Cleveland OH – Saucy Brew Works

This one was a toss-up with another place in Amherst OH, and I’m not sure I made the right choice. But it wasn’t bad, either … just not quite what I was expecting.

Saucy Brew Works (soon to be opening a spot in Columbus OH) is a very industrial-style place where you open a tab and place all your orders at the bar, then sit anywhere you want. Once I’d negotiated the road construction, closed exits and streets, and finding a parking place, I’d decided that I’d probably just do a couple of pints and a pizza (since that’s mostly what their food menu consists of) and call it an early evening. They do offer a sampler size of their beers, but didn’t advertise flights at all.

Here’s the beer list; if the colors mean anything, it escaped me.

My first glass, drunk while I was settling in and deciding on food, was the Habituale, a Kölsch. It was good, but not nearly as good as some of the others of that style I’ve had on this and other trips.

I followed that with a small pizza and a pint of the Gargoyle Saison.

That was supposed to be an 8” pizza, but I’m sure it was bigger than that! I should also have taken note of the word “spicy” in the name of this one … it was spicy hot and although it was a good spicy, I was very glad to have the Saison to wash it down 🙂

By the time I was done with this, I was full. I neglected to mention that the Saison was just wonderful, very tasty and refreshing, but it was … and there wasn’t anything else on the beer list that I would have wanted to try at this point. If the Saison hadn’t been so good, I might have followed it with something else.

I doubt I’d go back here again. The pizza was OK but the crust was unevenly baked, crispy in some areas and chewy in others. The beers were decent, but not awesome as many I’ve enjoyed on this trip (Blind Tiger and Guardian are the two top places, I think). When I first researched them, I was excited to see that there would be a Columbus location in the future; now, I see that as just something easily crossed off my list. Too bad … they could have been a contender 😉