Changes ahead for industry

Northeast Ohio brewers see more distribution among future trends

The growing number of locally owned breweries have certainly added plenty of flavor, fun and variety to the ritual of beer drinking in Northeast Ohio.

But the brewers who have created and sold so many beers with great success would be the first to admit that they can’t rest on their laurels. Breweries need to pay attention to new developments in their industry, stay in tune with changing tastes and preferences of their customers, and always keep thinking of new, better or different ways to make their beers stand out from competitors’ products in the marketplace.

To get an idea of what the future holds for Northeast Ohio breweries and drinkers of locally brewed beers, reporters asked area brewing company owners, brewmasters and those who serve, sell or promote beer for their predictions and forecasts.

• Doug Fry owner of Euclid Brewing Co.: “The future of craft beer will be local. The days of large, regional breweries with ambitions to distribute nationwide may be coming to an end. There just isn’t sufficient shelf space or available taps for all the new breweries coming on-line. And AB-InBev and other mega-brewers aren’t going to willingly give up any more of their space.

“Per capita, there are fewer U.S. breweries in 2017 than there were before Prohibition. So there is room for growth in craft beer, but it will be most successful for those breweries focusing on local and hyperlocal markets.

“Beer ingredients will be sourced locally as much as possible. In our case, there’s no reason we can’t buy malt and hops from suppliers in Northeast Ohio, and we’ve started to do that. We believe that the beer small breweries make should reflect the region they’re located in, and what better way to do that than by buying local ingredients? This obviously isn’t going to be possible for say, a brewery in northern Alaska, but even they could in theory source their yeast locally.

“Consumers are abandoning beer made by megabrewers because they all taste the same. Every small brewery has its own style, and ideas about how beer should be made and how it should taste. Beers from different regions should have different characteristics, and a good way emphasize those characteristics is by using local ingredients.”

• Donald Spaid, general manager of Cornerstone Brewery in Madison Village: “I see a lot of it’s already kind of exploded as far as people brewing their own beer. The tap houses have opened up where you can go and brew your own beer. A lot of breweries have opened up, so many to the point where the supplies and ingredients have not doubled, not tripled, but quadrupled ... (or) almost five or six times as they used to be compared to just three years ago.

“So I actually see more of a farm-like brewing starting up to where you are actually growing your own hops, growing all the ingredients that you can make all the beers with instead of importing all that. I see a lot of that may be popping up. That’s one of the things we have been trying to get going ourselves is growing our own hops ... grow it here in town on the land it would be more so a local brewery.”

• Pete Velez, head brewmaster of Sibling Revelry Brewing in Westlake, said he’s noticed a trend developing toward standard alcohol beers, meaning drinks that are around 5 percent alcohol by volume.

Velez said he also believes craft lagers could be a new trend. He said lagers tend to be a little bit more for easy drinking, but can also be full-bodied and fullflavored.

“As people’s palates, develop around the more flavorful craft beers, a trend toward craft lagers could emerge.”

• Willoughby Brewing Co. Brewmaster Rick Seibt: “On the style side we are seeing a lot more sour beers on the market,” he said. “These are unique. We don’t particularly do them, but we’re seeing a lot of people interested in drinking those styles of beer. They originated out of Belgium.”

Seibt also foresees German-style lagers made by craft brewers becoming increasingly popular.

“I don’t mean Miller Litestyle lagers or Budweiser, I’m talking about German Pilsners, Czech Pilsners and dark lagers,” he said.

• At Avon Brewing Co., 37040 Detroit Road in Avon, co-owners Mathias Hauck, and Brian and Dan Weaver talk often about the future of beer in Northeast Ohio.

“It makes a difference in what we do,” said Hauck, of Avon. “Right now the push is for a juicy hazy New England-style IPA (India Pale Ale), that’s fruity, flavorful, not overly bitter, unfiltered.

“I think a lot of that is people are excited about the movement of organic brew pubs like what we’re doing. They’re family owned and operated. Several years ago, there was a push for local. There also was a push for drinking local. That’s what people were looking for in a product. But that was hard for small breweries like us and Franklin Brewing Co. in Elyria to pull off in terms of sourcing hops. All three of us are hop heads in terms of beer preferences. We like the hoppy, flavorful beers. But we value and love every other style.

“And because of that shortage of hops, we’re going to see in the next three to six years a retraction in styles of beer to sour beers and fruited goses, Burliner Weisses,” Hauck said. “I think they’re going to take over the IPA market.”

“More farmhouse,” said chef Brian Weaver of Elyria.

“There really aren’t a lot of hops in those beers,” Hauck said. “It’s a very old school way to make beer. I also see a trend toward flavorful lighter beers, the lagers that use different ingredients like hibiscus. Great Lakes just released a hibiscus lager. They’re low alcohol, but high flavor with quality and complexity. The trend is farm to table, farm to glass. We’re brewing on a larger scale. For a typical batch of beer we use 1,000 pounds of grain.

“I do think there is room for the large breweries to keep doing what they’re doing: the Great Lakes and Fatheads. But I think there will be more room for the community breweries, which is what used to take place. There are new breweries popping up every day in Ohio. It’s wonderful. You’re still looking to the big dogs doing their thing, and it’s going to be wonderful, and they will be driving deep their products throughout the state, and you will have the local community breweries.”

• The beer flows freely every baseball season at Progressive Field in Cleveland and Classic Park in Eastlake. In separate interviews, the men in charge of food and beverage services for the Cleveland Indians and Lake County Captains were asked to identify the “next big thing” in beer drinking or sales at their ballparks.

Fattar Thomas of Delaware North Sportservice (Progressive Field) and John Klein (Classic Park) had the same answer: a microbrewery built into the ballpark.

“It’s the logical next step,” Thomas said.

“I absolutely believe a microbrewery would fit beautifully into a ballpark,” Klein said.

In fact, there will be a microbrewery operated in SunTrust Park, the new home of the Atlanta Braves scheduled to open on March 31 for an exhibition game against the New York Yankees.

The microbrewery will be operated by Terrapin Beer Co. of Athens, Georgia.

• Cleveland Brew Bus proprietor/tour coordinator Leslie Basalla-McCafferty: “I think we’re going to see the rise of the casual West Coast tap room,” she said.

It’s an ever emerging trend. Like Platform Beer Co., Brick and Barrel, Masthead Brewery, we’re seeing more walkup stations for food, including small plate options as opposed to Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s atmosphere of full meals with servers.

“There is going to continue to be more focus on the beer and the experience, with many tap rooms built into the production’s facilities.”

Basalla-McCafferty added that more and more breweries are using cans in their distribution, like Platform Beer Co.

“It’s a better vessel,” she said.

“Cans prevent oxygenation and block and protect against UV lighting. Plus, you can stack twice as many.

“They’re also recyclable and they can be taken where you can’t take bottles in many instances. Many breweries are forgoing the lingering bias for the old sense of tradition.

Basalla-McCafferty said another trend emerging is the production of a lot of sour beers and a revival of historical European styles, like smoked Polish light wheats.

“The pendulum is swinging away from double IPAs. People are embracing lighter drinking beers.

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