Brewery in Cleveland

Great Lakes Brewing Company opened in Ohio City in 1988, creating an industry in Cleveland that seemed to be over just a few years ago. In 1984, the city's last remaining brewery, C. Schmidt & Sons, closed its doors, becoming the ultimate victim of the trend toward consolidation in the brewing industry. The emergence of national beer brands with huge production facilities and larger advertising budgets hurt Cleveland's breweries, even those that had reorganized and expanded after World War II to become regional producers. There were nine breweries in the city in 1939, five in 1960, and after Schmidt's closed in 1984, these beers may have been brewed in Cleveland from their earliest days, but with the large number of German and the arrival of Bohemian immigrants, the brewing industry really took off in the 1840s. Their beer (as opposed to "ale," which has British origins) proved popular with people of all ethnicities in Cleveland, and in 1852, German immigrant Carl Gehring brewed a beer in what is today Gehring, Ohio. Greenling Brewery opened at Avenue and West 25th Street. Other immigrants followed suit, and by 1900 there were 23 breweries in the city. These are usually small family businesses that produce beer for consumption in the city. However, by 1899, when 10 Cleveland breweries merged to form the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, it became clear that only the largest breweries would survive in the city's increasingly competitive brewing industry.

National prohibition that began in 1920 caused some Cleveland breweries to close permanently, while others switched to producing juices, sodas, or dairy products. Several breweries in Cleveland reopened immediately after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and by 1939, Cleveland had nine breweries, employing 1,265 people and producing over $10 million worth of beverages. New forms of mechanization and expanded sales areas led to an increase in the distillery's output, thus making it prohibitive. Despite further expansion, consolidation, and regional sales strategies by the Cleveland breweries, none could compete with the national brands that emerged after World War II. However,

Great Lakes Brewing Company's success revitalized the Cleveland beer industry. There are currently several microbreweries operating in the city, with one recently opening in a location next to the West End Market.

How fitting that Ohio City, home to several breweries during the brewing heyday at the turn of the 20th century, would become Cleveland's new brewing center more than 100 years later! " "