Dave Mazzone has purchased BottleHouse Brewery in Cleveland Heights from founder Brian Benchek. Benchek, who opened the brewery in 2012, will maintain ownership of BottleHouse Lakewood as well as Craft Collective at Van Aken District.
If the name Dave Mazzone sounds familiar, it’s likely because for the past 11 years he has served as the head winemaker at CLE Urban Winery up the road. He and owner Destiny Burns opened the popular destination together in 2016. He will maintain that position going forward.
Mazzone says that not only has he been a fan of the brewery since day one, he has the distinction of being the BottleHouse’s first customer on opening day. And now, as owner, he has come full circle, he says.
While “continuity is one of the goals,” Mazzone admits that there are many ways to improve what already is a solid brand and brewery.
“I’ve always appreciated the brewery’s involvement within the community, and I like the way it is organically supported by the neighborhood and Cleveland Heights,” Mazzone explains. “But I think that there has been a lack of attention, a deficit of energy applied to more traditional brewing practices like having packaged product to go, having consistent styles and repeat products, for example.”
Some of the core beers will remain, others will not. Mazzone has retained longtime brewer Jason Kallicragas (as well as the rest of the staff) and together they will begin to chart the brewery’s future in greater detail.
“We have been playing catch up the past three weeks brewing to fill holes for things that are depleting rapidly and now we’re able to start having the fun conversation about what styles are we committing to, what sort of things do we want do long-term, and start to put some of that real interest and uniqueness back into the brand,” he adds.
There will be no significant changes to the cocktail program. As for the food, Mazzone bought the rights to operate, purchased the recipes, and retained the staff of the former Eugene outfit, so “there should be no noticeable changes in anything,” he says, with the exception of the french fries. He admits that Schoen’s labor-intensive process for making french fries will not be preserved.
With ventures at both ends of Lee Road’s restaurant row, Mazzone essentially bookends the strip. He plans to use that synergy to increase traffic, momentum and excitement at BottleHouse going forward.
“I’m operating something on the street that is full of energy and I feel like the opportunity to do that in a way that almost cross-pollinates those two businesses and allows them to operate in complementary ways is a professional challenge that I’m pretty excited about,” he explains.
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