Last summer I ranked most of the breweries in the Columbus metro, in part because I had the time, and in part because the Columbus Ale Trail motivated me to visit places I had never been. Fast forward a year, and I completed the trail in even faster time because why not. This allowed for a second chance for some breweries I hadn't had anything from as well as visits to brand new places. Let's write about it, if for no other reason than to justify my degenerate behavior.
You may notice the Ale Trail has 37 stops while my list is a little shorter than that. Here is why:
1. I didn't include the chain breweries. Some of these are OK places to grab a drink, but as most of their beers are brewed to a national standard, they don't fully qualify as Columbus originals. This eliminates Brew Brothers, The RAM, Gordon Biersch, and Hofbrauhaus (it also eliminates BJ's, but that isn't on the Ale Trail for some reason). That brings us to 33.
2. I didn't include the breweries that were second locations for legitimate microbreweries. Yes most of the beer is brewed here, but like category #1, it largely adheres to designs of the motherships. This eliminates Platform and BrewDog, bringing our count to 31.
3. I rolled up the second locations of breweries that have two locations on the Ale Trail. This eliminates the duplicates for Rockmill, Four String, and Elevator, which leaves us with 28.
4. Finally, I added in a certain brewery with a eponymous restaurant they're not on friendly terms with, because they're the obvious godfather of beer in Columbus, and it would be weird not to include them. And thus, we arrive at our final number of 29.
(I didn't include a couple of breweries that don't have taprooms - Commonhouse and Granville - because they don't make a bunch of different beers, and I haven't had many of them anyway). Onto the list!
#29 Knotty Pine Brewing (link) - 1 Star
Knotty Pine was second from last in the previous version of this list, and since that time I have been there once, where I had a session pale that tasted like juice (but not in the good way). It's a nice enough space in a good location in the middle of residential Grandview, but they don't brew enough beer and they certainly don't brew enough good beer. Oh well, someone has to be last.
#28 Elevator Brewing (link) - 1 Star
Elevator makes old-tasting beers. So maybe it's a good thing they hired a new brewmaster. Still, I have to grade you on what you've done to date, so Elevator gets slotted here. In recent visits, I have appreciated the effort with the NEIPA-inspired Pulp Smash, but the beer wasn't cloudy and it was entirely too sweet without enough bite to back it up. If you must visit here, stick to the Mogabi, which has the best all-around balance of their usual offerings.
#27 Grove City Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
If you follow the hyperlink above, you'll see that the website for the brewery is an afterthought on the page for its sister winery. This is a pretty good representation of what you'll get if you go to Grove City for beer. Nothing was outright awful, but I didn't get the sense of true inspiration from anything. The Hint of Orange Pale was probably their best offering when I went, but that's only because I'm a sucker for beers with orange in them.
#26 Pigskin Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
Pigskin is the epitome of a brewery that isn't terrible but also doesn't do anything special. They generally have a good idea of how to highlight hops, but everything comes out with too light of a mouthfeel. I can totally see Pigskin as a place that would have been awesome to me ten years ago, but it just doesn't do enough to stick out in today's market.
#25 Zaftig Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
And now we enter the portion of the list where we start to find some faintly redeeming qualities. Zaftig's dedication to high gravity behemoths is relatively unique, and you occasionally get a worthy malt bomb out of it. But I've never had an IPA that worked from them and nothing else distinguishes itself enough to elevate it past here on the list. They do get points for defiantly positioning their brewpub in the shadow of the Budweiser plant.
#24 Buckeye Lake Brewery (link) - 1 Star
I really want to like Buckeye Lake, as it has the nice vibe of being a couple of blocks away from a lake. But there's nothing that special here. The Legend Valley IPA is fine, but like the other offerings it's a beer that is fine for its style but nothing more. They are one of the few places in the area to offer crowlers, which would be cool if there was something worth taking home 32 ounces of.
#23 Three Tigers Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
This is a solid brunch spot just off the main street in Granville, but just an OK beer spot. I had a perfectly fine wit, kolsch, and IPA there, but the DIPA (Hoptic Nerve) lacked a defined hop presence. This pattern of well-executed, if basic, staples and higher gravity beers that miss the mark echoes Buckeye Lake to a tee.
#22 Temperance Row Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
Third of three in a series of breweries that have the same basic strengths and flaws. Temperance Row is a touch better than the other two because of how solid the maltier offerings are. I've had good dark beers (Scofflaw and Forty Ton) as well as a nice English pale (Hatchetation). But they always seem to struggle with their IPAs, which is going to hold them back from a higher rating.
#21 Restoration Brew Worx (link) - 1 Star
The second best brewery in Delaware is tough to rank. They appear to have a little more ambition that some other places, but their success in those endeavors is mixed. I had a lovely Belgian IPA on my first visit, but the DIPA was middling. They had just run out of their imperial stout on my last visit, which would have given me a better idea of their range. And their main IPA (Judgment) is nice and citrus-y but also kind of a mess. So I'll throw up my hands and rank them here.
#20 Smokehouse Brewing Company (link) - 1 Star
It feels weird to drop Smokehouse down to the lowest rating, but I have to. The NEIPA I had recently (Mohbee) was the worst thing I had on this iteration of the Ale Trail. It wasn't cloudy, didn't have much carbonation, and tasted overly sweet. Add in that there's nothing special about their regular lineup, and a one star rating make sense. Their barrel-aged ale (Ess) was really well done, but they need to bring more than that to move up the list.
#19 Zauber Brewing Company (RIP) - 1.5 Stars
The first casualty in Columbus beer since I moved here five years ago, Zauber recently sold their place and their equipment. There will still be a brewery in the space along Fifth Avenue, but it will have a new name and new beers. Zauber was never anything special, but they executed a number of classic styles well, and I could walk to it from my old apartment.
#18 Homestead Beer Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
I typically find that the quality among beers within a brewery is relatively stable. Yes, everyone has their stars and their duds, but there's generally a range of expected quality that I can expect from each place. Homestead bucks this trend by being pretty disappointing save for a couple of pretty damn good beers. 3 MCs is a DIPA that balances the citrus and bitterness well and Snake Oil is a solid pale ale in a similar vein. So I'll give them the half star bump based on a little bit of upside. Their brewery is probably the most randomly located as it occupies a small space alongside a large Boeing plant south of Heath.
#17 Four String Brewing Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
I put Four String in the top ten last time largely because they make a lot of varieties (the taproom usually has about 15 things on tap) and do a pretty good job with most of them. But in the age of ever increasing options, that's no longer as important as it once was. A place with six or eight really good and/or unique things on tap is just more interesting now (see the next several entries on the list). And even if you pared down Four String's offerings to the best half-dozen, I'm not sure they would stack up to the next few places on the list. The Brass Knuckle pale ale is still pretty good, though.
#16 Loose Rail Brewing (link) - 1.5 Stars
There's an off chance I'm putting this a few spots too high because of the adorable old building that houses Loose Rail (click the link above for the background picture on their website). That said, I had a nice variety of beers (stout, saison, and a couple IPAs) that were all quite competent. The DIPA (Freight Hopper) was probably the best of the bunch, as a slightly sweet malt bomb that retained enough balance to make sense for the style.
#15 Barley's Brewing Company (link) - 1.5 Stars
This is the exact middle of the list, and I can't think of a brewery that fits the spot better. Will you have anything groundbreaking at Barley's? Probably not. But, virtually every offering is well executed and distinct. The continued existence of Barley's proves that an old brewery can learn new tricks while still staying true to itself.
#14 Combustion Brewery (link) - 2 Stars
The most promising of the new breweries, Combustion does a lot of things well. First off, they have a large space which allows for both a place for bands to play and a kid's corner complete with a train table (this comes in handy now for some reason). Most importantly, the beer is good in both quality and quantity. The lighter options were all interesting, with a Citra session ale and a coffee-infused blonde ale being the highlights. But the IPA* was the highlight. A nice medium-bodied ale with a smoothness to the hop profile that has to be from Nelson hops (I think?), I would say that it's already a top-five IPA in the city. I'm excited to see where they go from here.
*The IPA is just called "Combustion IPA." Name your beers people!
#13 Kindred Beer (link) - 2 Stars
I gave Kindred 1.5 stars last year, largely on the promise of their barreling program. A couple months ago, this promise finally bore fruit, when they released their first two sour beers. I had one of them (Spring Thaw), and was not disappointed. The sourness was right down the middle - noticeably tart but not too dominant - which allowed for the faintest hint of the grapes to come through. Yes, this first effort wasn't as polished as the places that have been doing this for years, but it's a very promising step towards something potentially special.
#12 Actual Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Actual doesn't have the same level of variety as other local brewers, but they make up for it with a nice regular offering of beers and occasional experimentation. The three beers I've had from them since last year paint this picture for me. Magnon, their regular IPA, is as solid and straightforward of an ale as you can make. Galvani is a progressive experimental pale ale that changes the recipe each time (much like Seventh Son's Scientist). And their special release from 2015 (Levitron - a barrel-aged sour stout) was a nicely balanced treat, although one with a slightly thin mouthfeel. Also, their taproom adds a new room each time you visit, so that keeps you on your toes.
#11 Sideswipe Brewing (link) - 2 Stars
I have trouble rating Sideswipe properly, because even though I know it's imperfect, I still love it so. Almost every beer in their portfolio has a deftly light touch that allows the drinker to easily understand exactly what the brewer was aiming for and why. The DIPA Hop Tat and any of its varieties. The Raspberry Berliner Weiss from their anniversary party. Any of their beers infused with coffee. There's a subtlety and a purpose to each one, which makes for a rewarding drinking experience.
#10 Ill Mannered Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Ill Mannered rotates through different brews often, so it gets points for always having something new to try. Sometimes those beers are amazing (like the juicy red IPA MisRed or the Simcoe-soaked DIPA Palate Fatigue), and others less so (40th Pale-llel, which has that funky taste you sometimes get with Mosaic). Still, most everything is good, so you will probably be happy if you get a sampler. I also award them bonus points for being located a couple of blocks from downtown Powell, which has the best density of good restaurants in the metro.
#9 Lineage Brewing (link) - 2 Stars
If you take Ill Mannered, move it 15 miles south, and triple the size of the tap room, you have Lineage. They rotate through a lot of different beers, some good and some less so, but the upside keeps you coming back. The beers I've had recently (the New England-inspired pale ale Space Echo and the kettle sour Passionate Bernice were both appropriately juicy) have been consistently good, so it is possible there is even further upside here.
#8 Staas Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Places further down the list may have more upside, but there are none outside the top eight with the combination of variety and consistency that Staas displays. A good deal of their menu is dedicated to well-done European styles, culminating in their bizarrely unique house ale (which uses the cask perfectly). On the pale ale side, every offering highlights a different capability of the style: The Presidential is piney, The Baron is full of citrus, and The Pacer is half bready malts and half tropical hops. I'm glad the Ale Trail forces me to venture up to Delaware once a year.
#7 Land Grant Brewing Company (link) - 2 Stars
Land Grant cans a bigger variety of beer than anyone else in Columbus (save #1 on the list, but they're a different story entirely). That there are very few duds is a testament to Land Grant's high floor. And occasionally we see their relatively high ceiling: Batch 300 was a delightfully juicy DIPA, Godspeed almost got me to like Black IPAs, and Stevesy showed how to make a good, subtle lager. They also colonized Franklinton before the inevitable gentrification, so props to them for that.
#6 North High Brewing Company (link) - 2.5 Stars
North High continues to have perhaps the highest floor in town, as I don't think I've ever had a bad beer from them. And the last year has seen them top themselves with one of my favorite new local beers, the Bowie-themed DIPA Stardust to Stardust. The regular offerings in cans (pale ale, IPA, milk stout) remain among the best readily available version of those beers in town.
#5 Rockmill Brewery (link) - 2.5 Stars
Still executing classic Belgian styles better than anyone around, Rockmill stays in the top five. They did add a few wrinkles this year, though. First of all, the new tavern in the Brewery District is a wonderful place for brunch, and appears to have roughly the same level of variety that the farmhouse does. Second, they added (at least it's new to me) a wonderful cherry sour that's a really nice counterpoint to their typically more funky offerings.
#4 Wolf's Ridge Brewing (link) - 3 Stars
So I bumped a fourth brewery up to the 3-star level this time. Wolf's Ridge deserves it, as they continue to do the same things well (Driftwood is a great little IPA, the various Direwolves are all fantastic), while adding an extremely unique wrinkle: the Clear Sky line of cream ales. Whether it be lemon meringue, cinnamon toast, or the best one "All the Breakfast," Wolf's Ridge manages to make actual good beer out of ideas that really shouldn't work as beer. And when you're able to stand out on that many fronts, you get recognized for it.
#3 Seventh Son Brewing Company (link) - 3 Stars
Seventh Son has "stood still" a little more than the other breweries at the top of this list, but that doesn't mean they've fallen off. Their main set of beers (the strong ale, Humulus Nimbus, and Proliferous) might still be the best group in town, while the more experimental side of things is never boring, at the very least. I'm pretty pumped for the forthcoming expansion plans, as Columbus could use more places focusing on barreling and sours.
#2 Columbus Brewing Company (link) - 3 Stars
So they finally started bottling Bodhi. And Creeper. And Sohio Stout. And Thunderlips. And more. CBC's always been at the pinnacle of brewing in Columbus, but there was a definite disconnect between the quality of their output and one's ability to easily produce their best beers. With the expansion helping them to re-focus on their best beers, CBC leaps back to #2 on the list.
#1 Hoof Hearted Brewing (link) - 4 Stars
I could spend time picking at the imperfections with some of Hoof's beers, but that would be silly because Hoof is fantastic. The NEIPAs steal the show, but there's also a lot of good work going on with the kettle sours and the dark stuff. Most importantly, Hoof manages to surprise and to subvert expectations, even though those expectations are already sky high. One notable way in which they do this is with their line of single-hop DIPAs. The version for two of my favorite hops (Simcoe and El Dorado) were fine, but they paled in comparison to the Equinox version, which is a hop I had forgotten about until I started writing this blurb. I can't wait to see what's in store as Hoof continues to expand and mature.
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