Geopolitical strife, partisan quarrels, real-estate tycoons; the American political system is in shambles. None of our elected officials can grasp every facet of the current social paradigm and it is driving us needlessly apart. Our country was formed on equality of the common man, so I say we take a stand against our popular overlords and introduce a new ruling class based upon the one thing we all love: drinking good beer. And what better beer to answer this call to arms than 21st Amendment’s Brew Free Or Die IPA? This beer pours a slightly cloudy and golden yellow with small amoun...
The crack of a bat followed by the roar of the crowd; the scent of freshly mown grass mixed with the aroma of roasted peanuts. Spring is finally here, and with it comes the start of a new baseball season. The resumption of our national pastime is as perennial as the first green buds and shoots, yet this year some new offerings will be found at the local Akron Aeros game. From fireworks in the sky to fireworks on a plate, there’s a lot more than baseball going on at Canal Park Stadium. This year the Aeros have made some exciting additions to their lineup on the field — and off it as well...
Ray’s Place has been a fixture of Kent’s downtown landscape and social fabric for almost 75 years. Exposed brick walls and antique cash registers clanking with each transaction give it character. And up on the wall, larger than life, is a painting of the original Ray holding a pot of homemade pasta and walking through his restaurant’s front door, looking in every way like a man loving his life. I am immediately reminded of the painting of Vigo from “Ghostbusters II,” growing stronger as he absorbs psychokinetic energy. Only instead of that energy being the bile and ire of a late-...
Bluegrass Brewing Company ages this stout for 60 days in barrels that once held Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon. I unexpectedly lucked into this brew through a friend after a stressful committee meeting. I was extremely grateful — not just to have a good beer when I needed it, but have I mentioned that it’s aged in bourbon barrels? You find great beers sometimes in the most unlikely places. The beer poured dark chocolaty brown, looking almost black in the mug. The bubbly head had creamy foam that formed quickly but receded easily. Lacing was a thin bubbly collar which, when swirled, disap...
The Midwest is a pretty decent place to live if you love beer. (And if you don’t, you’re likely not welcome here anyways.) Think about it: Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch were from St. Louis. Milwaukee is practically synonymous with the stuff, once home to the world’s four largest breweries — Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst and Miller — within its limits. Hell, they even named their baseball team the Brewers, which plays in Miller Park. We’ve got Goose Island in Chicago. Motor City in Detroit. Three Floyds, home of the Dark Lord, in Indiana. Bell’s and Founder’s in Michigan. And ...
So do you remember hearing about a Northeast Ohio beer collaboration from last October's Cleveland Beer Week festivities that was set to be a wet dream for beer enthusiasts? If not let me give you a refresher course. Twelve breweries from the area including Great Lakes, Fathead's and Hoppin' Frog teamed up to create six unique brews for purchase in one neatly packaged 12 pack beer sampler. Orginally it was set for release in October, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas. But nothing came of it. The reason for the delay was well needed government approvals and the complicated decision of...
I know what you’re thinking: Why on earth is there another beer column? I say this: Why not? One Tanked Trip is, well, exactly that. Each month, I’ll take a little road trip away from the Buzzbin offices to a destination less than one tank of gas away, with one central theme in common from week to week: Beer. Allow me to begin. It’s officially spring, thanks to robust old Punxsutawney Phil failing to see his shadow, and sunny weather is on its way sooner than we think. I decided to start things off easy on the engine and headed to Cleveland for the inaugural occasion. Instead of...
I’ve heard about this beer for well over a year now and I’m finally getting around to trying it. This one was calling to me — I just had to convince my local retailer it was well worth getting some on the shelf. Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace is a Saison, or Belgian farmhouse ale. It’s brewed with sorachi ace hops, a relatively new and little-used hop variety created in Japan. Perhaps it will gain more popularity, and I think with good cause. I find that Japanese brews tend to be light and more on the sweet, fruity-funk side of beer, and Brooklyn Brewery’s use of this variety shows tha...
Cleveland's two most well-known breweries unite for an exclusive IPA and Pale Ale event. Great Lakes Brewing Company and Fat Head's Brewery will offer up an in-depth look at their most prized offerings on Thursday, March 31 from 7 to 9 pm at the Great Lakes Brewing Company Tasting Room (across from Dave's Supermarket) located at 2516 Market Ave in Cleveland. Cost is $30 per person, which includes both tax and gratuity. Attendees will receive between six to eight 7 oz. tastings of Fat Head's and Great Lakes Brewing Company's IPAs and Pale Ales along with a guest beer from Fat Head's Brewery....
It's all about family for Buddy Valastro. Buddy, better known as TLC's Cake Boss, runs what’s become easily the most renowned bakery in Hoboken, NJ (and probably in the entire New York City metro area), stars in the hit reality TV show “Cake Boss” and is a bestselling author. And he’s done it with the help of his parents, sisters and extended family. Growing up as his father's most dedicated bakery student, Valastro never suspected that he would find himself running the family business in his teens. But that’s what happened at age 17, after his father’s sudden death in 1994....
(A six pack later) The weather was decent enough today to warrant donning my running shorts and headphones. At about a mile-and-a-half, I became excited at the prospect Spring evenings with their brilliant reds and warm breezes. Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale excited me to this effect as well. A sweet, slightly hopped number of Dogfish's regular rotation, the Indian Brown Ale is a peculiar mix of a scotch ale and the brewery's legendary india pale ale. The beer smells of dried, tart cherries and pours a honey brown color. The head is light tan but unfortunately doesn't linger long. ...
You can get Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA from Portage Lakes Brewing Co. – 365 beers in store…one for every day of the year! Call 330-644-BEER They were unrelenting. We had taken heavy fire to port and were being boarded. I retired to my quarters as my men were holding back their initial push. It was time to summon the Leviathan. That is to say it was time to drink Harpoon's Leviathan Imperial India Pale Ale. There was no way in Davey Jones' Locker we were winning this one. This beer is a victory, however. This IPA pours with a nice viscous head with a body color reminiscent of ...
You can get Shmaltz He'Brew Messiah Bold from Portage Lakes Brewing Co. - 365 beers in store...one for every day of the year! Call 330-644-BEER Who can review a beer after one chug? In all fairness here is the review a six pack later: Of the nearly thousand texts found on the banks of the Dead Sea only one contained the recipes for an ancient beverage served in the temples of Jerusalem. The people would brew this sacred kosher drink in secrecy, hidden away in caves out of the sight of the Roman guard. Shmaltz Brewing Company's He'Brew Messiah Bold is not this legendary brew. ...
From 1920 through 1933, the 18th Amendment criminalized the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Though Prohibition — also known as the Noble Experiment — did little to curb America’s alcohol consumption, it did require bar owners and patrons alike to get a lot more creative. Regular folks started making their own liquors at home — liquors of such poor quality (often known as bathtub gin or rotgut) they had to be mixed with fruit juice and sugar water to make them drinkable. Out of this impromptu mad science came the origins of what we consider today to be a ...
Here's the premise: We give this beer drinking dude Ryan a bunch of different beers which we have purchased at one of our favorite beers stores, Portage Lakes Brewing Co. (365 beers in store.,..one for every day of the year! Call 330-644-BEER ), and he takes them one by one to the head. If he gives it a thumbs up then we're good, otherwise, well you get the point. This week he has reviewed Sierra Nevada Glissade. Check the video below. Ryan's word: Many mountain climbers know the best way down a snowy hill is to employ a technique known as the glissade. This may sound hairy to...
The Dream Cake Factory specializes in custom cake and cupcake designs and uses all-natural ingredients. Cleveland natives Jason Bibb and Toi Dickson began the business in 2009 and established locations in Cleveland and Atlanta, Ga. — Dickson with a background in professional baking and Bibb with experience in art and design. The duo also oversees Race Cakes, a mobile racing event bakery. Red Velvet Romance Cupcakes Makes 36 Ingredients: 2 ½ c, cake flour, sifted (not self-rising) 2 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted 1 tsp. salt 1 ½ c. sugar 1 ...
“Iris” is a Greek word. Its meaning, “rainbow”, comes from the diverse range of colors in which irises appear. Other parts of the world compare the bloom to flags or swords, and view it as a symbol of heritage. Stylized irises appear, as fleurs-de-lis, on dozens of national flags, emblems and coats of arms. But forget that when you head to Iris Restaurant in Canton’s art district. It’s not designated that for the flower or any other symbol or historical insignia — it’s named after chef and owner Angus McIntosh’s aunt, an 80-year-old artist who plays the guitar, banjo an...
One of my favorite moments in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” involves a mob of peasants who have captured a "witch", who appears to be a young woman dressed up in some strange oddities to make her look like one. The mob wants to burn her at the stake, and calls upon Sir Bedevere to give her a trial: Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she's a witch? Peasant: Well, she turned me into a newt! Sir Bedevere: A newt? Peasant: ...I got better. Crowd: Burn her anyway! Brewed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Monty Python comedy team, Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale is n...
When people used to think about Akron — well, they didn’t. On that rare occasion that they did consider it, the images it inspired were usually of burned-out factories, empty storefronts, the echoes of a city that almost was in some distant past. And, back in September of 2005, when DeAnna Akers and Aaron Hervey opened Crave restaurant at the intersection of East Market and High, burned-out factories and empty storefronts pretty much summed up the state of the neighborhood. “There was literally nothing. Gray space. Empty buildings,” says Akers, Crave’s co-executive chef and co-...
This year saw the release of Dogfish Head’s latest one-off creation, Bitches Brew. The beer was previewed at the SAVOR beer-and-foodie convention in Washington, DC this June and its official debut even garnered a feature on the Discovery Channel’s new show, Brew Masters. Brewed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the seminal Miles Davis album by the same name, Bitches Brew is as unique as Dogfish Head’s motto, “Off-centered beer for off-centered people”. Bitches Brew has been tricky to acquire since its first batch ended, though the Dogfish Head website advertises that a sec...
