Cleveland Beer Week

I've been away from the blog for a while partly because last week I went up north to Cleveland to partake in some of the Cleveland Beer Week festivities. Bars all around the Cleveland area held events all week where patrons could try out an assortment of beers from breweries both local and national. While I only got to go to the ones on the weekend, it was still an amazing time. The week concluded with an event called Brewzilla that was held at the Galleria in downtown Cleveland. Over 80 different breweries were on hand giving you 3-5 oz. samples of their beers. The place was packed with probably about 5000 people in attendance. Of the beers I tried, I tended to like a lot of the local brews the best. Of course, I always love anything from Strongsville's own The Brew Kettle. The Pumpkin Ale they made this year was AMAZING. I wish I could get more of it, but when I stopped in their brewery on Sunday they were already out of it. Speaking of pumpkin ales, I also thought the one made by Buckeye Brewing Company was strong as well. Brewzilla was truly a unique experience that I'm glad I got to be a part of. Not only did I get to try out a lot of interesting beers, but I also came away with some nice swag including a really great stein glass with the Samuel Adams logo on it. I would be remiss however if I didn't mention how I came to learn about all of these Cleveland Beer Week events in the first place. This all started when my father, brother and I came across an app called Untappd (that's how it's actually spelled). It's a social networking app that lets you check in whenever you have a beer. You can state what you're drinking, where you're drinking it at, comment on its quality and also give it a rating. One of the most appealing things about this app is that it also gives you 'badges' for accomplishing certain beer-related feats. For instance, if you drink a beer on your birthday, you get the 'Birthday Badge' or if you drink ten beers from the same brewery in a month, you get the 'Brewery Loyalist' badge. As for Cleveland Beer Week, anyone who attended at least 3 of the events earned the 'Cleveland Beer Week' badge, which I was able to do. It's really fun although if you get too hooked on collecting the badges, you may find yourself turning into an alcholic. But if you that it would be something you'd enjoy, I'd strongly recommend you download this app. If you do, look me up and 'friend' me on it.