Craft Beer

First off you should go to this.  It's a big event for Lakewood and is going to have so much awesome going on it's unbelievable.  You can buy tickets at the event, online or at World of Beer and Rozis!  Go here for more information!

I wrote part of this a little while back and decided to turn it into a blog.  I should have some pictures up after the event.

Over the past decade the craft beer industry has rapidly expanded. There are a number of reasons for this growth, including directly introducing brands to local markets, the rise of home brewing, and the unifying of craft beers as a market. These factors combine to make a product market that has moved beyond a simple fad and becomes a part of our edible culture.


Why is craft beer different than your regular domestics? The first reason is purpose. Craft beer aims to be tasted. They describe their beers with words like hoppy, malty, piney, bittersweet. Domestic beers goal is maximum drinkabilty and depict themselves as what people like you drink. They instead represent themselves with words like crisp, refreshing, and nondescript flavor word like superior and flavorful. At this point the domestics usually detour to their cool cans, history or effect on your lifestyle. The second is fizz. A proper craft beer and basically all home brewed beer gets its fizz from the gasses released by the yeast. This means that the beer has a life form continuing to ferment, adding alcohol and fizz for the lifetime of the beer (up to 5 years) Obviously, domestic beers ferment their beer as well or else it would simply be gross grain juice. However, your domestic beers are more likely to kill their beer and then carbonate it like a Coke. The farther you attempt to compare the two the more you see the same differences you find with any products that are made both in factories and by artisans. Examples include store bought and baker made bread, prepackaged and butcher cut meats, and of course Amish vs IKEA furniture.


The most important difference you will find between the craft breweries and the large corporate brewers is...well, it's beer. Craft beer is not made in the cheapest way possible. It's not made to give you something to drink with the fewest calories imaginable. It's not a “lifesytle choice.” It does not strive to be the most flavorful beer tasting alcoholic beverage. Craft beer is beer.


It's not simply that craft beer tastes better and has an alcohol content higher than NyQuil. Craft beer has become part of our culture. It has entered the standard guy conversational topics, like cars and sports have in the past. (*Women can, do and should like beer just as much as guys. Awesome has no boundaries.) Networking no longer needs to be on the golf course, but now takes us to the craft breweries and gastropubs. When we are expanding our business, we no longer have to worry about sweating out in the sun carrying a bag full of steel but instead share an experience with our associates with a mug full of a cool, unique lager. It has become the wine of the common and not so common man.


Craft beer is a reflection of the state of Ohio. The grain we grow over a vast section of the state. It is our ingenuity at the building of industries, like our expanding automotive that should no longer exist. We yearn to create superior products and work hard to get ourselves success. It creates a community of growers, builders, crafters, family members, friends and drinkers. Craft beer brings these elements together into something that is more that just alcohol, it's Ohio.

Bar #45 Eddy & Iggy's (Deceased)

Theme, every bar opens with one in mind. Beyond the obvious putting together a place where people drink alcohol, enjoy themselves, and spend enough money to make a profit, most bars open with a vision of what will set them apart from the masses. Some owners decide I'm going to make a place for people to watch sports. Others want a bar with great food. Yet other owners want a bar where people will get drunk on cheap booze. Regardless they all see their ideas as unique and usually personal to what they, themselves want from a bar. This week's bar opened with an obvious purpose but had to fall back to one of the cornerstones of running a popular business: the customer is always right. Bar # 45 is Eddy and Iggy's.

Earlier in the day I had a conversation with Johnny about where we were going for tonight's bar. It came down to me saying, “Not the Iggy's on Madison with the little neon sign; Eddy and Iggy's across from the Beck Center.” He quickly wrote down, “The Iggy's bar (unknown word) on Madison.” I have a habit of showing up a little late but this week I made sure I was on time. As you probably guessed I beat him there.

The inside of Eddy and Iggy's is a light yellow with an old style tin ceiling. There are lights and plasma TVs all over the place forcing you into a state artificial entertained euphoria. The walls are covered in St. Edwards and St. Ignatius sports items. That's why they are called Eddy and Iggy's, just in case you hadn't put that together yet. They even have a sign showing all of both schools championships and the winner of their football game that year, signified through the title of Holy War Winner. The bar crowd, though sparse tonight, was primarily there to watch the Indians game. There are also long rows of unique beer tap handles above the front windows.


Eddy and Iggy's produce their own beers. They have a huge lineup of beer options brewed through a third party brewery. Monday is growler day if you want to want to take some home with you at a discount. I was going to at least sample them all during my visit. Turns out their brewery has been expanding lately and hasn't had the space to brew the bar's beers, leaving me with only stouts. Honestly, I don't really like stouts. I can drink them, say why one is better than another and appreciate a good one but I'll rarely want one. Instead I ordered Great Lakes Brewery's Oktoberfest. It's crisp with a bit of fizz and tastes of fall spices. There isn't much actual beer taste to it, but GLB's Oktoberfest is still enjoyable to drink.

Well, Johnny still hadn't arrived so I ordered some food. I went with their Sweet and Spicy Tiger Sauce Wings because with that name how can you wrong. One way you can is by not having wings with bones. I went with their boneless variety instead. They were good and a little crunchy. The sauce is a bit spicy and smokey. They are a pleasing choice. They are also small and an order will not constitute a meal. Also, it's a little pricey for the amount of food.

Johnny finally called me from Iggy's. He didn't seem remember our actual conversation but it turns out the mystery word was “not” and wasn't “is”. Unfortunately, he road his bike. Johnny then had to ride back home and get his car.


Shortly after I finished eating he finally arrived and ordered his own wings (plane) and Oktoberfest. I decided I need more food and got funnel cake. It tasted good but was a little tough/chewy.

For second beer I went with Hala Kahiki Pineapple Beer. It's brewed by Rivertowne Pourhouse out of the zombie capital of the world, Monroeville, Pa. It tastes like pineapples, goes down smooth but wasn't too sweet. In other words, since this beer is highly drinkable and not a light beer, you will drink it quickly many times over and become drunk far quicker than you had planned.

Johnny order Eddy & Iggy's Black Storm. It's a complex stout with the characteristic sweetness mixed with a duel coffee and chocolate bitter taste.  It stays interesting from start to finish.  It's tap is a black bear.

They have pay phone recharging machine. You plug your phone in and then lock the door and charge your phone. The back panel of the machine was unlocked. It also, tells you what music is playing and I assume gives the option of changing it.

Mike was eventually our bartender. He was attentive and helpful on a slow night. He works here once a week. He can talk a lot about Iron Maiden, beer and baseball.

Eddy and Iggy's was originally and still somewhat is a high school alumni sports bar for St. Eds and St. Ignatius High School. They wore the catholic school girl or boys school uniforms for the first 6 months. Quickly it became apparent that besides fall Friday nights the crowd was younger than expected and didn't understand the choice in wardrobe. The bar now caters mainly to 20 somethings. They have karaoke every night. Many nights people from the Beck Center make their way over to up the quality level of singing a peg. You can play Pac Man on a 101” projection system. I didn't realize this so I didn't get to try it out.


They have a patio with tables, chairs and whatnot.


I'll probably be heading back because I didn't do any of their fun stuff: karaoke, bar brewed beer, wings with bones, corn hole, beer pong, burgers (They're supposed to have good burgers but I didn't get one. The only person I know that's gotten one, said that hers was frozen in the center. How was yours, let me know? It's good to have a consensus.), giant projection video game, patio...phone charging. Subtracting all the extra stuff and coming in while they're slow (the weekends are packed,) I enjoyed myself at Eddy and Iggy's. The bartenders were friendly and attentive. I liked the beers I drank and their options. The food has its ups and downs but was tasty. Eddy and Iggy's has so much awesome going on that I still need to try that I have to go back and so should you. It is also my 45^th bar.

17900 Detroit Ave

216-228-1212

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Website  <---Check this out.  They have a lot of helpful E&I info.