The Best Breweries in Ohio: 13 Great Breweries for Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest season is upon us and we wanted to help you find the best breweries Ohio has to offer! These 13 breweries are our staff favorites, but we’re always looking to add to the list.
Here’s a  list of Ohio Oktoberfests to get you started. If you have no idea what Oktoberfest is, Go Euro has a video primer for you.
Prost!

Staas Brewing Company – Delaware

Opened in 2013 in downtown Delaware, Staas is a small-batch, all-grain brewery. Staas focuses on Belgian and English-style beers, preparing them in small batches, the way they were meant to be served. The brewpub offers 10 taps and two English beer engines. The offerings change often, so you’ll probably need to make several trips to taste them all.
Our Favorites: Flood Water English Coffee Stout & English House Ale

MadTree Brewing Company – Cincinnati

Since 2013, MadTree Brewing offers both classics and innovate reimagined beers. “When it comes to brewing, we carve our own path. We mix. We mash. We methodically bring quality beer to life and we have fun doing it.” The Taproom has 25 beers for you to try and you can grab a wood-fired pizza from the Catch-a-Fire Cafe.
Our Favorites: Entropic Theory IPA & Citra High Imperial IPA

Fat Head’s Brewery – North Olmsted & Middleburg Heights

Begun in 1992 on the southside of Pittsburgh, Fat Head’s Brewery was an early pioneer on the craft brewing scene. Partnering with brewer Matt Cole, Fat Head’s opened their first Ohio brewery in 2009. With rapidly growing sales, a full-size brewery was built a few miles away in Middleburg Heights. Fat Head’s has several award winning beers on tap everyday at their Tap House.
Our Favorites: Kohlminator Smoked Bock & Bone Head Imperial Red Ale

Maumee Bay Brewing Company – Toledo

Located in the historic Oliver House in downtown Toledo, the Maumee Bay Brewing Company is best known for their Buckeye Beer. Ever since their founding in 1995, the brewery has continued to invent new and exciting beers, so head over to the Maumee Bay Brew Pub for their latest creations.
Our Favorites: Amarillo Brillo Double IPA & Total Eclipse Breakfast Stout

Rhinegeist – Cincinnati

Brewing inside the 1895 former Christian Moerlein Brewing Company bottling plant in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood is the dream of founders Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding. The duo opened Rhinegeist in 2013 and their brews and ciders have exploded across Ohio. The company self-distributes in the region, but we suggest heading to OTR and grabbing one from the source.
Our Favorites: Café Ink Imperial Stout & Bubbles Rose Ale

Hoppin’ Frog Brewery – Akron

Since 2006, Hoppin’ Frog Brewery has raked in accolades, earning 22 awards at the Great American Brew Festival and World Beer Cup. If the numerous awards are not enough to draw you in, their recently opened tasting room will. Described as an “Every-Week Beer Festival”, the tap room has lots of great meat and cheeses, as well as other offerings with 24 beers on tap and a rare beer list.
Our Favorites: Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout & Frosted Frog Christmas Ale

Rockmill Brewery – Lancaster & Columbus

Most breweries, you go for the beer. At Rockmill’s Lancaster location, you go for the beer AND the scenery. No joke. It is beautiful and enhances your beer experience. Located on a former horse farm in the rolling hills to the Northwest of Lancaster, Rockmill Brewery has one of the more unique brewery locations in Ohio. They do not have food for sale at the Lancaster tasting room, but you can bring a picnic or catch one of the food trucks that set up shop from time to time. If you do want to have a delicious meal and a beer, head to their taproom in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus.
Our Favorites: Witbier & Rugged Expanse Stout

Great Lakes Brewing Company – Cleveland

Great Lakes Brewing is quite possibly Ohio’s most well-known and often cited as Ohio’s best brewery. Since 1986, the company has built an empire on award-winning beers. Visit their Ohio City brewpub for a beer the next time you’re in Cleveland and sit at the same bar as Eliot Ness.
Our Favorites: Edmund Fitzgerald Porter & Nosferatu Amber Ale

Jackie O’s Brewery – Athens

In 2005, a set of friends bought the popular O’Hooley’s Brewpub in downtown Athens and started a brewing adventure together. Even after a fire in 2014, Jackie O’s has seen a meteoric rise in popularity and has expanded with a new brewery, farm, and even a bakeshop. Their downtown brewpub and Public House location have nearly 2 dozen beers on tap and some great food to go with them.
Our Favorites: Oro Negro Imperial Stout & Dynamo Fuzz American Wild Ale

Hoof-Hearted Brewing – Marengo & Columbus

On their Facebook page, Hoof-Hearted describe themselves as “craft beers with all the subtlety of David Lee Roth in bunless chaps”. Need I say more…
While having a collective good sense of humor, the brewery crafts some seriously amazing brews. The company recently expanded into Columbus’s Italian Village neighborhood and has a great spread of food to go with their beers. They’ve come a long way from welding their own brew kettles and a converted Raleigh Beach Cruiser turned pedal-powered grain mill, but still seem to have a lot of fun doing it.
Our Favorites: South of Eleven Imperial IPA & Musk of the Minotaur IPA

Thirsty Dog Brewing Company – Akron

Thirsty Dog Brewing started in Canton in 1997. After a quick expansion, contractions, and refocusing, the brewery moved into the former Burkhardt Brewing Company space in downtown Akron in 2007. The new space allowed the company to brew and bottle their own beer and gave them the space to get creative. When they opened, Thirsty Dog had 8 beers, now it has nearly 75 varieties. Stop into their new taproom and try one of the 24 beers on tap.
Our Favorites: Wulver Scotch Ale & Siberian Night Imperial Stout

Millersburg Brewing Company – Millersburg

Located in historic downtown Millersburg, Millersburg Brewing Company has been “creating classic brews for today’s taste” since 2012. The small-town brewery has 12 great beers on tap and recently was awarded its first gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival.
Our Favorites: Black Jacket Lager or Doc’s Scotch Ale

Willoughby Brewing Company – Willoughby

Opened in 1998, the Willoughby Brew Company took off when head brewer Rick Seibt joined the company in 2011. The brewery has won several medals in recent years at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup and is hungry for more. The brewpub has 12 rotating beers on tap with 2 guest taps.
Our Favorites: Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter or Nut Smasher Imperial Stout

Planning an Ohio trip to sample some Oktoberfest beers? Take a look at our list of the best historic hotels in Ohio.