Robert Burns dinner, Flying Monkeys beer, hops workshop, Nano Brew, more - beer news and notes
Marc Bona, The Plain Dealer
"Flying Monkeys! Another month, another beer entering the Ohio market. With a bit less fanfare than Colorado's New Belgium Brewing Co. or the upcoming Deschutes Brewery from Oregon, Flying Monkeys has swooped in by way of Barrie, Ontario. "It's a challenge because we're trying to get over the image that Canadian beers are cheap and simple lagers," said Dave Esber of Canton-based Esber Beverage Company. "They're big beers the beer consumer is looking for." The soft rollout is hitting Western New York and Ohio, he said. Flying Monkeys would have been here sooner, but the U.S. government shutdown last year slowed things up. (Brewers need federal approval from the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which became backlogged during the shutdown.) The first beers from Flying Monkeys to be distributed in Ohio are Smashbomb Atomic IPA and Manifesto Imperial Stout. Esber says expect more beers as soon as TTB approval comes through. Barrie is about 60 miles north of Toronto."