Great Lakes Brewing Company, Cleveland, Ohio

Around the Brewery
In 1998, Great Lakes Brewing Company began renovations to a building across from its location on Market Avenue and transformed it into a 75-300 barrel system. The new brewery consists of six buildings, three of which originally served as horse stables and kegging facilities for the Schlather Brewing Company.

Brewhouse
The Brewhouse is a two-story facility that features full glass walls to give visitors a view of the stainless steel brewing vessels responsible for the four stages of the brewing process: mashing, lautering, boiling and whirlpooling. The Brewhouse is located next to the Tasting Room, one of two GLBC banquet facilities.

Tank Farm
The Tank Farm warehouses the 75-300 barrel stainless steel fermentation tanks where beers undergo fermentation, aging and filtration before reaching the bottling line.

Bottling & Packaging Line
The Bottling & Packaging Line is where fresh beer is bottled in brown bottles and packaged in high walled carriers to protect the beer from damaging light. In addition, each bottle is labeled with a consumer friendly expiration date and packaged in eco-friendly carriers and cartons, as well as kegged in half barrels and 1/6 barrels.

Beer Cooler
The Beer Cooler refrigerates the beer immediately after bottling to prevent oxidation from prolonged warm storage. Freshness dates are regularly checked to ensure proper rotation and freshness.

Quality Assurance Labs
Great Lakes Brewing Company maintains two on-site laboratories for quality assurance, one for physical and chemical tests and one for microbiological work. These labs are capable of performing a broad range of tests and data analyses to help guarantee the quality of the beer being delivered to customers.

Physical/Chemical Lab
In this laboratory, all of the physical and chemical analyses of raw materials and beer in process are performed. These tests include but are not limited to: beer color, beer bitterness, alcohol content, haze stability, hop aromatic oils and malt modification. Data from the lab is used to adjust the process to guarantee a consistent, high quality beer.

Microbiological Lab
The production of beer is a microbiological process. Microscopic single-celled organisms (yeast) metabolize sugar and produce ethanol (alcohol), carbon dioxide and other chemicals recognized as "beer" flavor. In this lab, the technicians monitor the fermentation process and combine this data with physical and chemical tests to ensure the proper flavor is achieved in the beers. Lab technicians also check for the presence of other organisms such as bacteria (non-harmful to humans) that may cause the beer to develop a sour or "off" flavor.

Brewery Office Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Brewery Contact Information
Great Lakes Brewing Company
1947 West 28th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
216.771.4404
216.771.2799 (fax)
info@greatlakesbrewing.com

Contact Information Hours of Operation Directions Distribution Information Employment