Customer Reviews

Breweries of Cleveland (Locally Brewed)

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I am jealous. This book is no less than a microcosm of the American brewing industry. I wish I had written it. Meticulously researched by business historian Carl Miller, brewing is to Cleveland what cream cheese is to Philadelphia. Linking the evolution of brewing with the settlement's first tavern and innkeeper Lorenzo Carter, by the 1820s Miller notes the "back room concoctions of tavernkeepers" were being supplemented by outside sources. By the 1830s The Reverend Elijah F. Willey, a Baptist clergyman no less, vied with Dr. S.J. Weldon for the first permanent brewery.

Producing English style ales, Miller has unearthed an 1850s advertisement showing that Samuel Ives brewed Cream Ale some forty years before George Sleeman in Guelph brewed Cream Ale. Having rewritten a chapter in brewing folklore in one casual swoop, Miller debunks the newness of the continuous brewing process recently developed by Pierre Rajotte by noting that after three years of experimentation, Cleveland's Carling Brewery "announced in 1962 that it had perfected its Continuous Brewing Method." Slated to be installed in Carling's new Fort Worth, Texas brewery, the idea failed due to a faulty piece of stainless steel pipe, which caused observers to condemn the Continuous Brewing Process and led in part to the closure of the brewery just months after its opening.

For the Canadian reader, the Carling connection is fascinating, and Miller provides the most complete account of E.P. Taylor's foray into the American market I have read.

Weaving the growth of Cleveland's brewing industry into social history, Miller links brewing with the building of the Ohio Canal, the arrival of the Germans and lager, that most melancholy subject temperence, unionism, brewery architecture and the creation of the beer barons. Miller's treatment of the industry from the Civil War to World War I is generously spiced with wonderful photographs and anecdotal history along with the facts, giving the book general appeal.

My favorite illustration is an 1899 Crystal Rock ad showing five mature, robust ladies accompanied by the following caption: "Crystal Rock Beer regulates women's ills. A glass or two used faithfully each day insures prompt and painless periods."

With the repeal of Prohibition, Miller traces Clevelander's love of local suds in the face of national competition by reviewing the histories of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co., Forest City Brewery, Sunrise Brewing Co., Leisy's Brewery, the Pilsener Brewing Co. and its famous P.O.C. label, and Erin Brew from the Standard Brewing Co., to the closure of C. Schmidt & Sons in 1984, an act which brought 150 years of local brewing to an end.

Sponsored by the Crooked River Brewing Company of Cleveland, good taste prevails and the author gives as much space to competitor Great Lakes Brewing Company, which revived Cleveland's brewing tradition in 1988, as he does to his sponsor.

Buy this book, then grab a six pack of your favorite lager (this is primarily about German/American brewers) and enjoy!

I purchased this book for my father and it's proven to be one of his all-time favorite gifts. The wealth of photographs and the attention to detail has made this the preeminant book on brewery history. A must-have for brew buffs.

I devoured this book in one night! I still like to browse through it and look at all of the historical pictures. A MUST READ for anyone interested in the history of brewing in Cleveland, Ohio or brewing in general. Everyone needs this masterpiece for their coffee table.

Carl Miller has authored a truly magnificent piece of brewery history. The book is a thoroughly-researched, well-written, attractively presented story that is easy and interesting to to look at, read, ponder ... the adjectives and superlatives are well deserved. History buffs of all persuasions will find BREWERIES OF CLEVELAND a refreshing and enlightening look at the past.

The 300-page book explores the colorful history of beermaking in Cleveland in the city's 150 years as a major brewing center. Over 300 rare photographs and illustrations help tell the story. The nostalgic journey takes you through Cleveland's beer past, beginning with a discussion of the city's earliest breweries through to the current "rebirth" of craft breweries.

"Cleveland has always been a beer town," says Miller. "Before Prohibition, virtually every neighborhood in the city had its own brewery, especially on the West Side, where the concentration of Germans was highest." At the close of the 19th Century, the city had twenty breweries, all serving a primarily local market. Names like Leisy, Schlather, Gehring, Diebolt and Gund were synonymous with beer in Cleveland.

After the Repeal of Prohibition, nine local breweries reopened, but fierce competition from the national brewers threatened their survival. According to Miller, "The small local brewery was an endangered species by the 1960s." Soom, favorites like P.O.C., Black Forest, Erin Brew, Gold Bond, and others, were gone.

The fascinating account of the birth and passing of the breweries, and the coming of the new craft breweries, makes BREWERIES OF CLEVELAND a valuable addition to the recorded history of the brewing industry. If you love history, breweries, and great photographs, you'll love this book. If your coffee table lacks a book, this one will catch the eye of the most ardent neo-prohibitionist. We give BREWERIES OF CLEVELAND a "10", and Carl Miller a nomination for the American Breweriana Association's Excellence in Literature Award.

I was just browsing the book section on the internet when I found this book. I was completely shocked when I saw the picture on the cover of the book. That same picture hangs in my home. It is my great grandfather Charles Poeschel. His daughter Margaret Zwierlein is my grandmother. I purchased the book and totally enjoyed reading the history of breweries in Cleveland.

I would like to find out where my great grandfather was employed when that photo was taken. Does anyone know how to find out which brewery it was?

This wonderful book has helped me imagine how my ansestors must have lived in Cleveland during the 19th century and early 20th.