Noble Beast Brewing Co., Cleveland

The concrete and brick building Noble Beast Brewing Co. calls home on the east side of Cleveland’s downtown started as a steel warehouse well over a century ago. If you’ve never visited the brewery’s taproom, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s the typical industrial-chic space with few comforts. But you’d be mistaken. 

Noble Beast has done the work to make the place feel intimate and alive with a blend of natural and soft electric lighting, hanging plants and distinct seating areas allowing for private conversations.

“This place was a total disaster when we got it,” says co-founder and head brewer Shaun Yasaki, explaining that the building had suffered a fire several years prior. They sandblasted the walls down to the original brick, ground down the concrete floors to a gloss and added windows and a skylight. A forest of greenery surrounds the latter.

“Tending them is a weekly project on an extension ladder for me,” he quips.

Yasaki credits Noble Beast’s location for part of its appeal as a destination. While it’s located downtown and is walkable from the major sports arenas, it also has ample nearby parking and easy access from the highway. 

Noble Beast has made a name for itself on the backs of traditional European lager styles and modern IPAs, among other specialties. Yasaki has won many awards for his beers, including multiple Great American Beer Festival medals for Murder Ballads Baltic Porter and Evil Motives IPA. Even the brewery’s name is intended to be nod to both historical traditions and the rule-breaking spirit of American craft beer. The brewhouse is fully visible to visitors, and Yasaki designed it to be able to do laborious decoction mashes, a time-consuming brewing technique traditional to many classic European lager styles. 

Cleveland is awash in good beer, but Noble Beast also distinguishes itself with an excellent food program run by chef James Redford. The kitchen offers upscale, approachable bar food, and all ingredients are sourced locally from small farms, with all baked goods coming from local bakeries.

“Our veggie sandwich is one of the few things that has never left the menu,” Yasaki says. “It has a bit of a cult following. Our food menu punches way above what people expect.”

1470 Lakeside Ave., Cleveland 44114, 216/417-8588, noblebeastbeer.com