Bier Markt

Friday, June 20, 2008John PetkovicPlain Dealer Columnist
I’ve run from drunks, but I’ve never run drunk.

I did try to play basketball once while loaded. The ball kept on dribbling in my head even after I picked it up.

Drinking and dribbling is dangerous. So are most activities combined with imbibing, save playing in a rock band, I guess. Or rolling around on the grass. Or cuddling with your pet.

Cats and dogs, you see, live for the state of docile lethargy. Half the time they seem drunk even when they aren’t, just lazing around in a cow-eyed stupor.

Most dogs — but not Kyla.

The Irish Wheaten Terrier is the “official” Bier Markt Dog, according to the bar’s owner, Sam McNulty.

(I didn’t know that the bar had any unofficial dogs — well, except for this frisky dawg I saw the last time I was at Bier Markt, 1948 West 25th St., Cleveland. He had a thick St. Bernard-like neck, was lapping up beers and pawing a woman.)

Serving in that official role, Kyla is participating in the Third Annual Bier Markt Ohio City Run & Crawl — at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The 5K starts outside, you guessed it, Bier Markt and winds through the Ohio City neighborhood, its bars, homes and eateries. Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. at the bar.

Registration is $25 and takes place at Market Avenue and West 25th Street. Call 216-623-9933. Or go to www.hermescleveland.com./roadracing/events/ohiocity.asp.
“We’re combining a bar crawl and a marathon race,” McNulty says. “Runners can even drink beer before and after the race.”

Bier Markt will serve all runners their first draft beer for 25 cents. Afterward, most joints, including Bier Markt, will throw parties. Market Square Park, meanwhile, will host live music and refreshments.

“Last year, we had 500 runners,” he adds. “People came in costume; we even had some dogs running in the race.”

Kyla has been training by running with McNulty, an avid jogger. She doesn’t drink beer, though.

“She doesn’t have a taste for it,” says McNulty. “But a lot of humans running do; beer, after all, has a lot of electrolytes.”

(Indeed. Buster Martin, a 101-year-old marathon runner from London, swears by it. The man is known to guzzle Guinness before, during and after races.)

That’s not to say that running and drinking works for everyone.

“One time, I drank a lot the night before I did a 10K,” says McNulty. “I was sweating Jameson and Belgian beer the whole time; my girlfriend didn’t like the smell, so I try not to do it much.”

His running partner would probably agree — that is, if she could talk.

Previous columns online:

cleveland.com/columns

jpetkovic@plaind.com, 216-999-4556.

Thursday, June 19, 2008
There’s a fancy saloon on West 25th Street, a stone’s throw from the West Side Market. The saloon, which boasts an equally fancy adjoining restaurant, is called McNulty’s Bier Markt.

The owners of McNulty’s know that the typical Clevelander does not spell “beer” with an “i” or Market without an “e.” But the business partners pride themselves on being different. They enjoy the fact that they may be the only bar in the region that stocks $17 bottles of Belgian beer and $2 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

“There is a time and a place for every beer,” McNulty’s managing partner Michael Foran said, explaining the bar’s marketing concept. “Sometimes you want a complex beer, sometimes you don’t.”

Foran may have outdone himself, however, with a promotional stunt that was set to kick off Wednesday evening and continue through today, depending on the supply of an extremely popular locally produced beer. The promotion is called Christmas in June.

Bars all over the country have long exploited a theme party called Christmas in July. It’s an excuse to invite the regulars to empty the kegs. It’s a crass but lucrative play on Christmas.

But Christmas in June takes the drinking concept to another level. It’s akin to Michigan or Florida moving up their primaries. And that’s exactly what McNulty’s Bier Markt has done.

It has moved up Christmas.

But the twist on the story is this: The event was promoted using Great Lakes Christmas Ale, the best-selling Christmas ale in the United States last year.

That is a fairly gutsy move by the Bier Markt. The Great Lakes Brewing Co. is a geographical competitor of McNulty’s. Its restaurant and regional brewery is about 100 yards from the Bier Markt.

Furthermore, Great Lakes plans to host its own July Christmas Party and will mark the occasion by brewing a few kegs of its celebrated ale. People have been known to drive in from out of state to enjoy the festivities and the beer.

“So how did they get any of the ale?” a genuinely puzzled Patrick Conway, co-owner of Great Lakes, asked Wednesday.

“We haven’t brewed any yet.”

When informed that the forward-thinking people at the Bier Markt had saved a keg from last winter for the express purpose of a very early Christmas party — using his beer — Conway could not stifle a groan.

“The Germans say, Beer is like bread, it’s best fresh,’ ” Conway intoned.

“The fact that they’re serving beer that was made almost three-quarters of a year ago doesn’t speak well for its freshness. Please let the other bars around town know that we didn’t brew a keg for the Bier Markt. That would start a riot,” he said jokingly.

I think I could do with another Christmas holiday, one that doesn’t involve shopping malls or online sales. The more the merrier.

Before we got off the phone, I told Conway this particular column would probably require a little quality-control testing.

So I’m off to the Bier Markt to do some research.

Merry Christmas.

To reach Phillip Morris:

pfmorris@plaind.com, 216-999-5086

Previous columns online:

cleveland.com/columns

Leather & Laces

A costumed Ohio City steps up to the starting line for its annual run and bar crawl.
By Cris Glaser

The image of a dude in a cowboy hat and leather chaps still sticks in Bernie Thiel’s mind as the most memorable sight at last year’s Bier Markt Ohio City Run & Crawl. Natch, he’s curious about the outfits that will be worn by more than 500 runners at today’s race.

“I don’t know if that guy was going for the Village People look, but it was interesting,” laughs Thiel, a spokesman for the race and crawl. “Who knows? We may see a bigger contingent of costumers this year.”

The blowout starts with a pre-race barbecue, catered by the Bier Markt watering hole. At 7 p.m., competitors line up in six age brackets to run a 5K race throughout Ohio City. Afterward, athletes still wearing their runners’ bibs can get cocktail discounts at 15 bars and restaurants throughout the Lorain Avenue neighborhood.

“People fan out and do their own thing after the race,” says Thiel. “Everybody stays in their running gear and goes wherever the mood takes them.”

The party starts at 4 this afternoon at Market Square Park, at the corner of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue. Race fee is $25. Call 216-623-9933 or visit www.hermescleveland.com.