Beginning in the mid-1800s, the beer-brewing industry in Cleveland experienced its most extensive growth due to the rapidly increasing immigrant population of mostly Germans, Czechs, and Irish. The breweries enjoyed great success until the Prohibition era closed all brewing operations down for 14 dry years. In 1933, the industry started anew, and Clevelanders were able to enjoy locally made beer for 50 more years before business conditions led to the industry's second demise. Today the industry has once again experienced a rebirth, this time on a smaller scale with the emergence of a number of popular brewpubs and microbreweries.

Cleveland loves its craft beer. The city's breweries are flourishing under a period of brewing renewal and an insatiable taste for quality local craftsmanship. But Cleveland's brewing industry hasn't always enjoyed such prosperous times. The industry boomed during the 1800s only to see Prohibition, dwindling demand and increased competition stifle production. Each brewery, one by one, closed its doors until none remained. In 1988, Patrick and Daniel Conway opened the fledgling Great Lakes Brewing Company, and the industry was born anew. Today, local visionaries are engineering the comeback and bringing national attention to Cleveland's award-winning craft brews. Authors Leslie Basalla and Peter Chakerian chart the remarkable history of the ups and downs of Cleveland beer.

A pictorial history of the brewing industry in Cleveland, Ohio, focusing on the city's east side, with additional sections on the city's early breweries, and Lake and Ashtabula Counties

A pictorial history of the brewing industry in Cleveland, Ohio. This volume looks at four prominent beers that came from the city's west side (P.O.C., Erin Brew, Eilert, and Great Lakes).

Many Ohioans remember the names Leisy, Erin Brew, P.O.C., Gold Bond, Crystal Rock, Carling Black Label, Burkhardt's, Burger, Souvenir, and Renner Old Oxford Ale when thinking of local beers from their youth. But how many remember White Rock, Bula, Zest, Tuscora, Red Band, American Maid, Old Lockport, or Milt and Gold Beers? Not to mention Zepp, Reno, Perlex, and Hock-Ola beverages from the fourteen dark years of Prohibition? Volume I of Brewing Beer In The Buckeye State is the culmination of more than ten years of research by the author, Robert A. Musson. Building on his previous history of Akron's brewing industry, Brewing Beer In The Rubber City, this new text takes on the industry throughout the entire eastern half of Ohio. Cities covered here include Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Ashtabula, Sandusky, Mansfield, East Liverpool, Steubenville, Canton, New Philadelphia, Zanesville, Lancaster, Marietta, and Ironton. The modern era is not forgotten either, as more than 40 brewpubs and microbreweries from the region are included, right up to the end of 2004. All in all, more than 240 brewery sites are chronicled over 342 pages. These span the entire spectrum of the brewing industry, from Nineteenth Century tavern owners who made beer for customers in back rooms to giants such as Carling, which churned out millions of barrels of beer each year and rose to become one of the nation's top five brewers before dwindling into obscurity. Along the way, more than 400 illustrations of buildings, people, and artifacts help to tell the story. In addition, included with the book is a DVD which contains an extended, 737-page version of this book, but in full color and with more than 3000 illustrations of people, advertisements, brewery collectibles, buildings, floor plans, etc. This version is presented as a series of pdf files that can be printed out by the reader if desired. Brewing Beer In The Buckeye State is meant for anyone with an interest in beer, brewing, Ohio history (or history in general), advertising, architecture....or anyone who likes reading about the growth and development of an industry over nearly two centuries, and the people who made that growth happen....especially with some rags-to-riches stories of immigrants who came to America with only dreams and made fortunes through their hard work, innovation, and some luck (both good and bad) as well. In this modern era, it can be refreshing to remember why people have and continue to come to the United States to build new lives.