAn unfiltered imperial India pale ale named in honor of Bessie, the monster allegedly living in Lake Erie.[36]
Ruby's Revenge Imperial Grapefruit IPA 4
(16 oz. cans)		 8.0 75 June An imperial India pale ale brewed with grapefruit purée.[37]
Nosferatu Imperial Red IPA4
(16 oz. cans)		8.070SeptemberAn imperial red India pale ale named for the 1922 German film Nosferatu.[38]
Arctic Ancient Imperial IPA4
(16 oz. cans)		8.545NovemberAn imperial India pale ale brewed with oats and juicy hops.[39]

Variety packs

A 12-bottle variety pack containing three bottles each of Dortmunder Gold Lager, Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Commodore Perry IPA, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is available year-round. A 15-can "Gimme Five!" variety pack containing three cans each of Dortmunder Gold Lager, TropiCoastal Tropical IPA, Hazecraft IPA, and three cans each of two seasonal beers (January through April: Burning River Pale Ale and Crushworthy Lo-Cal Citrus Wheat; May through August: Watermelon Crushworthy and Mexican Lager with Lime; September through December: Midwest IPA [replacing TropiCoastal Tropical IPA], Cran Orange Wheat, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter) is also available.

A "Hop Madness" IPA variety pack containing three cans each of Vibacious Double IPA, Hazecraft IPA, Midwest IPA, and a variety pack exclusive Small Batch IPA is available. A Holiday Pack containing six cans each of Christmas Ale and Cookie Exchange Milk Stout is scheduled for release in October 2023.

Pub exclusives
A bottle of Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold pale lager beer

GLBC brews many beers which are only available at their brewpub and restaurant. In some instances, beers that were formerly available throughout the brewery's distribution footprint (e.g., Holy Moses White Ale, Turntable Pils) are withdrawn from wide circulation and made available only at the brewpub.

Sustainability

Great Lakes Brewing Company has undertaken a number of initiatives to promote sustainability, including recycling promotional materials to create fuel for heating an outdoor structure, the use of straw-bale construction (incidentally the first straw-bale structure in Cleveland), the composting of leftovers from the brewery's restaurant, and the use of local and organic food. The brewery also provides barley left over from the brewing process to local farmers for use as feed and to local bakers who use it to produce bread and pretzels.[40] In addition, the delivery trucks are equipped to use biodiesel and are fueled with left-over vegetable oil from the restaurant. The brewery uses solar panels placed on the roof to preheat the water they use to brew beer.[41] And during the colder months, they use outside air for cooling, rather than conventional refrigeration units.[42] The organization is growing, with 5800 members in 2008.

Great Lakes Brewing Company also hosts the meetings of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, a business network in the Greater Cleveland area focusing on sustainability and entrepreneurship.[42] The brewery has set up displays at a number of sustainability-oriented events, including a 2006 "greener living fair" at Ohio State University,[43] and the "green pavilion" of the 2009 Cleveland Home and Garden Show at the I-X Center.[44]

Sports affiliations

GLBC has been the official craft brewery of the Cleveland Indians/Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB) since 2019,[45] and of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2022.[46]

References
  1. Mitchell, Sandy. Great Lakes Brewery Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine. About.com Cleveland. June 13, 2008.
  2. "Ohio City, Cleveland's complete urban neighborhood, rises - Travel - The Buffalo News". Archived from the original on 2016-07-04.
  3. "Brewers Association Lists Top 50 Breweries of 2015" (Press release). Brewers Association. April 15, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  4. Penders, Carl Francis (3 July 2016). "Ohio City, Cleveland's Complete Urban Neighborhood, Rises". Buffalo News. Buffalo NY: Berkshire Hathaway. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  5. "Most Interesting People 2013: Andy Tveekrem". clevelandmagazine.com. Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  6. DeMarco, Laura (Nov 3, 2014). "Much-anticipated Hub 55 project in Cleveland's St. Clair-Superior area reveals plans for brewery". cleveland. Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  7. "GLBC Distribution". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2010-09-22. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  8. "Vibacious Double IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  9. "TropiCoastal Tropical IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  10. "Hazecraft IPA Launching Into Orbit August 31". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  11. "Meet Our 2021 Lineup". GreatLakesBrewing.com. January 5, 2021.
  12. "Great Lakes IPA | Great Lakes Brewing Company". www.greatlakesbrewing.com. Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  13. "Our Story - The Beginning". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-12-10. The first brew, a Dortmunder-style beer originally called The Heisman (named for the famed football player who lived around the corner from Great Lakes Brewing Company) was an overnight success.
  14. Cho, Janet H. (Jul 17, 2011). "Patrick Conway, the man behind Great Lakes Brewing and Christmas Ale". cleveland. Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  15. "35th Anniversary". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  16. "Eliot Ness Amber Lager". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2007-12-11. Named after one of Cleveland's most respected safety directors who frequented the Brewpub's bar during his tenure from 1935-1941 and, according to popular legend, was responsible for the bullet holes in the bar still evident today.
  17. "Commodore Perry IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2007-12-10. This monumental India Pale Ale honors the hero from The War of 1812 who battled the enemy on Lake Erie.
  18. "Edmund Fitzgerald Porter". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2007. Named after the ship that frequently docked in Cleveland and sunk in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 with many Northeast Ohioans on board.
  19. "Midwest IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  20. "SunSail Hard Tea". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  21. "SunSail Peach Hard Tea". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  22. "Conway's Irish Ale". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-12-10. Named after Patrick Conway, the grandfather of co-owners Patrick and Daniel Conway and a Cleveland policeman who directed traffic for 25 years near the brewery.
  23. "Kickaround POG Tart". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  24. "Now Batting: Rally Drum Premium Lager!". GreatLakesBrewing.com. March 19, 2021.
  25. "Watermelon Crushworthy". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  26. "Mexican Lager with Lime". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  27. "Limited Edition Rocket Pop Hard Seltzer Blasts Off!". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  28. "73 Kolsch". Great Lakes Brewing Company.
  29. "Oktoberfest". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  30. "Cran Orange Wheat". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  31. "35th Anniversary". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  32. "Cookie Exchange Milk Stout". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  33. "Christmas Ale". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  34. "Barrel Aged Christmas Ale". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  35. "Alchemy Hour Double IPA" (PDF). Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  36. "Lake Erie Monster". Great Lakes Brewing Company.
  37. "Ruby's Revenge Imperial Grapefruit IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  38. "Nosferatu". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Archived from the original on 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2007-12-10. Named after the notorious German vampire from the 1920s film era.
  39. "Arctic Ancient Imperial IPA". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  40. "MSN | Outlook, Office, Skype, Bing, Breaking News, and Latest Videos". www.msn.com. Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  41. Armon, Rick (2011). Ohio Breweries (1st ed.). Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8117-0868-5.
  42. "Unconventional brewery pours over strategies; Brothers push sustainability in Cleveland.(Pat Conway and Dan Conway of Great Lakes Brewing Co.)", Waste News, Feb. 19th, 2007.
  43. "Ohio State U.: Fair promotes greener living to Ohio State U. students.", The America's Intelligence Wire, Oct. 9th, 2006.
  44. ""Cleveland home and garden show opens today at I-X Center, captures beauty of Paris", Norwalk Reflector, Feb. 7 2009". Retrieved Nov 18, 2020.
  45. "Great Lakes Brewing Co. The Official Craft Beer of Cleveland Baseball". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  46. "Great Lakes Brewing Co. Official Craft Beer of the Cleveland Cavaliers". Great Lakes Brewing Company. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
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