Drink Beer, Support the Market

A bottle from the original batch of Butcher's Brew. The beer won't be
bottled this time around. (Photo by Amira Maher)

A wave of supportive efforts that launched after the Jan. 30 fire at the West Side Market -- from a cash mob to Michael Symon's fund-raising campaign — has largely died down. But Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s contribution is just now being poured.

Soon after the fire, the brewery decided to help the market through a re-release of Butcher’s Brew — a lager originally made in honor of the West Side Market for last year’s Centennial Gala. But beer can’t be brewed overnight.

Now it’s ready. Starting tomorrow, Butcher’s Brew will be available in for-donation samples at the West Side Market Café and in $6 pints at the brewery, across the street on Market Avenue, until the contents of seven barrels run dry. This time around, the velvety yet subtly bitter Kulmbacher-style lager won’t be bottled.

All proceeds, which the brewery expects will be about $10,000, will go to Ohio City Inc.’s Market Bonds program. Customers who buy $40 worth of bond certificates to the West Side Market will get $10 for free, funded by donations from the brewery. Vendors can turn in certificates they receive for cash.

“It’s a good way for us to make sure that the proceeds are going to the vendors,” says Mary LaVenia, public relations assistant at Great Lakes. “We want to make sure that the vendors can stay in business and be able to repurchase things that they lost during the fire.”

Since its 1988 inception, Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s menu has included meat and some produce from West Side Market vendors, including Dohar Meats, Ohio City Pasta and Lance’s Beef. Over the years, partnerships that were strictly business have turned into friendships.

“The happiness there the first day it was reopened. It wasn’t just about them doing business again,” says LaVenia. “It was about seeing the friends that you used to see every week when you went to patronize their business. We couldn’t be more happy to have it back.”

The restaurant and bar saw a decrease in foot traffic during the almost three weeks the West Side Market was closed.

“Everyone, I think — we’ve talked about it in our merchant meetings — realized that the West Side Market impacted their business a lot more strongly than they ever knew,” LaVenia says. “We just want to help out the market.”

For more coverage of the market, including the vendor families who’ve been at the market for 100 years, take a look at our stories from November. For more on the brewery, including its pub-only specialty beers, check out our February beer package.

A Christmas Ale Ice Cream Story

As if Clevelanders needed another reason to drink Christmas Ale, Great Lakes Brewing Co. and Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream are teaming up to bring sweet-toothed beer drinkers a little something extra this holiday season.

Great Lakes' highly desired holiday brew will be the primary flavor in Mitchell's Christmas Ale Ginger Snap ice cream.

"The ice cream definitely tastes like Christmas Ale," says Mike Mitchell of Mitchell's. "But it doesn't taste like you're drinking a frozen beer."

The ice cream maker is taking the small amounts of ale left over from the bottling process and adding more organic honey, Vietnamese cinnamon and homemade ginger snaps — flavors and ingredients already in the brew — to enhance the taste.

"It's a really good beer base for an ice cream because it has those Christmas and holiday flavors: honey, cinnamon and ginger," Mitchell says.

The ice cream will be available Nov. 1 at all Mitchell's locations as single scoops ($2.99), pints ($6.50) and quarts ($10.75). It will also be available at GLBC as a brewpub dessert ($5) or take-home pints ($6.50). The plan is to keep it around until the end of the year, but with Christmas Ale as an ingredient, supplies may dwindle fast.

Just in case that still isn't enough Christmas Ale, Lauren Boveington from GLBC suggests a pint of the beer as an ideal pairing for the ice cream.

"That's the best way to savor it," she says.

The Curse of Christmas Ale

In what could be called a cry for people to calm down about Christmas Ale, Great Lakes Brewing Co. posted an open letter about the availability of its legendary seasonal beverage on its website yesterday.

The brewery explained that a large capital investment at its Ohio City facility delayed production of this year's batch until September — about a month later than the usual start. This, in turn, has meant less six-packs on store shelves during the hype-heavy early weeks of the annual brew's release. And that has apparently made some of the natives grumpy.

Never fear, the brewery is cranking like mad and said in the letter, "We are now shipping more Christmas Ale each week than we normally ship of our popular Dortmunder Gold Lager in a month and a half."

You can read Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s politely worded statement about the matter here. But, if you ask us, they were being too nice. Here are some rules to live by in the face of our temporary Christmas Ale shortage.

1. There's no need to panic; you'll get some.
How Great Lakes worded that: "... due to the late start, we are releasing the beer in greater increments throughout the season instead of up front. If your distributor ran out of Christmas Ale before Thanksgiving last year, please know that the supply of this beer will continue into December."

2. Don't trash talk GLBC online.
How Great Lakes worded that: "We review and appreciate the many comments made throughout our social media outlets, including those from customers who own or manage retail outlets."

3. No, there is no conspiracy against you.
How Great Lakes worded that: "Our distributors work diligently to allocate this exclusive brew. With a limited supply, they understandably first sell to accounts — chains and independents alike — that feature our entire family of beers throughout the year."

4. Don't embarrass yourself.
How Great Lakes worded that: "Thank you again for your support of Great Lakes Brewing Company and our Christmas Ale, which we encourage all to enjoy responsibly."

10 Reasons to Love Cleveland

TV3's Good Company asked us to come up with a quick list of 10 Things We Love about Cleveland. Easy, right? You bet.

Every month, the Cleveland Magazine is filled with things to love about our town, so the only problem was limiting it to 10 (we cheated a little and dropped in a few cameos of old faves). We take pride in bringing our readers what's new and interesting about the city -- or at least seeing old favorites in a new way. So, our list might surprise you -- but that's the point. Feel free to add your own, oft overlooked reasons to love Cleveland as well.

10. Accordion Museum — Every knows and loves the Rock Hall, but not as many know about Jack & Kathy White, whose love of the accordion, turned their Rocky River basement into the largest collection of accordions in the world (more than 450). Cleveland has a rich musical history with the accordion, where Frankie Yankovic was the polka king and in the 1920s and '30s, Cleveland was home to four accordion manufacturing companies. Polka not you kind of music? Hit the Beachland Ballroom or NightTown for great live gigs.

9. Jonathon Sawyer’s Crispy Chicken Wings Confit — We all love Michael Symon’s infectious laugh and his food, but Sawyer’s wings (and his Greenhouse Tavern) make us really smile.

8. Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chalk Festival — Coming up in mid September, the chalk festival is the perfect place to express yourself & a great excuse to see the museum’s new galleries. More than 40 are on view including the new East Wing. Or just make a day of it and hang out in University Circle.

7. Danielle DeBoe’s Made in the 216 Events — Proof that you can be creative and succeed in Cleveland. She had about 60 Cleveland-based designers at the June event and even timed them up with the Discover Gordon Square Days and Parade the Circle (you could take a trolley to University Circle and vice-a-versa) and partnered with Happy Dog (another thing we love — ½ off dogs during happy hour all month long) for after parties, etc.

6. We used to be rural. — Our proximity to farms gives us access to an abundance of farm-fresh delights, everything from the Chef’s Garden in Huron, where Farmer Jones ships his produce across the U.S. to some the country’s best restaurants, to Mackenzie’s Creamery in Hiram, where they make artisan goat cheese, to creative brews at Great Lakes Brewing Co., where locally grown pumpkins are used in the pumpkin ale. Yes, we have great farmers markets too.

5. Festivals that help us rediscover our town — Ingenuity Festival — annual festival of music, art and technology — is moving to the lower level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge this September, to take inspiration from the architecture of the bridge and the fascinating ruins of the W. 25th subway station. Their preview party, Speakeasy 2.0, is July 23, next Friday night, in the bridge and subway. Also, the Burning River Fest, next weekend, July 24-25, at the old Coast Guard station at Whiskey Island, another underused landmark. Green living, bands, and Christmas in July: Christmas Ale.

4. Green City Blue Lake movement — Whether its our pursuit of wind energy and green manufacturing jobs or the efforts of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability or the push to add a special lane for bikes and pedestrians to the proposed Inner Belt Bridge, the shift in mentality from old industrial to looking at a more sustainable future for our town. And since we’re on the topic …

3. Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park — We’ve got a lake, a completely awesome body of water, enjoy it. The Fairport Harbor beach is smaller that Mentor Headlands or Bay Village’s Huntington Beach, but there’s an open water swimming lane, dog swimming area, kayak rentals and plenty of places for the kids to play.

2. Towpath Trail from Brecksville to Peninsula — Manageable distance (about 12 miles) with a lot of different terrain all squeezed in between. Stop about half way at the Boston store for and continue on to the finish for your reward at the Winking Lizard in Peninsula. Don’t overindulge though, you’ve got a 12 mile trek back.

1. Dan Gilbert — While we may not completely agree with his “open letter,” he expressed what we were all feeling in the wake of “The Decision.” And no one is going to question his will to win.

Capone author’s tour hits brewery, thanks to Ness

Seventy-nine years ago this spring, Eliot Ness’ squad of “Untouchables” bashed down the doors of Al Capone’s brewery in Cicero, Ill. and took an axe to 14 vats filled with thousands of gallons of Capone’s beer. This Friday, Jonathan Eig will pay a much more polite visit to Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewery. Over lunch and some Eliot Ness Amber Lagers, the author from Chicago will talk about his new book, Get Capone, and its portrayals of the famed Prohibition agent and history’s ultimate gangster.

Eig’s vivid, fast-paced account of the rakish crime boss’ rise to power reveals how federal officials struggled to find some way – any way -- to put Capone in prison. Ness, who spent seven years crusading as Cleveland’s safety director, appears on only about 15 pages.

“I was struck by his intelligence and his honesty,” Eig says -- but he argues that during the Capone investigation, Ness “was well-meaning but mostly ineffective.” His brewery raids didn’t contribute to the tax charges that did Capone in. Ness’ early investigations of Chicago Heights bootleggers didn’t impress the author either. “He didn’t really have the character for undercover work,” Eig says. “He was better at public jobs: getting interviews, getting attention.”

Even in Cleveland, where Ness fought police corruption, racketeers, gamblers and the Mob, “He was a troubled man in many ways,” Eig says. “He had very high standards for himself as public figure, but his personal life often got in the way.” He’s referencing Ness’ failure to solve the Torso Murders, his public drinking, and his two divorces, which eroded his reputation.

Cleveland knows the real Ness: Complex, sometimes tragic, and more interesting than the squeaky-clean mythic hero. Clevelanders “knew him in the mature years of his career,” Eig says. “They saw him at times as a flawed person. In Chicago, nobody really knew him until he was gone.”

Eig will include Ness in his noontime Friday talk at the brewery and his more sober appearance Thursday night at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. But he’ll focus on Capone, whose voice leaps off the pages of his book, his wit as quick and piercing as tommy-gun bullets.

“He was a jovial guy,” says Eig. “People enjoyed his company. He was a man’s man. He liked going hunting and fishing and going to the track. People really enjoyed being with him.”

Capone still fascinates us because he pursued the American Dream, Eig says. “He did it with machine guns, which isn’t the traditional way, but he was an immigrant kid with an amazing opportunity to rise from mediocrity to greatness.

“He does this with a certain flair. He doesn’t just want to be the meanest, toughest gangster. He wanted to have style, wanted to dress elegantly. That makes him intriguing.”

(Photo from Cleveland State University's Cleveland Press collection.)

It's "Ky-ah-HO-ga" -- the Mohawk say so

Did you see Cleveland Magazine mentioned on the Plain Dealer's front page yesterday? Mike McIntyre, the Tipoff columnist, credited us with a friendly assist as he tried to settle Cleveland's eternal debate: whether the river and the county should be pronounced "Ky-ah-HO-ga" or "Ky-ah-HOG-ah."

McIntyre covers the main points: that West Siders tend to prefer "HOG-ah," while East Siders say "HO-ga." He credited Jimmy Dimora with endorsing "HOG-ah" last week. (During his "diatribe" -- Dimora's own description -- against county Republican leader Rob Frost, my notes show Dimora also reduced the name to three, almost two, syllables: "Ka'HOG-ah" County.)

McIntyre writes, "Cleveland Magazine declared hoag correct after once interviewing a woman who speaks Mohawk. Cuyahoga is derived from an American Indian word." I had tipped him off to one of my proudest discoveries of Cleveland-iana, which we published in our December 2005 "How Cleveland Are You?" quiz:
--
The most poetic legend claims Cuyahoga is a Mohawk word for “crooked river.” So we called someone who speaks Mohawk: Martha Lickers, curriculum developer at the Ronathahonni Cultural Center in Ahkwesahsne, Ont. The Mohawk word for “big river,” she says, is kahionhowanen, which is pronounced “gah-yo-ho-wah-na.” HO-ga it is.
--
Gah-yo-ho-wah = Ky-ah-ho-gah. That not only settles the HO-ga vs. HOG-ah debate, it identifies the origin of the river's name! Alas, it's not "crooked river," as the poetic legend goes, just "big river."

No wonder our discovery didn't catch on. The idea that the name means "crooked river" is one of those Cleveland myths we don't want to let go -- like the legend that the bullet holes in Great Lakes Brewing's bar were shot by Eliot Ness.

Speaking of the river: "Burn On," our complete package of stories about the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River Fire, is now online. It's also in the July issue of the magazine. (If you'd like to link to it, here's a shortcut: tinyurl.com/CMriverpackage.)

Eat at Great Lakes Brewing in early December?

An odd charge showed up on my online banking this morning. My debit card was charged by Great Lakes Brewing Company, but I haven't eaten there since Dec. 5.

Turns out, the Ohio City restaurant had some trouble with its credit/debit cards for a 10-day period last month. The paper slips are just now being processed.

So if you swiped a debit or credit card at GLBC early last month, you could see that charge pop up in the near future.

Big Chuck Schodowski

Have you listened to December's podcast yet? We have an interview with Chuck Schodowski. He talks about old times, including how he got the nickname "Big Chuck."

It's well worth a listen this month. We taped it live at Great Lakes Brewing Co. while sipping Christmas Ale this month. Frankly, every workday could be improved by some Christmas Ale.

If you dig our podcast, you can subscribe FOR FREE at iTunes. We do a new show every month and it usually includes additional interviews and behind-the-scenes information about the things in the magazine that month. We have 5,500 loyal listeners. Just search for "Cleveland Magazine podcast" in your iTunes search bar.

Party like it's 1933

If you've gotten your December issue of Cleveland Magazine, you've seen our tribute to the 75th anniversary of our reinstatement of beer.

Well, Great Lakes Brewing Company is following suit with what sounds like an awesome party. Maybe it's just because there are never enough opportunities to swing dance to Big Band music or meet nice girls in flapper dresses, but I don't know how we can pass up this invitation...


Great Lakes Brewing Company Celebrates 75th Anniversary of the End of Prohibition

WHY:
December 5, 1933: The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, thus repealing the 18th Amendment of 1920 and bringing an end to 13 years, 10 months and 19 days of the prohibition of alcohol in America and Great Lakes Brewing Company is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of this momentous occasion in history!

WHERE:
Great Lakes Brewing Company
2516 Market Avenue, Cleveland
Across from the Historic West Side Market

WHAT:
A Legal Anniversary Celebration Complete With:

Prohibition Menu Specials All Made With Alcohol!!!!
§ Spicy Tomato Bisque with Burning River Pale Ale: $6.00
§ Mixed Greens Salad with Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Scallion Dressing: $7.00
§ Flank Steak with Eliot Ness Amber Lager Demi Glace, Veggie Valley Mashed Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables: $16.00
§ Apple Tart with Bourbon Sauce: $5.00

Drink Specials
§ Keep The Glass Special: GLBC Pilsner Glasses
§ Prohibition Pils On Tap

Plus: Prohibition Propaganda and Decorations, Big Band Music, Flapper and Depression-Era Costumes!

Guests are encouraged to dress up like it's 1933!

WHEN:
Friday, December 5, 2008 (11:30 AM - 1 AM)
Saturday, December 6, 2008 (11:30 AM - 1 AM)

'Tis the season

A welcome sign from Dave's Supermarket in Ohio City:

Beer Me!

Cleveland, Jul 24, 2008
Originally uploaded by firewater9898

We love Great Lakes Brewing Co's beer as much as the next guy. Maybe even more. Heck, we've toured the underground tunnels, started marking the days until Christmas Ale hits store shelves (in case you're interested, we're at 102 and counting), paid homage to its attempt to make science cool (everything goes better with beer) and even bestowed several Silver Spoon Awards upon its frothy head. But we've got nothing on this guy. ... We're just hoping someone called him a cab.