Richfield Brewing Company: Craft Beer & Elevated Dining

Customers have long been asking Sarah’s Vineyard owner Mike Lytz to open a brewery. But he didn’t rush into making the dream a reality. Lytz built out the 6,000-square-foot, 300-seat Richfield Brewing Company over four years, pulling together natural or reclaimed materials for features, such as an Amish white oak-stained timber-framed high ceiling and reclaimed sandstone tables.

Opened in late 2024, the restaurant’s wooden bar is from a Miami speakeasy, and an exterior sign showcases an inscribed custom millstone hanging from a Firestone jib crane. Parts of the 15-barrel brewing system are from Massachusetts’ shuttered John Harvard’s Brew House — as is the big silver mug hanging over the bar in the rustic beer hall atmosphere.

“It’s similar to what you find in Germany or other parts of Europe,” Lytz says.

Head brewer Andrew Ritterbeck is a traditionalist. On the Richfield Brewing Company’s beer list, find a Bavarian hefeweizen, a Vienna lager, an Italian pilsner and more. Ritterbeck insists on using real ingredients such as Costa Rican sun-dried black honey-processed coffee in the Golden Café ale ($7.50), which has a creamy profile with fruity and chocolatey undertones.

“I had a cup of the coffee black, and I was blown away by how much flavor,” he says. “The beer’s the medium for the coffee to shine.”

The spot’s lunch and dinner menus are full of culinary-driven brewpub fare that complements — and features — its beer. The Reuben ($19) is made with hand-sliced corned beef cooked in whole-grain mustard and broiled with Swiss cheese, Cleveland Kraut and Richfield Brewing’s Minuteman lager. It’s finished with horseradish remoulade and Old World rye from Breads in Fairlawn.

“The horseradish really comes through,” says co-kitchen manager Brennan Maughan. “You can distinctly tell all the flavors.”

For Southern flair, try the shrimp and grits ($28). Buttercream grits are paired with large bay butter shrimp scampi and a gumbo-inspired trinity gravy sauce, along with black-eyed peas and okra.

“It gives you a little kick from the gravy,” says Maughan. “But then the grits — we put a lot of butter and milk in it — that helps cool it down.”

Other highlights include the roadhouse pretzel ($14), brushed with Richfield Brewing’s dark John Brown ale, and a steak burger ($19) with a dynamic sauce made in-house with horseradish, mayo, Worcestershire, ketchup, mustard and pickles. Made from Lytz’s grandmother’s recipe, the 13-ounce beef meatball ($16-$22) can be ordered as an appetizer or entree.

Sip a chocolate martini ($15) crafted with Towpath Distillery vodka, Bailey’s chocolate liqueur, Bailey’s Irish Cream and dark chocolate.

The quality food and drinks make Richfield Brewing an elevated brewery.

“It’s a step above most breweries as far as the food menu,” Lytz says. “We pride ourselves not only in our beer but in our atmosphere and food.” //KP

3871 Broadview Road, Richfield, 330-944-2739, richfieldbrewing.com