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In the 1870s Cleveland was a hotbed of breweries. By the early 1980s, the last of them shuttered its doors. It wasn’t until September 6, 1988 when brothers Patrick and Daniel Conway opened Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland’s historic Ohio City neighborhood, that a new era of Cleveland brewing began. As Ohio’s first craft brewery, Great Lakes Brewing Company attracted curious locals seeking high-quality flavorful brews drawn from the taps of our beautiful Victorian-era bar. Our commitment to sustainable business practices greatly contributed to our early popularity and success. Before long, Great Lakes Brewing Company became one of Cleveland’s most popular destinations for dining and celebration. Master Brewer Thaine Johnson and engineer Charlie Price contributed their talents in the early days. Their three decades of brewing and managing at various U.S. breweries including Christian Schmidt, Cleveland’s last brewery, played a key role in developing our first beer recipes. Raw materials used by European brewers (malted barley instead of corn and rice) were incorporated into our craft brewing process, which includes only the freshest ingredients. Great Lakes Brewing Company avoids preservatives, synthetic chemicals, and pasteurization, which ultimately compromise flavor. In our first year, we produced approximately 1,000 barrels of hand-bottled and kegged beer. Our first beers included The Heisman, a Dortmunder-style beer named for the famed football player (and future trophy), who lived around the corner from our Ohio City Brewery. The Heisman was immediately followed by Eliot Ness Amber Lager. Both were overnight successes; the Heisman was later renamed Dortmunder Gold for both its golden color and the Gold Medal it won at the 1990 Great American Beer Festival. Dortmunder Gold and Eliot Ness were soon joined by an exceptional family of award-winning Year-Round, Seasonal, and Pub Exclusive beers including Burning River Pale Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Commodore Perry India Pale Ale, Conway’s Irish Ale, The Wright Pils, Oktoberfest, Nosferatu, Christmas Ale, and Blackout Stout.

No matter whether we brew an English, Belgian or American style, the key word to describe all Flying Fish beers is “balance.” The beers are full-flavored, yet highly drinkable. Flavors harmonize, not fight for individual attention. Hopping is generous, but to style. Seeing beer as equal to, if not superior to, wine, our beers are designed to complement food. Because of this effort, one can walk into any fine restaurant in distribution area and be pretty sure of finding a Flying Fish beer available. Flying Fish beers were the first in the region to be featured at the Great British Beer Festival, the Oregon Brewers Festival and Mondial de la Biere in Montreal, Canada. They have also won several medals at the Real Ale Festival in Chicago, the World Beer Championships and is the only New Jersey brewery featured in the 2000 book Best American Beers.

In 2008, founders Luke Bowen and Trevor Hayward met in an accounting class at Villanova University. Realizing that their job prospects were grim due to the recession, they decided to follow their passion and start their own brewery. They pride themselves on making great beers, as well as offering, “Very silly names for very serious beers”.

 

Something’s happening, and it involves clown shoes and beer. Clown Shoes? Very long story, but to condense it a group of us submitted the name to the Beer Advocate contest that resulted in The Wrath of Pecant. Our submission didn’t crack the top 5. This burned me up inside. While driving one day the epiphany came: I could make my own Clown Shoes beer. In no way did I expect to create a brand, figuring it would be one batch of beer for fun and then done. But folks are digging the brews and a group of us are having a great time. Clown Shoes has come to mean a lot to me on a lot of levels. Clowns are questionable but the shoes make me laugh. They remind me about humility and to find humor in life. Our mission now is to produce beer without pretension while being free and a little crazy.

In 1987, former AP Middle East Correspondent Steve Hindy and banker Tom Potter quit their day jobs and started The Brooklyn Brewery. They started the brewing facility in Upstate New York. With a team of stalwart salesmen, they began peddling Brooklyn Lager in the streets of New York City. In 1996 Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut the ribbon to their new brewery in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, the first successful commercial brewery in New York City since Schaefer & Rheingold closed their doors in 1976. Today the Brooklyn Brewery is among America’s top 40 breweries, and Brooklyn Lager is among the top draft beers in New York City.

Blue Moon Brewing Company was born back in ’95 in Denver, Colorado. Our home is the Blue Moon Brewing Company at The SandLot Brewery®—the first brewery ever built in a baseball stadium. The taps started flowing for the opening pitch of the ’95 season. And during that game, SandLot poured a new brew called Bellyslide Belgian Wit. The beer was wildly popular on opening day. And it brought home lots of awards from beer festivals around the world. We decided to offer it to the country, but it needed a name that was bigger than baseball. As luck would have it, the beer’s name came from a pretty random source. At an informal tasting, an executive assistant exclaimed, “Something this good only comes around once in a blue moon!” With that casual comment, Bellyslide became Blue Moon® Belgian White Belgian-style wheat ale, and we became Blue Moon Brewing Company. At Blue Moon® Brewing Company, everything we do flows from our artistic approach to brewing. We craft our beers with flavorful ingredients and wheat for an inviting taste and a smooth finish that are perfect for enjoying the moment with friends. Blue Moon® Belgian White Belgian-style wheat ale was the first beer we ever made at The SandLot Brewery® in Denver, Colorado, and it continues to be our …most popular beer. It’s an unfiltered wheat ale, brewed with orange peel and coriander and garnished with an orange slice for an enticing taste and a creamy, smooth finish. For our Seasonal Collection, we draw inspiration from the uniqueness of the seasons to create delicious beers with flavorful twists—orange and lemon peel, clover honey, flavors of vine-ripened pumpkin, and Belgian sugar. Each brew is an Artfully Crafted® celebration of the season, perfectly captured in a bottle.

Boulevard Brewing Company has grown to be the largest specialty brewer in the Midwest, with full or partial distribution currently in 25 states. Since 1989 our brewery has remained dedicated to the craft of producing fresh, flavorful beers using traditional ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing techniques. Our selection of fine ales and lagers include the Midwest’s best-selling craft beer, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer, our flagship Boulevard Pale Ale, and The Smokestack Series line of artisanal beers. We are proud to be Kansas City’s Beer.