Great Lakes Brewing Co. has locked in the date for its annual Christmas Ale First Pour party: Thursday, October 15, with doors opening at 11 a.m. at the brewery's Ohio City taproom. Organizers say the ceremonial keg tapping kicks off at 11:30 a.m., and anyone hoping to be near the front of the line should plan to show up around 7 a.m.
The celebration, first detailed by cleveland.com, will fill the day with live music. Cleveland Carolers open at 10 a.m., followed by Cats on Holiday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., DJ Red-I from 2 to 5 p.m., and Apostle Jones capping the night from 6 to 9 p.m. Brewnuts will be on hand selling doughnuts, and the taproom will offer food specials throughout the day, per the same report.
Beyond the beer, the event doubles as a charitable push. The Sub Zero Mission will run a winter clothing drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., collecting new or gently used adult men's winter boots, coats in sizes XL through 5XL, tents, and sleeping bags, according to cleveland.com's account. The Painesville-based, veteran-founded nonprofit distributes what it calls its “Stay Alive Five” essential warming items — coats, boots, gloves, hats, and sleeping bags — directly to unsheltered individuals and homeless veterans across Northeast Ohio, according to Sub Zero Mission.
A Nonprofit Under Pressure After a Brutal Winter
The need has been especially acute lately. Sub Zero Mission served 255 people across 19 shelter activation days after being officially approved as an emergency overnight shelter during the 2025–2026 winter season, according to the organization's own reporting in its CEO annual report. That stretch was the coldest winter Northeast Ohio had seen since 1977, per the same account, underscoring why the coat and boot drive at the brewery carries extra weight this fall.
Great Lakes is also sweetening the day with retail perks. Holiday merchandise will include collaborations with Columbus-based Homage and Cleveland-based artist Emily Roggenburk, and the brewery is offering Christmas Ale to-go keg pre-orders, according to cleveland.com. A First Pour VIP contest will give one winner the chance to taste Christmas Ale first from behind the bar, along with a private brewery tour, lunch for two, and a prize pack, the outlet reports.
What's In the Glass — and When You Can Get It
Christmas Ale, brewed with ginger, cinnamon and honey, remains one of Great Lakes Brewing's top two sellers and comes in at 7.5% alcohol by volume, per cleveland.com's reporting. It hits the taproom gift shop on October 16, then rolls out in draft, bottles and cans on October 19. The beer has a decorated history: it's a six-time gold medal winner at the World Beer Championships held by the Beverage Tasting Institute, according to CraftBeer.com, and the recipe uses more than 200,000 pounds of honey along with thousands of pounds of fresh ginger and cinnamon each year, per the same source.
October 19 also marks the debut of the Holiday Party Pack, which bundles three cans each of four beers: Christmas Ale, the cranberry-and-orange Cran Orange Wheat (5.5% ABV), the snickerdoodle-inspired Cookie Exchange Milk Stout (5.5% ABV, exclusive to the pack), and Snowscape Winter Lager (6% ABV, also sold separately in draft, 12-packs of cans and six-packs of bottles), according to cleveland.com.
Barrel-aged fans have two more dates to circle. Barrel Aged Christmas Ale arrives in 16-ounce four-packs of cans starting October 19, while Barrel Aged Blackout Stout — a 12.5% imperial stout — and a new Barrel Aged Caramel Pecan Blackout Stout variant at 11.4% ABV both land in 16-ounce four-packs on November 16, per the same cleveland.com report.
A Cleveland Original With Deep Roots on Market Avenue
The First Pour tradition unfolds inside a building with its own local legend. The Market Avenue brewpub houses Cleveland's oldest Tiger Mahogany bar, dating to the 1860s, and reportedly still bears bullet marks attributed to prohibition-era Cleveland Safety Director Eliot Ness, who was said to be a regular at the building before it became a brewery, according to Destination Cleveland.
Founded in 1988 by brothers Patrick and Daniel Conway, Great Lakes became Ohio's first modern craft microbrewery, opening in Ohio City after the city's last commercial brewery had closed just a few years earlier, according to VinePair. The company established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 2018, giving stock to every employee regardless of title or tenure, VinePair notes.
That legacy plays out against a shifting national landscape. Great Lakes ranked 36th among the top 50 U.S. craft breweries by production volume in 2025, down eight spots from the year before, as the broader industry saw total U.S. craft beer production decline by 4%, according to the Brewers Association. Even so, Ohio's 442 craft breweries generated an estimated $1.29 billion in economic impact and supported 12,255 jobs statewide in 2024, with Greater Cleveland's 59 breweries alone brewing 209,000 barrels and driving $231 million in regional economic output, per the Brewers Association's figures cited by Brewer Magazine and the Ohio Capital Journal.
Great Lakes has also been expanding beyond Northeast Ohio. In July, the brewery announced plans for a new bar at Pittsburgh International Airport, its first Pennsylvania airport venue, where it plans to pour Dortmunder Gold and Christmas Ale alongside brewpub food. Back home, though, the Ohio City taproom at 2516 Market Ave. remains the center of gravity for the brand's biggest annual celebration.
