Yelp Cleveland’s Sour Brew Bash

This October, Yelp Elites were among the first to visit Platform Beer Co.’s new sour brew facility, uniquely name the Phunkenship. Here, the Cleveland based brewery will produce their artful, funky sour brews through the “coolship” method. Phunkenship will feature a brew house, event space, tasting room and patio. Set to open early 2019, Phunkenship will mark Ohio’s first dedicated sour brewing facility.

Photo via Akron Beacon Journal / Ohio.com

Paul, Founder and Co-owner, kicked things off with an overview of Platform and his vision for Phunkenship. The building has seen many previous lives, including a machine shop and a brewery in the 1930s. The restoration of this massive, historic brick building has taken tremendous vision and creativity with the hope to create a lively space to brighten up the surrounding neighborhood.Next, one group joined Paul for a raw tour of the building and to hear the plans for each floor. While the building is currently unfinished, Elites saw the space in its truest form. As Yelp Elite Nicole G. noted, “I have a love of using old buildings and restructuring it into a modern function. I think it was cool to see this in-process because it is good to see how the work is done.”

As one group toured, another joined Ben, Platform’s Sour Beer Manager, for a sour lecture. Ben, once a professor of physical chemistry, has since invested his career into brewing, and now Phunkenship. Ben educated Yelpers on the uniqueness of the brew, and as Yelp Elite Miranda C. wrote, “He told us all about how sour beers are made… Ben is definitely an ideas man. He’s had a lot of neat things planned for the future of sour beers of Platform.”Ben explained that beer will be made in a separate facility, shipped over hot in a stainless steel vessel and put in another vessel to cool slowly. This is when the bacteria comes into the beer. Sour beer requires a separate brew house because the wild yeast sour beers rely on requires separation and strict processes. They will produce several sours, mostly determined by the wooden vessels they’re put in, like french oak, red wine or cognac barrels. Both Ben and Paul showed the passion and science that goes into Platform’s sour beer.

We finished our evening with a tasting of Platform’s sour beers. The crowd favorite was the delicious “Life Itself” key lime pie inspired brew. It’s safe to say that the Yelpers are highly anticipating returning to the tasting room spot early next year.Check out the outstanding reviews and photos here. For more information about the Yelp Cleveland Elite Squad, visit yelp.com/elite.

Special thanks to our sponsors:
Platform Beer Co.  •  Elizabeth Sturm Photography