Brewery Crawl: Where To Drink Craft Beer In Cleveland, Ohio

LifestyleSpiritsBrewery Crawl: Where To Drink Craft Beer In Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio breweries are excellent with many high quality beers to choose from. Here’s your guide on where to have a few pints if you are visiting the area. ByEm Sauter, Contributor. Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I am a cartoonist and author who focuses on Visual Drinks Education.Follow AuthorJun 07, 2026, 08:49am EDTCleveland, Ohio may be known for some great tourist spots like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or touring the house from A Christmas Story. It’s also known for seeing some great sports teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team or the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. But the breweries in the Cleveland area are also worth a visit. Here’s where I stopped by during my weekend there. Great Lakes is a great place to stop for a pint while exploring the Ohio City neighborhood.Em SauterGreat Lakes Brewing Co. One of the oldest breweries in Cleveland and founded in 1988, Great Lakes is known for some excellent beers like their Dortmunder Gold, a style of golden lager originally from Northern Germany known for its minerality. They also make Edmund Fitzgerald porter, one of the best examples of the style that is widely available. Their brewpub is amiable and in the charming Ohio City neighborhood close to downtown. The brewery is also right next to the popular and bustling West Side Market which has been in operation since 1912. Masthead's downtown location is perfect to stop and get a pizza and a pint after visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Em SauterMasthead Brewing Co.Masthead Brewing Company’s downtown location on a Saturday afternoon was buzzing with almost no empty seats in their large taproom when we arrived around 1:30 p.m. The brewery is known for their IPAs, Hazy Headlines being one of my favorite beers of 2024. I ordered a flight to try more options, including their IPA brewed with the new hop Celeste, their regular IPA, and some non-hoppy options like a Belgian style golden strong ale and a barleywine aged in Weller bourbon barrels. Despite the busy time period, the staff were amiable and the space had all manner of people from families to young people enjoying pints along with Masthead’s Neapolitan style pizzas they sell as well. Noble Beast's schwarzbier black lager was superb as was their food options. A must visit.Em SauterNoble Beast Brewing Company If you are looking for classic styles and great food, Noble Beast in downtown, a close walk from Masthead, is the perfect place to post up for the afternoon. The beers are varied and consistent, their schwarzbier, a black lager, being my favorite beer of the whole trip while in Cleveland. Their west coast pilsner was super drinkable and I finished my tasty miso and scallion coated wings with a small pour of their award winning Baltic porter. Fat Head's production space was the perfect place to end the trip to Cleveland.Em SauterFat Head’s Brewery Fat Head’s Brewery has two locations both around 12 minutes from the airport so if you are flying in or out, you can choose to visit either their new production space or their original brewpub, which opened in 2009. We went to the new production brewery. Built in 2018, the space has a huge 250 seat beer hall, tasty food and lots of beers to choose from. Fat Head’s wins slews of awards from prostigious beer competitions and took Best Mid-size Brewery in the U.S. last year at the Great American Beer Festival. Their hefeweizen is their most award winning beer but it’s their Head Hunter IPA, a 7.5% bitter classic American IPA that they are most known for. Having Head Hunter at the source was excellent paired with tasty pierogies. Their bar abuts the brewing equipment as well which gives you a nice view of all the action. Cheers to great beer everywhere and be sure to drink responsibly and enjoy beer with people who you truly care about. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions