CLEVELAND — It’s back!
The Cleveland Brewery Passport has launched for its fifth year.
Once again, the passport will be a digital app that you can download on Destination Cleveland’s website.
The passport this year has 43 breweries on it, all within 30 miles of downtown Cleveland. There are three new breweries on it this year, including one that will be opening later this spring.
It features Cleveland’s big names like Great Lakes and Fat Head’s, but also includes some smaller, more local breweries that really benefit from the added traffic.
“We hear from the breweries year after year about how great this is, and how much extra money they’ve made,” says Jennifer Brasdovich from Destination Cleveland. “It’s because they have people coming in who might not have otherwise found them.”
Each check-in to a brewery earns you points that you can redeem for prizes from Destination Cleveland.
There are plenty of new, fun prizes to be won this year, so you better hit the road!
How it works
Go to thisiscleveland.com/beerpassport on your mobile phone, complete the sign-up, and add it to your phone’s home screen for easy access.
It is free to download, but you’ll likely have to make a purchase at each brewery to get the code.
When you visit a participating brewery, you’ll ask your server or bartender for a four-digit code that you’ll type into that brewery’s page on the passport.
Some breweries will also offer different coupons and specials only available to passport users.
Then, your digital check-in is complete, and you’re on your way to earning prizes.
The prizes
Each check-in to a brewery is worth 100 points, but you can earn extra points by using some of the coupons that different breweries offer.
“Our prize levels start at 500 points,” says Jennifer Brasdovich from Destination Cleveland. “Five hundred points is totally attainable for a visitor who’s here for the weekend, you can knock that out right in Ohio City.”
500 points get you Cleveland Brewery Passport koozies, but the top tier prizes like a can glass or a T-shirt require over 2,000 points.
Other prizes include frisbees, a growler, a hat, and a bottle opener.
Finishing the passport:
“We have about 200 people complete it each year,” says Brasdovich.
And that’s no small feat. Breweries on the passport cover Cuyahoga, Lorain, Geauga, and Lake counties. If you’re serious about your beer, you could be one of those two hundred people who can claim yes, they HAVE been to every brewery in Cleveland.
Not only do you get bragging rights, but you’ll also get a commemorative pin and enter into a giveaway for one of five grand prizes.
Brasdovich tells 3News last year, about 4,300 people had at least one check-in on the passport. So if you do the math, just about 5% of users completed the whole passport!
“We have really high hopes that this year we’ll see a lot of finishers,”
Who’s participating
To be included on the passport, breweries must be located within 30 miles of downtown and have an active brewing system on the premises, so it excludes taprooms like BrewDog and Arsenal Cider House.
“This year we have a total of 43 breweries on the passport,” Brasdovich says. “And that includes three brand-new breweries that just joined the brewery scene here in Cleveland.”
The three new breweries are Midnight Owl Brewing in Shaker Heights, Pompatus Brewing Company in Chagrin Falls, and Tricky Tortoise Brewing Company, which is set to open later this spring in Willoughby.
“Each year, we see the scene grow more and more, and each year, we’re able to add more breweries for people to visit.”
Breweries:
* denotes more than one location
• 8th Day Brewing Company
• Avon Brewing Company*
• Bascule Brewery and Public House
• Blue Monkey Brewing Company
• Bookhouse Brewing
• Boss Dog Brewing Co.
• Bottlehouse Brewery and Meadery*
• Brick and Barrel
• Broadview Brewing Company
• Bummin’ Beaver Brewery
• Butcher and the Brewer
• Collision Bend Brewing Company*
• Cornerstone Brewing Company
• Crooked Pecker Brewery
• ESP Brewing Company
• Fat Heads Brewery*
• Forest City Brewery
• Four Paws / Red Wagon Brewing
• Ghost Tree Brewing Co.
• Goldhorn Brewery
• Great Lakes Brewing Company
• Hansa Brewery
• Hofbräuhaus Cleveland
• Hop Brothers Brewing
• Immigrant Son Brewery
• Market Garden Brewery*
• Masthead Brewing Co.
• Mentor Brewing Company
• Midnight Owl Brewing Company
• Noble Beast Brewing Co.
• Pompatus Brewing Company
• Pulpo Beer Company*
• Railroad Brewing Company
• Rocky River Brewing Co.
• Saucy Brew Works*
• Schnitz Ale Brewery*
• Sibling Revelry Brewing
• Southern Tier Brewery Cleveland
• Terrestrial Brewing Company
• The Brew Kettle*
• The Jolly Scholar
• Tricky Tortoise Brewing Company (Opening Spring 2024)
• Working Class Brewery