A local brewery-history club has landed the American Breweriana Association's national convention for Greater Cleveland, bringing hundreds of beer memorabilia collectors and historians to a Strongsville hotel for a weeklong gathering in 2027. The event is scheduled for June 21-27, 2027, and will be based at the Best Western Plus Strongsville Cleveland.
Rodger Brane, president of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America's Lake Erie Chapter, spent about three years networking to bring the American Breweriana Association gathering to Cleveland, according to Cleveland.com. Brane has led the roughly 150-member chapter for 15 years. He also secured Cleveland as the site of the BCCA's 2017 convention at the Huntington Convention Center, which drew about 800 people, according to the same report.
The Best Western Plus Strongsville Cleveland offers 13,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 7,590-square-foot grand ballroom, and is roughly seven miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, according to Travel Weekly.
What the Convention Will Include
Brane expects 200 to 300 registered guests, plus family and friends, according to Cleveland.com's report. Plans include a Cleveland Guardians game, visits to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, shopping excursions, wine outings and a beer-trivia contest. Some trade sessions are expected to be open to the public at no cost.
The American Breweriana Association, based in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a nonprofit historical and educational group focused on preserving and studying breweriana, including collectible ephemera, cans, signs and other artifacts tied to America's brewing past. The association says it has documented roughly 40,000 American breweries and provides database access to members who pay $40 in annual dues, according to Cleveland.com's account. Founded in 1982, the group has about 3,000 members; the BCCA, founded in 1970, has roughly 3,500.
A Deep Local Research Push
The association's research work includes a library and museum partnership at the National Brewery Museum in Potosi, Wisconsin. The museum operates in a restored brewery complex that cost $7.5 million to develop and opened in 2008 with the association's involvement, according to the National Brewery Museum and Research Library.
The Lake Erie Chapter, founded in 1976, holds two to four shows a year, including its annual Spooktacular Beer Can and Breweriana Show in Medina, according to the Brewery Collectibles Club of America. The chapter held its most recent gathering last month at Collision Bend Brewing Co.'s Euclid brewery.
Cleveland's Brewing Comeback
Cleveland was home to dozens of breweries dating to the 19th century, including Leisy Brewing Co., founded in 1873, and Pilsener Brewing Co., maker of P.O.C. beer, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. That heritage came to a halt when the city's last traditional commercial brewery, run by C. Schmidt & Sons, shut down in 1984, leaving Cleveland with a few years without a hometown brewery in the 1980s.
Historic Sites and Visitor Infrastructure
Cleveland's brewing footprint was substantial before the industry's later decline. According to Cleveland State University's Cleveland Memory Project, 26 breweries were operating in the city by 1910. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History at Case Western Reserve University identifies Leisy Brewing Co. at 3400 Vega Ave. as once Cleveland's largest independent brewery. After the 1980s closures described above, the region's brewing story continued through Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s 1988 opening and the modern industry outlined below.
The drought ended in 1988 when Great Lakes Brewing Co. opened in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood, becoming Ohio's first craft brewery, per Cleveland.com. The brewery has since become a flagship for the region's beer identity and continued expanding this year, opening a new brewpub at Pittsburgh International Airport in addition to its existing concourse venue at Cleveland Hopkins, as Hoodline reported this summer.
Ohio now has more than 400 craft breweries and ranks among the top 10 states in the country for craft brewing, according to Cleveland.com. Statewide, the industry generated $1.29 billion in total economic output in 2024 and supported 12,255 jobs, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Ohio breweries produced 1.15 million barrels of beer in 2024, placing the state sixth nationally for craft beer production volume.
The 2027 convention will put Cleveland's brewing history and its collector community in the national spotlight. The event also extends a pattern of local organizations using the region's brewing heritage to attract gatherings, from the BCCA convention in 2017 to the upcoming American Breweriana Association meeting.
