Cercis Brewing Company

On a trip with the family up to the antiques mall in Columbus, I noticed a brewery on the map (and another, but that one was closed, so...) and made a move to stop in after my wanderings throughout the Antiques Mall of Leaves made me crave some liquid sustenance. Situated only a couple blocks away, the place is essentially one big open concept (HGTV designers would cream themselves over it, lemme tell ya) decked in wood and corrugated metal, not wholly unlike a less Latin-inspired Chipotle. Up front is a neat, nice little lounge-type area, with the main seating area and bar further in, the brewing equipment windowed- and walled-off toward the back left corner (not unlike the old Mickey Finn's). Pretty solid music playing, if I may say so. My first paper-based straw (for the water), and I don't mind it, don't get the hate. The staff are all rather convivial and seem pretty knowledgeable about the beers. Good people, ineed. Didn't try any of the food, but the popcorn (which I got to go at the end for the ride home) gave some smiles in the car. The beers, though, are the primary issue. No problem with the range, as there are a fair amount of styles to choose from (plus, the flights come in little muffin tins, so that's kinda cute); but the quality is where things go sideways. Only a couple of the beers I tried were anything I would consider having again, some barely resembling their declared styles, and everything has that quality where the house yeast isn't tailored to any style, but is rather overstretched across the range. It feels as though a homebrewer scaled things up too quickly and hasn't quite gotten things nailed down yet. While I don't think I could truly recommend going out of your way to visit this place, it's got charm and potential, and it can serve as a decent chaser to some antique hunting. Perhaps my next trek up to Columbus will yield some improvement, so part of me looks forward to it.

If your travels bring you around Columbus, be sure to stop in and say hi to these guys. It is a beautiful space with a front seating area when you walk in with a more traditional space surrounding the bar area and the brewing area tucked in the back of the seating area. The staff and other patrons we interacted with were all nice and friendly. The beer was solid and the food we had was very tasty. Definitely worth your time to stop in for a bite and a beer.