CLEVELAND — As the virus spread, Jay Demagall spent his days thinking about the past as much as his future business. The 43-year-old was preparing to open Forest City Brewing Company in the Duck Island neighborhood of Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood next spring, one of the latest brewing endeavors to bring craft beer to a revitalizing area. His new brewery will have a 1930s-era feel and an homage to the city’s past, with beer names like Corey’s Outlaw IPA, a nod to vintage base ball nicknames, and Furbelly Irish Stout, which has low alcohol content and is named for an early baseball stadium.
But the pandemic prevented the company from welcoming customers into a taproom it had built out to showcase its beer, the beer that has been keeping staff at Four City busy during this era of mandatory quarantine. The owners – longtime West Orange residents Roger Apollon, a teacher, Jeff Gattens, a mobile technology engineer, and Anthony Minervino, a firefighter – had worked hard to create a comfortable space with a diverse selection of brews, inviting art exhibits and a well-curated music playlist.
Apollon, who is also a brewery assistant, said his downtime has been filled with research and experimentation, and that he’s looking forward to showing off the taproom when things return to normal. He said they’re working to expand their product offerings, focusing on IPAs and imperial stouts – the kinds of beer that are likely to spark a conversation or an education.
The brewery’s history dates back to 1858, when a group of La Crosse-area investors bought the struggling Heileman Brewing Company. That same year, it copyrighted its Old Style brand and began expansion across the country. In 1999, the company was bought by Platinum Holdings and renamed City Brewery. That same year, a company that was contracted to produce and package other brands made its way to the City Brewery plant, and by 2000 the plant had 185 employees.
City Brewery, now known as Four City, reopened in 2001 with contracts to make and bottle six different brands. The plant produced about 1.2 million barrels that year. It sold its own brands in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, but contract brewing and beverage packaging are by far the bigger part of its business now.
On a recent Saturday, a dozen local and regional breweries and a winery gathered at Tall City Brewing in Vicksburg, bringing light to the delicate and tedious process of brewing a perfect pint. It’s a process the staff at Four City are eager to share with the public. To that end, they’ll host an invitational Saturday featuring 13 Lone Star breweries and two out-of-state and a couple of ciders. The event will include tastings and food pairings.
