Cleveland’s Platform Beer looks to build epic rooftop patio, expand brewhouse, open Columbus brewery

We’ve had a collective banana pants for Platform Beer Co. for quite some time (doctors have been notified and are not surprised). In a community of impressive Cleveland craft brands (from Great Lakes Brewing Co. to Fathead’s Brewing Co.), Platform is making amazing, stand-out beer (from its Speed Merchant White IPA to its Orange Blossom Gose).

We love that Platform is also a brewery incubator. Owners Justin Carson and Paul Benner give brewers the opportunity to have their homebrewed recipes enjoyed by the general public. These brewers in incubation get hands-on training with Platform’s brewmaster, bump up their home recipe to a 3-bbl pilot batch and shadow Platform staff during all facets of the brewing process. They even help these new beer makers create a business plan, develop financial projections, work with a logo and design team and guide them through the regulatory hurdles associated with the beer industry. Check out their second brewery incubator participant right here.

Making great beer and mentoring future brewers has pushed Platform Beer Co.’s karmic wheel in the right direction. Not only does Platform have plans for a brewery and taproom in Columbus, Ohio, but the company has big ideas for its CLE brewing operations, which are currently in the old Leisy Brewing Co. complex on Vega Avenue. From Cleveland.com:

They are adding a brewhouse — a pair of tanks are coming soon, followed by four larger ones in October. The added tanks will allow Platform to produce 30,000 barrels annually. (For comparison’s sake, Chicago-based Revolution Brewing made more than 50,000 barrels of beer in 2014, and that brewery ranks as 50th among U.S. craft breweries by sales volume.)

But it’s not about being hidden away making a product. An event space and rooftop patio are in the works, and hopefully will be open to the public next summer.

Dig photos of the rooftop at the end of the video above (which mostly shows the rooftop space now) or at the Cleveland.com article. It’s amazing to think the Ohio City-based brewery debuted with a tiny 3-barrel system in the summer of 2014 in a super competitive Cleveland market. Today, Platform is a top tier brewer, can be found on tap all over Cleveland and its simple, classy can designs are horded by locals who love craft. Oh yeah, that canning line’s expanding too. From the same article:

The current build-out phase also means the canning-line operation is expanding. This is key for the brewery, which not that long ago was calling for — and easily getting — volunteers to show up at its Lorain Avenue brewery to help can its beers. It resembled a scene out of “Snow White,” with workers maybe not whistling but very happy knowing they had fresh, craft beers waiting for them at the end of their shift.

Thursday morning, workers maneuvered through Platform’s canning line, watching Veloracer, the brewery’s grapefruit shandy, roll off the line for the beer’s launch party hours later.