Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery
Put-In-Bay Brewery and Distillery, South Bass Island’s first brewery and only Distillery, is home to tasty, locally produced brews that blend well with their excellent food menu. The Put-in-Bay Brewery has been open since 1996, centrally located downtown on Catawba Avenue right next to the Put-In-Bay Police Department.
The Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery Particulars
Having a revolving menu of craft brews all summer long on tap delights its customers. The Put-In-Bay Brewery makes wonderful beers for a range of palettes, from stouts to wheat beer and IPA’s.
Beers on Tap -There are some changes to the list, but here are some highlights of their outstanding brews:
• This stout is dark and tasty with South Bass Milk Stout, chocolate malt, roasted barley, and milk sugar.
• Watermelon Wheat, a wheat beer unfiltered with a splash of watermelon
• Strawberry Basil Wheat is refreshing with a great strawberry-basil balance
• Chocolatey with a raspberry finish is the Raspberry Mocha Stout
Creative and crafty are all of their beers. As an example, take the famous Pass Out Bourbon Stout. Their Milk Stout is matched with Kentucky Bourbon, providing the stout an extremely bold finish, be vigilant about this one! the name says it all. Now 32 ounces of Crowlers are available. Choose your favorite tap beer and bring a can of fresh beer home with you. Great for South Bass State Park cookouts and picnics.
Put-in-Bay Brewery – an impressive menu of burgers, salads, and entrees!
The Brewery’s Food Highlights
• Burger Mexicali
• Cheese Soup for Brewery
• Bites of Walleye
• Chicken Basil Pesto
• Perch Sandwich served on an egg bun
• Pizza From Greece
A specialty is the Put-in-Bay Brewery Cheese Soup! For a rich and creamy soup that goes well with, you know it, a Summer’s beer, aged cheddar blends wonderfully with this tasteful beer. With Chicken Fries and delicious Mac ‘n Cheese, they also feature a well-rounded children’s menu for the little ones. There is ample parking for Put-in-Bay Golf Cart Rentals in the rear of the building.
The Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery History
The home of the brewery is well over 100 years old. On a piece of property originally owned by Valentine Doller, this outstanding modernized brick building stands. One of the richest and most prominent residents of the island, Doller held many important positions, including being the third mayor of the city.
The first building on this site, a small wooden building that served as a dry goods store, was built in 1898 by Bennie Rosenfeld. The new owners, the Rittman Family, after the building was lost in a fire, constructed the building we see today. The building has expanded and performed many purposes over the years.
In the first portion of the building, Mr. Rittman initially opened his grocery store. He then opened a garage and Put-In-Bay Township eventually purchased the building for the island’s fire station.
In 1995, for the sole purpose of opening a distillery, Carl and Chris Krueger bought the building at an auction. The company has grown to include a back enclosure and open-air patio since it opened in 1996. In 2013 we saw the addition of a stunning new product to the already impressive copper range. Put-In-Bay has a long winemaking history and finally, due to its remarkable history, it can now add a long-awaited distillery.
Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery
Address: 441 Catawba Ave, Put-In-Bay, OH 43456
Phone: (419) 285-4677
Website: Put-in-Bay Brewery
We stopped in the Put-in-Bay Brewery And Distillery and got the 8 glass sampler of all their beers. They were all delicious. We do like craft beers so this was right up on alley. It has been a long time since we could say they every beer on the menu was really good.
I will be looking for where I can buy this beer when I go home. We also had the nachos and the veg burger and fries. Both were great. We liked the beer so much after we went off and did more touristy stuff, we returned for a few more in the evening.
The Put-in-Bay Brewery and Distillery has a cool vibe and the building is very neat. None of us were fans of the beer or the chicken on the nachos (it tasted pre-cooked) but the rest of our food was awesome! Our server, Danielle, was great and made it worth it.
While visiting the island we ate at the Put-in-Bay Brewery And Distillery Friday night for dinner. Everyone enjoyed their food and their drinks ( mules ) we actually went back for dinner Saturday!!! The pizza is absolutely delicious and the loaded fries with the zesty ranch are to die for!! Our waitress both times were so great!! Professional and polite! We will be back for sure!!
Stopped in for an appetizer at the Put-in-Bay Brewing and Distillery and local brew. Prices were average for the island…..nachos and chicken fingers were plentiful appetizers. Enjoyed the garage door being opened so it was like dining al fresco. Would definitely stop in again.
Places like the Put-in-Bay Brewing Company And Distillery can go either way, either they have a captive audience and are mediocre or really XL. This place was solid. As you’ll note from some of my other reviews, a lot of these brewpubs are in renovated or historic/industrial buildings.
I think this was an old fire station and was just about as nice as any I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been in a lot. They also are a distillery but we didn’t try any of that. I had a fairly large sampler and the beers were good. The raspberry mocha Stout was in particular excellent. Their collaboration in New England-style IPA was very good.
The others were solid as well. However I made my usual mistake, I figured an appetizer was the Way to go so we got the nachos. Big mistake, if only because I really didn’t need anything else. They were terrific. Our waitress was splendid. I got a Caesar chicken wrap, which was not on the menu, she said she would ask the Turkish guys working in the kitchen if they could make it and they outdid themselves.
Overall, very enjoyable. Indoor and outdoor seating, fairly bug-free with reasonable people watching
Just went to Put-In-Bay while doing the Shores & Islands Wine Trail and the hubs and I wanted to take a break from wine and check out The Put-in-Bay Brewery And Distillery. We each did a flight of their crafts and really liked everyone. While we enjoyed our nice, cold brews, we ordered a pizza and the black & blue salad and they were both devoured and excellent.
The menu has a lot of great choices. Our server was fun and attentive and sat us on the patio which was fun to people watch and chat. We stayed for quite a while enjoying ourselves. The bill was what you’d expect to pay for two flights of beers and two meals on an island. I highly recommend making Put-in-Bay Brewery And Distillery a stop on your visit. Enjoy!
Stumbled into the Put-in-Bay Brewery And Distillery here right before a huge rainstorm. Very cool brewery/ bar. We enjoyed seats right at the corner and had several drinks. The summer brew was my favorite–definitely a unique taste and easy to drink…a few. Enjoyed a conversation with a retired couple and the beer they bought me. Would definitely go back!
The past year I’ve learned to love craft beers so just had to stop by Put-In-Bay Brewery And Distillery while on the island to check out what brews they had for tasting. They are located downtown so street parking is the way to go and there is a parking lot almost across the street too. The building is a rehabbed brick building with lots of personalities.
Love the whimsical signs hanging on the walls all with beer themes. The restaurant is one side, the bar on the other altho food is served on the bar side. The bartender was great allowing us to taste as many of their beers we wanted before making a decision to order a pint. I was thinking I would be ordering their stout but had to try their unusual Strawberry basil and turns out I fell in love with their Watermelon beer!
My friend who is not a beer drinker had one of their specialty cocktails made w/ their vodka; it was yummy! We only had time for 1 drink as we had made reservations for dinner elsewhere. This place is well worth spending a bit of time trying/drinking some beers and ordering some of the yummy looking food. Next time we’ll stick around for both!
Stopped by the Put-in-Bay Brewing Company And Distillery before heading for the ferry back to Port Clinton. We are spoiled by the craft beers in San Diego for variety in beers and atmospheres. Put-in-Bay Brewing Company And Distillery was a great stop and the beers were good enough. Bought our beer in a growler which was the perfect souvenir for the day