12th Annual Winter Warmer Fest

The Winter Warmer Fest is one of Cleveland’s most loved beer fest and we’ve managed to miss it every year. So this year when the date was announced and our calendar was free we knew we had to go. This fest is different than other big ones because it is only Ohio breweries in attendance.

This beer fest is marketed as an event to get you out of the house during the cold temperatures and to a scenic venue where you can drink delicious winter, limited edition and popular beers all from your favorite Ohio breweries. The event takes place at Windows on the River and the views are gorgeous. The event goes from 2:00-5:00 with early entry tickets available that get you in the door at 1:00.  This beerfest is also a fundraiser for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association, a non-profit that promotes, protects and defends the Ohio craft brewing industry.

We arrived a little after 1:00 (we had early admission tickets) and waited in line until almost 2:00 (so much for early admission). We don’t know if it’s always like that but we would hope for a better system in place for future events because waiting, in the cold, for that long was a little much.

Once we got in, we discovered that the event took place on three different levels. We did our usual walk-through to figure out a game plan and started on the first floor to hit some of our favorite breweries first. Then we made our way up to the third floor to get some tasty sours.

Despite the event being spread out throughout the venue, it was still pretty crowded but it was manageable. We really didn’t have to wait too long for a sample, so we were happy. We asked for half pours for most of the samples (besides the sours because Broad couldn’t help herself). We ended up staying until just before 5:00 and had no problem catching an Uber to Red Rose for some post-beerfest greasy food.

This was definitely a great beerfest and we’ll definitely go again. We can see why this is one of the most talked about beerfests in CLE. We just hope next year if we get the early bird tickets we don’t have to wait an hour to get in.

Some of our Favorite beers from Winter Warmer:

• Noble Beast Brewing Co. Wooden Widowmaker: a Belgian-style tripel aged on fresh Ohio peaches in red wine barrels with brettanomyces lambiscus. In other words, a very delicious beer made with the most tasty ingredients. Definitely a favorite for both of us.
• Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Terre du Sauvage Green: a barrel aged dry hopped farmhouse sour.
• Little Fish Brewing No-Fi Farmhouse IPA: sour IPAs are currently Broad’s favorite style of beers. It’s good for people who are unsure of either IPAs or sours.
• Terrestrial Brewing Company Fan Boy IPA: New England style IPA. Light delicious and oh so good.
• Great Lakes Brewing Company Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout: easily one if the best barrel-aged beers in Cleveland, if not the state of Ohio.
• Masthead Brewing Company Nelson Vice: a New England Style IPA. Everyone’s doing one of these beers now, but Masthead did theirs really well.
• Willoughby Brewing Company Vietnamese Peanut Butter Cup Porter: their award-winning Porter brewed with amazing, high-quality Vietnamese coffee.

Of all the beerfests that happen in Cleveland (and there are a lot), this is one we’d recommend the most. All of the breweries bring out their best, most brewers actually attend so it’s not just volunteers pouring that don’t really know much about the beer, and it’s a great way to cap off winter by getting your fill of some robust, barrel-aged monsters. Now, bring on the spring beers!