Maxim is on the hunt for the country’s best watering holes. This month: Ohio’s lakefront lushfest, Cleveland! Yes, Cleveland.
Your Eff-Lebron tour starts here:
11 a.m. Deagan’s Kitchen & Bar
Kick off your crawl with belly-lining comfort food, like chicken and waffles paired with a beer cocktail. Our pick? The “Broadway,” Flying Dog in Heat beer plus Pepsi. Yum?
This is what we at Maxim would describe as “breakfast” (we’re really bad at describing things).
1 p.m. Buckeye Beer Engine
Beer snobs will wet themselves amid the nearly 30 local brews on tap. (Warning: Requests for Bud Light will be shot down.)
We misunderstood this sign and poured beer into our espresso machine.
2 p.m. Melt Bar & Grilled
This grilled-cheese perv’s dream serves varieties like the Porky Cheese filled with honey ham, crisp bacon, and Swiss.
It’s best to book a plumber in advance if you’re thinking of finishing this.
3 p.m. The Harp
Pop a Tums and rub your spare tire while you lounge on the patio overlooking Lake Erie. It’s the Riviera of the Midwest!
5 p.m. Happy Dog
This 1940s-era cocktail joint offers gourmet hot dogs (duh) and live music, including a polka happy hour on Fridays.
“This song is about my beard. It’s kind of a love story.”
8 p.m. Prosperity Social Club
Hit this barroom’s outside seats for beer, wine, and—according to locals—the best pierogies outside Warsaw.
10 p.m. ABC the Tavern
Happiness is a jukebox, a 50¢ pool table, bar bowling, cheap but delicious grub (try the hush puppies), and 70 beer options.
12 a.m. McNulty’s Bier Market
Sample 80-plus brews at Ohio’s only Belgian beer bar, or drop (literally, down the stairs) into Speakeasy for old-timey drinks. Huzzah!
As a bonus, the bar area is roomy enough to let you dry your bed sheets on laundry day.
To see our favorites bars in other cities--including New York, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta--check out more Great American Bar Search.
To see our favorites bars in other cities--including New York, Dallas, Austin, and Atlanta--check out more Great American Bar Search.