Cleveland.

I was up in the Buckeye State for work last week, and I took the opportunity to sample a few of the local brews.

My favorite was the Grassroots Ale from Great Lakes Brewing, which drank bigger than it is.  It's ostensibly a saison, but it wasn't immediately recognizable as such.  Still it had plenty of character and was an overall decent brew.

Later, I headed to the Great Lakes Brewing pub for dinner with a colleague (though it isn't where I tried the Grassroots).  The food was good and our salty waitress was great.  With our sausage plate, I had a Commodore Perry IPA.  It was pretty well-balanced and had a nice, smooth hop flavor, but I found it to be almost too sweet.  Then again, I like most of my beers, particularly the hoppy ones, to be nice and dry.

Finally, I had the Four C's Pale Ale from The Brew Kettle.  It was another well-hopped pale ale, but again I found it a bit unbalanced toward the sweet side for so much hop.

I'm sure I had some more beers while I was up there, but none that I remember well enough to discuss thoughtfully.  In any event it was a good trip and a good chance to see what's brewing in other parts of the country.