Buckeye Beer Engine

sitarist

Ohio

4.72/5  rDev +9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

Today was my first visit to the Buckeye Beer Engine. After enjoying their beers which I bought at local retailers; I thoght Id give this place a try. Let me tell you I'm glad that I did.

The atmosphere is inviting. More like a neighborhood bar than a high end beer pub. They have a horseshoe bar with tables along the walls, and an dining area off to the side. The back wall behind the bar has around 30 taps and a price list for what they have on tap.

The quality and selection were both outstanding. The day I went they had 27 beers on tap, two being cask conditioned. Besides having their own beers on tap they had selections from Bells, Bear Republic, Brew Dog, Dark Horse, Dogfish Head, Grimbergen, Ithaca, Lagunitas, Left Hand, North Coast, Ommegang, and others I cant remember. Besides a great selection of draft beers they also had around 200 different bottled beers from around the world. Only two were macros, Pabst and Schlitz.

The service and food were also very good. I would go just for the burgers.

As for the value, I had a glass of beer, a plate of sliders with fries and breaded pickle, a couple samples, and took home a 64 oz growler for under $30 with tip.

I highly recommend this place.

Update:

Ive been back several times and all I can say is this place is dedicated to beer. They have beer dinners, beer breakfasts, Ive had vintage/aged beers there, not to mention 420 Hop Fest is coming up. This really is a great place.

02-15-2010 21:21:06 | More by sitarist

cratez

Ontario (Canada)

4.58/5  rDev +5.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 3.5 | $$

When I visited: May 2012.

What I had: Stoudts Pils (draught), North Coast Ruedrich’s Red Seal Ale (draught), Creamy Cheddar & Ale Soup, Garden Salad and cocktails for the lady.

What I liked: mind-blowing tap list, two cask engines, many hard-to-find draughts and bottles, large comfortable bar, Stanley Cup Playoffs on the flatscreen, good crowd, capable servers, awesome breweriana throughout the interior.

What I disliked: food was average.

Would I go back? Definitely.

Overall Rating: 92

07-22-2012 18:57:06 | More by cratez

codyhaskell

Texas

5/5  rDev +15.5%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

I don't have a bad thing to say about Buckeye Beer Engine and highly recommend it to anyone looking for some great beers.

I landed in Cleveland and remembered reading about a couple of bars near the airport and decided to check one out before heading down the road for the week. I opened Google Maps on my phone and simply searched "beeradvocate" to discover Buckeye Beer Engine just a few miles north of CLE.

Madison Street wasn't looking too promising and upon seeing the bar I had my doubts, but they all left my mind upon opening the door and seeing the giant U-shaped bar.

It was just after 5 o’clock and I took a seat at the bar; I was immediately greeted and given both draft and bottle lists in addition to the food menu. The draft list was a more detailed list of their beer board and offered ABV, style, serving vessel, and cost of 4 ounce samples. The bottle list was eight pages long and was separated by style. Both lists included local, national, and international craft beers in all styles.

I ordered the “Hippie Burger” with shoestring fries, both of which I recommend. The burger came with a “breaded pickle” (a fried pickle) which was a bonus and made me think of my Texas home.

By the time I left the bar had started to fill up with all walks of life, both old and young, eating and drinking their fill in a fantastic bar with friendly staff, excellent food, and fantastic beer.

03-14-2012 00:08:25 | More by codyhaskell

wingedeel

Indiana

4.58/5  rDev +5.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $

Have been to Buckeye Beer Engine many times,including three times on my recent visit to the Cleveland area.

First off,I have never encountered the short pours the previous reviewer was complaining of.Never.As a matter of fact one of the days we went was my anniversary,and when the bartender heard us toast each other,she gave us both a free beer.And we arent locals.Pretty classy.

The beer selection is great,and prices are pretty reasonable.They always have had a fantastic selection,and a few things I have not tried,which is not easy in my case.

Service is friendly,food is fantastic.

Highly recommended.

12-14-2011 18:44:09 | More by wingedeel

alebird

Ohio

3.8/5  rDev -12.2%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$$

SHORT POURS. Need I say more? I'll say it again: SHORT POURS. I sat at the bar recently and watched pint after pint after pint be filled with at least an inch of foam, which effectively made each glass about a 12 oz serving. I even continued to watch the glasses around the bar to see how low the foam settled, just to be sure of what I was seeing. (I was drinking out of snifters.) SHORT POURS on top of prices already on the pricey side don't leave a good taste in one's mouth. SHORT POURS suck. I've been here a half dozen times and the beer selection is above average, the burgers are great, but the beers are a tad on the pricey side. SHORT POURS are the reason Alebird wont be back anytime soon. There are too many alternatives out there for drinking fine beer and not getting a SHORT POUR. Not slamming this place out of malice. Many good things about this place, but if you're going to charge me for a pint of beer, I better get a pint of beer. Without actually measuring one, I suspect the snifters were SHORT, too. If your money is tight and you're looking for a couple of pints of beer, all you'll get here are SHORT POURS, so be warned.

12-09-2011 15:04:20 | More by alebird

brew4health

Ohio

4.14/5  rDev -4.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

The atmosphere is good, a large room defined by a large half-circle shaped bar. They have raised tables with stools in an area adjacent to the bar. There is also a separate area with tables and I think a few booths.

The beer selection is very good. They have about 30 beers on tap, with 3 or 4 Buckeye beers available at and a very large selection of bottled beer. A beer engine was also running. Most beers are served in pint glasses with the ”big beers” offered in 12 ounce brandy snifters. Prices are reasonable, mostly $4 to $6 per glass. I particularly appreciate the fact that they had a large variety of beer styles both on tap and in bottles.

The staff are knowledgeable about their beers and are happy to discuss and recommend their favorites. Four ounce beer samples are available on a sliding scale price which varies from $1.25 to around $3.50 per sample.

Burgers, sandwiches and dogs were on the menu but we didn’t sample the food. Bartender was very attentive.

I like this place and stop there whenever I am in the neighborhood.

Beers sampled: Buckeye Red Head Irish Ale, Victory Hop Devil, Bell’s Expedition Stout, Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA, Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye

04-15-2011 20:59:50 | More by brew4health

MbpBugeye

Ohio

3.79/5  rDev -12.5%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | $

Stopped here after Fat Head's on my random trip to Cleveland. It was a sleepy, windy Monday afternoon.

This place is tough to spot. Its very unassuming and barely has any signage. Luckily it has its own parking lot.

The interior is nothing to write home about. Kinda dim, full of dark wood and corny, old chairs and bar stools. The beer menu is one of those black dry erase boards. The place is small-ish. I really did get envious over the beer related decorations that adorned the walls. The outer walls display empty bottles and tap handles. Being the nerd that I am I enjoyed looking at them all. There are awesome, and probably very rare, posters and signs all over the place from breweries from all over the world.

Again, it was a Monday afternoon so there were only a handful of other people and one bartender. We had no problem being helped though.

When we sat down we were given the beer list. And what a list it is! I've heard that this place has the best bottle list in the state. That's no undersatement! The bottle list was 9 pages! There's so much beer on that list that I could almost never come to a decision. The prices on this list seemed all over the place. Looking at the to go prices, some bottles were very cheap. Often times around $2-$3 less than what I'm used to paying. But other times a bottle is around $4 MORE than what I'm used to seeing. Its pretty strange, but might have to do with turn over and specifics that pertain to each certain beer.

Either way, that bottle list blew me away. Some things were there that I've never once seen on shelves in Columbus.

The tap list was good too. Mostly house brews but they had a lot of guest taps, many of which I was unfamiliar with. They seem to enjoy bringing in very obscure beers, and they do a good job of it. They had many Buckeye beers that are not bottled. Prices for the tap stuff was very low, especially for house beers.

I had the only selection from their cask that was pumping that day. It was Buckeye Engine Mild and it was the single best mild I've ever had. Down right stellar.

This is another one that I'll never again miss when I'm up on the lake. The atmosphere is pretty dive-ish but these people know beer.

03-18-2011 05:35:02 | More by MbpBugeye

Kolsch

Pennsylvania

4.34/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

Friday evening, not that busy as you might expect. Arrived around 6pm and got 4 seats at the bar. Hurray!

Atmosphere: U-shaped bar with tables surrounding for drinking/dining pleasure. Small gathering of tables to left of bar for additional seating. Comfortable atmosphere and looks like most people are there for good beer.

Selection: I have been here before so I know the tap selection is stellar but this weekend they were promoting Xmas in July with 10 to 12 taps devoted to Xmas beers. Sorry, but I was not in the mood for high alcohol beers when the temp outside was 97 that day. Bottle selection was pretty outstanding though and that is what I stuck with mostly. I particularly liked thier own Buckeye Brewing Hippie IPA, so much so that I got some to go.

Service was good, no complaints. They did give us samples to try before buying which is a plus.

Food: was good as I remember from my first visit but did not rate on this visit.

Overall: I really like this place and highly recommend for beer geeks. I was disappointed with my visit that coinincided with Xmas in July event but that will not stop me from returning again.

07-26-2010 16:41:27 | More by Kolsch

OWSLEY069

Pennsylvania

4.8/5  rDev +10.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

Got there early Sunday evening and it was a bit busy, walked right in and sat outside. Went inside later and sat at the bar. Signs everywhere (I loved the old Blatz sign by the front door), tap markers on the wall. Kind of small, but loved it. I knew that they had a great beer list, but it had to take me 20 minutes to read over all the bottles. The menu was up to date. The server and bar manager knew tons. They had to love and/or hate me, I kept ordering rarer big bottles that they had to find downstairs. The food, my my, chips and dip, a good starter. Then a Fatty Melt, chicken and bacon sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches. Bleu cheese slaw on the side. This might have been the closest to heaven I have ever been. Prices were good, I can't complain on a big bar tab, I knew what I was ordering and if it was in Pittsburgh, it would have been double. I can't wait to go back!!

07-23-2010 14:01:20 | More by OWSLEY069

Avagadro

New Jersey

4.9/5  rDev +13.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

A: I dropped in as a pit stop on my way from Rochester, NY to Grand Rapids, MI. The place is decorated with tap handles, beer tins, and rare bottles. The music was awesome, with jazz ringing through the air.

Q: I hate this category, do I comment on the quality of the food? the selection? Oh well, I guess I will just tell you that this place strives for quality.

S: My server was very helpful, and knew the Buckeye beers well.

S: 27 taps, 2 casks, and a great bottle selection including several hard-to-find brews. Not only is their tap count impressive, but it is eclectic; there seems to be at least one example of every major style. My brother asked for a bud light, and was politely told that it wasn't on the list. They also have a handful of their own brews, which are delightful.

F: I had the Hot Italian, which was a tad salty, but still enjoyable overall. Their food is interesting, but don't expect anything that is on the light side.

V: 8-9$ for a sandwhich or burger, 4-6$ for a normal draft. Very reasonable I would say. I definitely suggest stopping by this place for a good brew.

06-17-2010 15:09:20 | More by Avagadro