As you may know, we've spent most of this summer preparing for, giving birth to, and caring for our newborn son. This has largely precluded us from taking the beer-centric trips that we've been used to for the past couple of years. Fear not though, because Columbus has beer. A lot of it. And while Columbus isn't quite the beer destination those other places are, it's still boasts a formidable amount of both quantity and quality. I've obviously had a good deal of local offerings over the past four years, but until now, I hadn't made a point of actually visiting everywhere, making fully-formed opinions, and sharing them with the world. What better time do so than a summer with twelve straight weeks at home?
First, a couple of notes. I haven't visited every brewery yet (Homestead is far away), and I didn't include the breweries that are part of chains. I also didn't include anything without a taproom open by September of 2016 (with one notable exception). This means Granville, Commonwealth, and a couple that are yet to open are not on this list. Furthermore, I haven't had every single beer from everyone on this list, so I expect my evaluations to change over time. Finally, you will notice a rating next to each brewery's name. I have used this rating system before, but to refresh y'all's memories:
1 Star - Skippable
2 Star - Cromulent
3 Star - Quite good...make time for it
4 Star - A must
I also allow for 1.5 and 2.5 ratings because decimals are fun. Onto the list!
#24 - Elevator Brewing (link) - 1 Star
You know that local brewery that's been around forever and keeps churning out the same old stuff that's basically all the same? In Columbus, that's Elevator. And there's nothing wrong with continuity and longevity. It's just that virtually every other brewery in town is more exciting, and thus more worthwhile. All of Elevator's hoppy beers are malt bombs of varying degree with variations on the same type of old-school bitterness (the Mogabi wheat with Amarillo is a touch above the rest, but still finishes with a bit of a thud). Nothing else is particularly inventive, either. The restaurant is a decent lunch space if you're downtown, and the ambiance is pretty cool. But you can do better.
#23 - Knotty Pine Brewing (link) - 1 Star
This is a bit of an incomplete grade, as the two times I've been there, they've had a combined four of their beers on tap. So they're less of a standalone brewery and more of a grill and bar that makes a little beer. Even so, what I had wasn't enough to raise this above my lowest rating. The amber ale laced with figs and the cherrywood-aged porter were both solid and mildly inventive, but unspectacular. The Mirror Lake IPA wasn't as good, as there was something a touch too bitter overriding the hops. I haven't eaten anything there, but Yelp says it's bad and they're never wrong.
#22 - Pigskin Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
Pigskin looks like it's doing everything right. Making a wide variety of beers (they had 15 on tap when I went there). Occupying a nice spot in Creekside. Focusing on the hop. All that said, I found their offerings leaving me wanting more. Their gose (Gose all the Way) was drinkable but not particularly sour. The hoppier offerings resembled interesting beer, but all of them had a thin mouthfeel that kept them from being great. If I had to pick a winner from the bunch I had, I would probably pick the pale ale, Knock Out Hops. The floral nose gave way to a beer that would be far too easy to drink a lot of.
#21 - Zaftig Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
The funny thing about Zaftig is that the first thing I ever had from them was fantastic. I was at a local high-ABV beer event, and the strong ale they were pouring (Shadowed Mistress) was a really nice and subtle English-style beer. Lots of bready notes with the perfect touch of hops. Knowing this, I expected other things from them to have the same complexity and smoothness. That has not been the case. At the next years high-ABV fest, I had two pretty bad beers from them: an oak-aged strong ale that only sort of resembled beer and a malt bomb IPA (Three Socks) that didn't do enough to be noteworthy. When I visited recently, the IPAs I had ranged from fine but flawed (Juicy Lucy, a Citra bomb that has a little of that wood-y taste) to bad (Too Cans, an 11% bomb that smelled and tasted like suckers). The space itself, opened earlier in 2016, is oddly cavernous but at least has ample seating. I want to like these guys, and feel there's potential for some good beers here, but most of what I've had just doesn't work.
#20 - Temperance Row Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
Like many beer nerds, I generally tend to focus on the cutting edge of beer. This means the things that most get my attention are the over-hopped IPAs, barrel-aged stouts, and mouth-puckering sours. So what am I to do when I encounter a brewery that's pretty good at everything else, but really bad at making a drinkable IPA? You can probably already tell this from the ranking, but the "pretty good" in the previous sentence is what keeps me from putting Temperance Row any higher. The Scofflaw Scottish Ale is a nice caramel-y malt bomb and the Forty Ton Porter has some legitimate complexity (so much chocolate). But I don't think those perfectly nice beers are enough to recommend the place, because they clearly don't know how to put together a competent pale ale.
#19 - Buckeye Lake Brewery (link) - 1 Star
Buckeye Lake has the downside of being far away, and more importantly, only being OK. Both the Legend Valley IPA and the Pale Ale were perfectly fine, if a little thin. The Shovelhead DIPA smelled piney and great but tasted like a caramel-ly alcohol bomb (at only 8%). Perhaps their other offerings are better (I didn't get the sampler, because it was essentially one of everything), but none of them sounded unique enough to justify trying. Like most other area places it boasts a balance between outdoor and indoor seating with a rotation of food trucks providing the eats.
#18 - Restoration Brew Worx (link) - 1 Star
The first of the two breweries in Delaware on this list is a perfectly fine addition to the local beer scene. I had their Wit (Delicious), IPA (Judgment), and DIPA (Double Judgment), all of which were just fine (but they had great names!). The Belgian IPA (Big Bag of Judgment) was the only offering that was truly worth the trip, mixing the hop profile of the IPA with an actual malt backbone. The space is a little ramshackle but charming and with plenty of TVs for the sports.
#17 - Kindred Artisan Ales (link) - 1.5 Stars
Kindred gets the extra half star almost entirely on potential. As Kindred just opened in the spring, their offerings are currently limited to three base beers (a porter, a wit, and a farmhouse PA) as well as variants on those. These are fine, but nothing special. What has the chance to be special are the products of their barreling program. Unfortunately, it'll take a while for that to bear fruit (and even longer to perfect it, as the feedback process on barrel-aged beers obviously takes longer), so Kindred can hang out in this part of the list until then.
#16 - Smokehouse Brewing Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
Smokehouse's regular offerings taste like standard-issue beers that people have been making for a couple of decades, because that's exactly what they are. This lack of excitement sounds like the description of a 1-Star brewery, but there's just enough interestingness to bump them up a notch. First, they have weekly Firkin Fridays where some special release is shared. Additionally, their first bottled offering (Ess, an oak-aged sour ale) was surprisingly subtle while still hitting every note. Finally, the BBQ is pretty tasty, and easily one of the best beer-accompaniments in town.
#15 - Zauber Brewing Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
Zauber is perfectly fine and non-essential. There's nothing wrong with that, and every good beer town should have a few places exactly like this. Zauber mostly sticks to the basic European styles, which are well-executed, though not quite well enough to be something I crave. There's generally only a half dozen things on tap, and the special releases are few and far between (the ones I've had - a DIPA and a Christmas Ale - have been OK). The Bezerker, a vaguely Belgian IPA, is probably the best standby but everyone will probably have a different favorite. From a food standpoint, the brewery subsumed the Explorer's Club when the restaurant went under, which means this is one of the few breweries I go to for actual entire meals.
#14 - Staas Brewing Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
With a relatively unique lineup of beers, it would be really nice if Staas was a little closer to home (it's the other brewery in Delaware). One visit probably didn't give me a full picture of everything they have to offer, but what I had was pretty good. The DIPA (Senior Status) was a bit muddled, but everything else hit the perfect note. The regular IPA (Presidential) was a good, laid-back brew with notes of pine. Flood Water was a solid coffee stout that's as rich as you can make such a beer without having it turn out overly sweet. And their cask offering of the day was an English house ale with a good balance of caramel malt and raisin-like fruit. Given more time, I would like to try all of their Belgian brews, and see how they stack up to a certain entry higher on the list. But for now, Staas is here.
#13 - Sideswipe Brewing (link) - 1.5 Stars
Sideswipe has two things going for it. One, their space is pretty awesome, as it's mainly a wooden bar in a medium-sized garage in an industrial park in the most random part of town. Two, if you squint hard enough, you can imagine their lineup as a sort of poor-man's Maine Beer Company. To be clear, they're not close in overall quality, but Sideswipe does an OK job of executing the same gameplan of making seemingly slight beers with subtle complexity. (While there, I wanted to comment on Untappd that their beers were a little too "thin," but I knew that wasn't quite the right word...rather, it's a purposeful restraint). Their DIPA (Hop Tat) was the best example of this, as it's an 8% beer with a decent hop nose that didn't drink anything like an obvious hop bomb. The Fisticuffs IPA behaved the same way, but was slightly more pungent and grassy. Their Journeyman Brown Ale was infused with coffee in such a way that the nose was strong without being overwhelming. There were a couple of misfires, too (the Pixelated Sun hoppy wheat ale wasn't the best version of the style, as the Citra gave off that slightly woody taste that happens when it's not done right), but on the whole, I am glad that Sideswipe exists.
#12 - Barley's Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
It feels odd to rank Barley's a half star above Smokehouse. The two were one and the same until recently, and they still share a lot of their base beers. That said, the one-offs I've had from Barley's have been more consistently interesting. The Blurry Bike IPA was a nice airy replica of your typical modern IPA, their imperial stout is a well balanced version of the style, and their Blood Thirst Wheat had such a nice malt presence (while still featuring its namesake orange) that it reminded me of a non-sour gose. Their new more-limited food menu makes it a slightly less desirable lunch option, but it's still my preferred place to go with co-workers.
#11 - Lineage Brewing (link) - 2 Stars
Over the years, I've found that most breweries tend to hit roughly the same level of quality with most of their beers. In general, if you can make a good stout, you'll make a good IPA, and so forth. Lineage is one of the rare breweries that's all over the map. Take the two DIPAs I've had: Going Ham was a perfectly wonderful fruity balanced beer, while Exosphere didn't come together at all. I've also seen varying quality in other areas: One of their pale ales (Mr. Manager) is a nice citrus-y offering while a few others beers (their milk stout Surf'N Cow and their main IPA Spaceship #6) have decent flavor profiles but come off a little thin. The highs make a visit to Lineage worth it, but you probably shouldn't commit to a whole pint without first having a taster.
#10 - Four String Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Four String wins points for simply trying a lot of different things. There are roughly fifteen beers tapped at any time, and the calendar is dotted with special releases and weekly casks. Is their batting average as good as most other 2-Star breweries? No, but there's plenty of room in Columbus for a solid volume shooter. Think of Four String as the Monta Ellis of beer. Much like Zauber, they also win points for having one really nice standby (Brass Knuckle PA, an Alpha King-like offering). The space is delightfully low-key but it does get a little over-crowded on the weekends.
#9 - Ill Mannered Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
One of the newest entries on this list, Ill Mannered is found in the hard-to-reach suburb of Powell. This is by design, as the head brewer told me that they set up shop there specifically because there are no other microbreweries on the Northwest side of town. Their non-pale ale offerings are all well done, but not quite unique enough to be worth the trip. The IPAs on the other hand, are a bit more of a mixed bag. Their regular DIPA (Bitter Ex) is a good, big bitterness bomb and their red IPA (MisRed - dry-hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe) is one of the best hoppy offerings I've had from the area. Others weren't as good. Their IPA (Hopracha) is nice with a 6.9% ABV and 69 IBUs, but a little one-note and old-fashioned. Another pale I had on my first visit was hopped with Mosaic, but it was added in the boil, which is a sub-optimal use of the hop. In all, there's enough here to be worth the trip and I'm hopeful that we'll see more interesting offerings in the future.
#8 - Actual Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Actual is an odd little nugget. Situated in a tiny outpost by the airport, their tap room is one of the cutest things you'll ever see. Their beer lineup doesn't tend towards any one thing, which gives them a great variety. With that variety comes a surprising lack of variety in quality...virtually everything is pretty good. The best thing I've had from them was probably their wet-hopped version of their amber, Elektron. The winter ale (Orthodox), the malt-bomb DIPA (Conductor), and sour ale (Tenacity) were all perfectly good versions of their style, adding just enough uniqueness to be worthwhile. I don't have much else to say...Actual is solid, and deserves to be right in the middle of this list.
*I do have a barrel-aged sour stout from Actual aging in my "cellar." If that ends up being awesome, they might climb up this list a bit.
#7 - Land Grant Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
There are a lot of breweries out there that I value a little more than I probably should: Capital, Sun King, Mad Tree, Tallgrass, and so on. Land Grant is the local version of this phenomenon. Aside from their Columbus Crew-specific beer (Glory, a delightful little Citra-wheat combination that works well as a poor man's Fortunate Islands), I haven't had anything that's blown me away. That said, Land Grant does all the little things well: Disclosing ingredients on playing cards that come with samplers, occupying a nice space in the soon-to-be-gentrified Franklintown, and releasing a lot of interesting if not great one-offs (specifically DIPAs: Misconduct has a great piney nose, and Scorched Earth was a reasonably interesting malt bomb). I can't recommend Land Grant over the places above it on the list, but something about it just clicks for me.
#6 - Wolf's Ridge Brewing (link) - 2.5 Stars
Wolf's Ridge is an odd bird in that I only find two things truly superlative from them: Their Citra-tastic session IPA (Driftwood) and their imperial stouts (Direwolf, and all of its variants). Luckily those two things are good enough to make it one of the top breweries in town. Add in an adorable brick tap room and a legitimately good restaurant (with great brunch), and you have yourself the whole package.
#5 - Rockmill Brewery (link) - 2.5 Stars
My personal beer shame* is that I had lived in Columbus for over four years without visiting Rockmill. I used my last day of parental leave to rectify this, and was not disappointed. The Belgian-style beer is quite good, of course (the Cask-aged Noir was my favorite, but the saison "They Ran in the Fields" was probably the most unique, with notes of allspice, rye, and vanilla), but the even bigger draw is the uniqueness of the space. The brewery takes up the entirety of an old horse farm, with the taproom consisting of a two-story house with a bunch of odd rooms. This, combined with the rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio, gives it the feel of a tucked-away winery in Napa.
*Aside from drinking too many beers, naturally
#4 - North High Brewing (link) - 2.5 Stars
North High flies under the radar a bit, but it might actually have the highest floor of any brewery in Columbus. I have ten of their beers checked-in on Untappd, and all of them rate at least 3.5, with 6 of them getting 4 or higher. Not only is North High consistently good, but they also have a wide variety. Those ten check-ins include a malty Triple IPA, some amazing wet-hopped offerings, and a Cinco de Mayo beer (Jalalima) with perfect balance between lime and jalapeno. In all, North High might be the least likely place in town to disappoint.
#3 - Columbus Brewing Company (link) - 3 Stars
I wrestled with giving CBC a 4-star rating, if for no other reason that it's the grandfather of Columbus beer. As they currently stand though, they fall just a bit short.* I love Bodhi, but it's not my favorite DIPA ever, and the rest of their offerings range from quite good (Creeper and their wet-hop releases) to just fine (most of the bottled stuff). All of the other oddities surrounding them detract a bit, too: the lack of a tap room, the weirdly contentious relationship with the restaurant, and their policy against crowlers make for an antagonistic relationship with people who want to drink their beer. All that said, if you go to a Columbus-area bar, you're unlikely to find many better local options than the town's eponymous brewer.
*Things could very well change when they open their tap room and expand their breadth of offerings. Stay tuned.
#2 - Seventh Son Brewing Company (link) - 3 Stars
Seventh Son is the best high-volume producer in the city. Like those before them on the list, they don't have the most impressive batting average, but they do have a few things going for them. One, their two regularly-canned beers (Strong Ale and Humulus Nimbus) are probably the best such duo in town. Two, their space is my favorite in the city, expertly combining the old car shop feel with a nice pair of patios. Finally, their more adventurous beers are always interesting and relatively easy to get (both on draft and in bottles). And yes, writing this blurb has made me realize I don't go there often enough....I will fix that.
#1 - Hoof Hearted Brewing (link) - 4 Stars
Hoof is far from a one-trick pony as they do a lot of things fairly well. Their darker beers tend to finish a tad too bitter, but some of them are so unique (I'm thinking mainly of the cinnamon-y Miracle Toast) that they work in spite of some minor balance issues. They also produce a fair number of sour beers, the best of which was their Rose Gose, a surprisingly restrained offering that highlights why gose is such an in-demand style. But let's not mess around, the reason Hoof tops this list is because of their preposterous number of hazy DIPAs. Their hoppy collection isn't quite as perfectly consistent as a few others (3 Floyd's, Alpine, etc...), but there's enough world class beers (Roller Blabe, Konkey Dong, most of the Everybody Wants Some single-hop releases) to at least compete on that level. Ultimately, Hoof's portfolio doesn't quite make my nation-wide top ten. They don't do everything well enough to compete with the best, and I'm not even sure that their DIPAs represent the best single line from a brewery (This is a weird comparison, but I would take Cascade's sours over Hoof's DIPAs). Still, it's really exciting to have a world-class brewery a couple of miles from my apartment.
No comments:
Post a Comment