Birdtown Brewing opens in century-old church with grand debut April 16

Birdtown Brewing will open its doors Thursday, April 16, at 4 p.m. inside the former St. Gregory the Theologian Byzantine Catholic Church at 2035 Quail Street in Lakewood, giving Northeast Ohio a new craft-beer destination with stained glass, a live-edge bar and a restaurant partner that already carries name recognition across Cleveland.

The setting is the main draw before the first pint is poured. The brewery occupies a century-old church in Birdtown, Lakewood’s nationally registered historic district, a neighborhood shaped by East European immigrant communities and named for its bird streets, including Quail, Robin and Lark. St. Gregory the Theologian Byzantine Catholic Church was established in September 1905, held its final Divine Liturgy at the end of 2011 and was sold in 2014, turning the project into a long-awaited reuse story with a built-in sense of place.

Inside, Birdtown is set up as more than a novelty stop. The renovated space includes about 260 seats, a long live-edge bar, an upstairs mezzanine for private events, a downstairs overflow area with pinball and vintage video games, and a patio for warmer days. The beer list will stay compact and rotating, with eight to 12 beers on tap at all times. Head brewer Zach DelPriore, who previously brewed at Platform Brewing Co. and Market Garden Brewery, is steering the program toward easy-drinking traditional ales and lagers rather than a chase for the next flashy release.

Geraci’s Pizza adds the kind of kitchen partnership that can keep a brewery busy well past the opening rush. General manager Ryan Grammerstorf said Geraci’s wanted to come to the west side and Birdtown wanted them there, and that fit matters in a room designed to function as a neighborhood hangout as much as a destination taproom. Birdtown’s online menu backs that up with beer flights, cocktails, wine, a mug club and food built around crowd-pleasers such as toasted meat ravioli, fried mozzarella, stuffed peppers and meatballs alongside pizza.

For Lakewood and the wider Cleveland beer scene, Birdtown lands in a format that has worked elsewhere in Ohio, where breweries have turned former churches into high-profile gathering places. Bell Tower Brewing in Kent, Urban Artifact in Cincinnati, Noble Creature Wild Ales & Lagers in Youngstown and Holy Moley Brewing Co. in Dennison all point to the same formula: strong architecture, a clear neighborhood identity and a beer list that gives people a reason to come back. Birdtown now joins that group with a west-side location, a recognizable food name and a space that was built to be noticed from the sidewalk as much as the tap list.