CLEVELAND, Ohio - What John Fuduric has at The Cleveland Brewery is a storefront on a main East Side street, with enough room in the basement to brew and, if necessary, to expand his operations. He has working taps that flow with a variety of tasty beers and varying styles. There's a restaurant next door and easy access to Interstate 90.
What he doesn't have is time. The Cleveland Brewery, for now, is open only three hours a week.
But if demand is any barometer, those hours might have to be expanded soon. Fuduric went through 45 gallons of beer on May 1. The tasting room-bar is open 6-9 p.m. Fridays.
Fuduric is a brewer to be sure, but he really comes across as a proponent of his neighborhood.
"The area (Greater Cleveland) is so strong with good beer," he said on a recent quiet morning in the neighborhood. "You don't have to buy Sierra Nevada. There's not that need to buy (national brands) because so much here is good and you know it's fresh. You forget how long so much sits on shelves."
Fuduric, a seasonal-style drinker, home-brewed for eight years. It was a trip to Munich, Germany, that got him interesting in brewing.
He was drinking beer and telling himself 'man I like this, I like this hefeweizen,' he said. Soon, stovetop brewing expanded to his garage. Fifteen gallons turned to 25 gallons, and now he's in the East 185th Street building, which his father owns.
He didn't jump into opening the brewery right away. It took the support of his wife and the positive comments from friends and family who drank his home brew.
"I said, 'Do you know how many breweries there are'?" referring to the competitive craft-beer market.
But Fuduric, 35, realized the neighborhood didn't really have many options for good, locally made beer. He found himself driving 20 minutes to the east to Willoughby Brewing Co. or to the west for the West 25th Street brewers row. As he sees it, the craft-beer market is not saturated "as long as you keep making good beer. Look at West 25th - you can go brewery hopping."
The Cleveland Brewery is in a quiet storefront on East 185th Street.
But it was at the Cleveland Winter Beerfest in January where he realized the reception his beer was getting.
Fuduric had brewed Cleveland Street Christmas Ale, and as much as he looked forward to getting it out to the public he also wanted the opportunity to try other beers and talk with brewers.
"I drive up in a Buick Lucerne with kegs and jockey boxes (beer dispensers). Here comes Great Lakes and Fat Head's with their trucks," he said. "People kept coming up to me, asking questions."
So he felt compelled to stay in his booth, just as he felt drawn to stay in his neighborhood to brew beer.
"So far, so good," he said. "It's been fun - stressful, but fun. ... There's nothing like this in the area."
Local, local, local
It's a tiny operation, to be sure, a one-barrel system for now, he said.
"The goal is 'Yeah, come in, have a good time.' But we're here to support the area," Fuduric said.
The area includes The Standard, the restaurant that opened next door in 2013. It's one of three places - along with Paragon and Cebars - where you can get Cleveland Brewery beers.
"If you like our beers," Fuduric says, "go support our restaurants."
In the sparse basement, you won't find excess bags of grains laying around. The entire space is pretty barren, lined with bricks laid decades ago and stamped with "Cleveland Ohio." Spent grains go to the nearby Cavotta's Garden Center.
"I just order what I want so it's fresh," he said. "We're going to use as many local ingredients as possible."
The names of all the beers - like Terminal IPA - are references to Cleveland landmarks. The tap handles are Terminal Tower figures.
The future
As warm weather heats up, styles change out.
"We're going to start dropping down in ABV (alcohol by volume) with summer - saisons, wheats," he said.
Expansion could lead to a seven- or 10-barrel system. And he is even fooling around with a hybrid, an homage to the area's Italian immigrants. It's made with Sauvignon Blanc juice.
Cleveland Street Christmas Ale, the hit at Winter Beer Fest, will be barrel-aged in barrels from Cleveland Whiskey.
"Whenever we're ready to expand, my dad says 'let's go,' " Fuduric said. "He's ready to retire."
The Cleveland Brewery: 777 E. 185th St., is on the east side of the street. It's less than a mile north of Interstate 90. It's north of Cherokee Avenue and south of Arrowhead Avenue. Go to facebook.com/216brew or call 216-534-6992. Open 6-9 p.m. Fridays.