Last June, Rocky River Brewing Co. (21290 Center Ridge Rd.) suffered a roof fire that forced the brewpub to close its doors. While initial estimates put the temporary closure at a handful of months, a full year will have passed between the fire and the reopening, which is slated to occur in early June.
Owner Gary Cintron took advantage of the forced downtime to improve or replace pretty much every feature of the property, including floors, ceilings, furniture, restrooms, TVs, sound system, beer lines, beer tower and more, but that doesn’t mean he was happy about it.
“I’d go back and forego the fire if I could,” he says.
RRBC opened its doors in July of 1998, amidst a gold rush of new microbreweries and brewpubs. In a short span of years, Cleveland welcomed places such as Rock Bottom, John Harvard, Wallaby’s, Diamondback and Willoughby Brewing. Of those, Rocky River is the last man standing.
“You just get up and do what you do every day,” Cintron says when asked what his secret is.
It also helps to have an eye for quality. Cintron’s first hire was Matt Cole, a young brewer who had just left Great Lakes Brewing for his first big post. Cole, of course, went on to found Fat Head’s, but Rocky River Brewing was set up for success.
Cintron’s most recent high-profile hire was Vaughn Stewart, fresh off his seven-year run at Bookhouse Brewing in Ohio City, which he closed late last year. His new workspace is a very old brewhouse with a lot of history.
“That’s one of the things I liked about this opportunity,” Stewart explains. “It’s very much old-school: it’s of its time, part of that late-90s microbrewery boom. We have to do things differently. That’s just part of brewing.”
That traditional seven-barrel system turns out core beers such as Hop Goblin American IPA, Pirate Light Kolsch, Coopers Golden Ale and Subchaser Hefeweizen. Stewart will round out his 12-tap tower with a mix of classic European styles and demand-driven additions.
Cintron maintains the same eye for detail in the kitchen that he does in the brewhouse. He eschews frozen foods in favor of scratch-made pub fare, an approach that has served him well for nearly 30 years. Longtime chef Jake Ghaffari overseas a large menu of approachable American staples such as fresh salads, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, entrees and more.
The spacious brewpub seats 125 indoors and another 125 or so outdoors on the rambling patio. They serve lunch and dinner seven days a week and will likely add brunch later this year.
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