They took us on a tour of the brewery before dinner and wow, I was impressed. Not only was it really cool to see the inside of a brewery where the beer was brewed, fermented, treated, and bottled, but I was so impressed by how ecologically friendly the plant is. They recycle almost everything that is used in the brewing process, either by straight recycling or deals with other local businesses. The cloth bags used to carry the barley are turned into grocery bags; all wooden and paper products are broken down and recycled; the used barley after brewing is broken down into fertilizer mulch and used at a local farm where they grow the vegetables used at the restaurant; and (this is the coolest one) the leftover fat/grease used to make the french fries is refined into fuel that can run a diesel engine!! There are a lot more cool eco-friendly aspects to the brewery (and restaurant) that I don't remember.
Anyway, on top of that the beer was amazingly good. We had a sampler of all 12 of their varieties and every single one was above average if not outright terrific. We even got to try their famous seasonal Christmas Ale that hasn't be released to the pubic yet (Pat pulled one off the line just after it had been bottled). The beer had been hyped to me previously, and it certainly didn't disappoint. A Belgian barley wine aroma but with a crisper ale texture, mixes with various spices of cinnamon, honey, and another I can't remember. All the flavors were very well balanced so none of them overpowered the others. I know I'm gushing a bit, but it seriously was an unexpectedly impressive brewery experience.
On a more political note, my good friend Ethan Pollack found a really good article about Obama's "ground game" in the state of Ohio. The article (from the Huffington Post) doesn't discuss Cleveland, but should give you a better sense of the details of what I'm doing. Thanks Ethan.
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