I'll be making a day trip to Columbus for a few hours of business concerns probably the week before Christmas, with time to make a stop somewhere for a tasty beer. The wife will be along. She's quite tolerant of my interest in beer, but doesn't care for it herself. There may be other relatives along too so that we can do some Christmas touristing after the business stop. I've checked the directory and it looks like there are plenty of good options. I'm a sucker for a good hot dog, so Dirty Frank's looks like a possibility; Bodega might be nice for a higher end experience; if I was by myself I'd definitely hit up Bob's Bar etc However I need help in narrowing it down. If you had time for maybe lunch or an appetizer and a draft beer or two, and had adult family members along with you, where would you go? No dive bars, thanks. Maybe something along the lines of Great Lakes in Cleveland (without the noise.) Nice looking place, good ambiance, decent food, not too pricey, great beer, preferably local beers on tap that I can't find elsewhere. Am I asking for too much in one stop?
Flip Side in Easton is a pretty good burger place that happens to have a decent beer selection (it's also pretty much right next to World of Beer- WoB doesn't have a kitchen but you can order food from 5 different surrounding restaurants, including Flip Side, & they deliver it directly to your table).. Just thought Easton might be a possibility that's likely to have a bit more appeal to the non-beering people with you. It looks like you did your research. Im not sure what kind of touristing you want to do, so im not sure what's really out of the way. Bodega is amazing if you can get there for hapy hour. Dirty Franks is nice, I just rarely go because I'm never downtown.
Jackie O's doesn't distribute yet. The only Weasel Boy I have ever seen was a $50 gallon growler of BA Anastasia. That was last year around Xmas time, not sure if they are doing it again. Like someone else said, Barley's downtown is great. Their smokehouse is just as good but it's a few minutes from downtown. If I were going for food and beer, the smokehouse would be my choice. If you go downtown, check out North Market too. There is a nice little bottle shop inside that does growler fills. It's right around the corner from Barley's High St.
Yeah, downtown Barley's is cool, and the wimmns like that market next to it too. I think Elevator is a few blocks from it too. Nice place inside, beer and food were kinda mediocre last time we were there.
Bodega typically has a Weasel Boy offering on, and they also occasionally have a Jackie O's beer (though it's rare). One of the bartenders works both bars. Plus then you'd already be in the Short North for some of that shopping/touristing you wanted to do. There are pros and cons to every location though (ie - imo Bodega isn't high end, or at least not when it's super crowded and the foo dis pricey). My recommendation is always to find some Columbus IPA, Bodhi, and whatever else special they might have going on at that time...
Though I find Bodega to be consistently annoying (extremely aloof service, regularly overcrowded) they have been KILLING it lately: a cask of Bell's Two Hearted, Founders Harvest & Backwoods Bastard, FFF Broodoo, Dreadnaught & Jinx Proof, DFH Bitches Brew, Jackie O's Hop Ryot & Mandala, and Tilquin Geuueze all on tap just in the last month! Pair that with the half off drafts happy hour and it's one of the best places to be in Cbus.
For hoppy beers and a good atmosphere Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant is great. For lunch, asparagus fries with sriracha ranch and the Santa Fe pizza with a pint of Bodhi, is my favorite. Sohio stout is pretty good too, it doesn't particularly stand out compared to some coffee stouts, but is still pretty spot on. World of Beers is very close as well as Elevator and Barley's.
I have to agree with this. Backwoods and Tilquin for $3.50 and $5.50 during happy hour is really hard to beat, along with HF Cleveland Crusher (Boris w/ chocolate malt). I honestly haven't been able to get through what I want lately because there has been such stuff. Cask (as of Friday) was an odd BW from Barley's on cocoa nibs, which was surprisingly really good (but realllly boozy).
Bodega if you want Weasel Boy. I'm not sure what they'll have on draft though, most likely Dark Weasel, Brown Stoat, or something like that. I'm sure they'll be getting Anastasia soon. Tuesday is the Anastasia release at Weasel Boy, after all. Regardless, try Columbus IPA if you haven't.
I am here on business for the weekend, startted a similar thread. I really wanted to try Columbus native beer so I went to Columbus Brewing Co and Barley's Smokehouse (not the downtown one). I enjoyed and would recommend both but if you can only pick one, I would make it CBC. Beer is better, food is more diverse. Prices are better at Barley's though.
You're the second person I've seen mention that World of Beer is "close" to CBC. If WOB is your thing, note that it is literally a 2 minute walk from the brewery, right up the street. You could see it if it wasn't up a hill. Anyways, just trying to point out the extreme proximity, lol.
I have, actually. Pretty amazing IPA for little ol' Columbus, OH. I'd say it compares favorably with the Famous Name IPAs.
