Tales of ales from the heart of Ohio to the ends of the Earth
In the world of craft beer, Barley's Brewing is a through line that runs from the present day all the way back to the days when you could count the number of Ohio craft breweries on your fingers. This coming Friday (November 8, 2024) they celebrate 32 years in the business with one of my... Continue Reading →
It's a clear, crisp mid-December afternoon. I’m driving from Columbus to Athens with my wife Laurinda and our friends Ralph and Lucy Wolfe. We’re on our way to a special event being held this evening at Little Fish Brewing Company. They’ve opened a limited number of spaces for people to observe the first stage of... Continue Reading →
Columbus’ newest brewery, Thunderwing, will open its doors to the public this Friday (10/6/23) at 3 pm. The brewery is the brainchild of longtime homebrewer, former IT professional, and all-around good guy Jason Wing. Thunderwing may be the new kid on the block, but its location on 2419 Scioto Harper Drive will be familiar to... Continue Reading →
Anyone who follows this blog will know that I've been remiss at writing new material of late, but Ohio's strong showing at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) this past weekend inspired me to get off my ass and write a new post. The GABF is essentially the beer industry's equivalent of the Oscars or... Continue Reading →
Last week Powell-based Ill Mannered Brewing announced they would be opening a second location in Marysville in late 2023. The taproom will be located at 117 S. Main Street, next door to the Avalon Theatre in historic Uptown Marysville. The new Ill Mannered outpost will feature a 2000 square foot taproom with a large glass... Continue Reading →
Ten years ago today, North High Brewing opened to the public on the corner of North High Street and Sixth Avenue. Today is the last chance you’ll have to enjoy a beer in their handsome taproom. It's an opportunity to look back at the past decade in Columbus brewing.
Arguably no beer substyle is more closely associated with Ohio than the spiced Christmas Ale. While Anchor Christmas Ale is the oldest surviving example of the style, dating to 1975, I think it’s fair to say that the Christmas Ale tradition is a bigger phenomenon in Ohio than it is in California, and Great Lakes... Continue Reading →
In the world of craft beer, Barley's Brewing is a through line that runs from the present day all the way back to the days when you could count the number of Ohio craft breweries on your fingers. This coming Friday (November 8, 2024) they celebrate 32 years in the business with one of my... Continue Reading →
The results of the 2022 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition were announced yesterday. A total of 9904 beers were entered, up slightly from the 9680 beers entered in 2021. (With an entry fee of $165 per beer (for BA members) that's nearly $1.6 million in entry fees alone.) A total of 300 medals were... Continue Reading →
I’ve traveled the world looking for good beer and interesting places. I’ve written about locales from Bend to Boston, from Burlington to Santa Barbara, and many points in between. I’ve journeyed to faraway places exploring the origins of beer styles such as gose (Liepzig), sahti (Helsinki), Berliner Weisse (Berlin), and pilsner (Pilsen). My travels have... Continue Reading →
After 3+ months as a one-brewery neighborhood Clintonville will be back to two breweries this Saturday (Aug 13, 2022) when Combustion will opens their second location in the space formerly occupied by Lineage Brewing (2971 N High St, Columbus, OH 43202). Doors open at 11:00 am with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:30 am. While... Continue Reading →
There’s a certain satisfaction that comes with making a beer that incorporates homegrown ingredients. Growing or foraging adjunct ingredients like fruits, peppers, herbs, nuts, various tree parts, and the like is one thing, but incorporating homegrown versions of one or more of the base ingredients takes more planning (water excluded). For most of us growing... Continue Reading →
Despite the recent trend toward an ever-rotating line of one-off hazy IPAs, seasonal beers still exist. Autumn used to be the season of pumpkin ales, spice laden beers that are a curious confectionary treat at their best and an abomination at their worst [1]. Although the marketing folks would like you to believe these beers... Continue Reading →
Back in January I toured the Columbus Brewing Company Production Facility with Tony Corder for a story that I published a few weeks later. Of the many wonderful things on offer at CBC, the nascent sour beer program was perhaps the most exciting. At that time there were boxes and boxes of recently filled 500... Continue Reading →
The tradition of releasing a special beer for the cold, short days of December is centuries old, a tradition that has only intensified with the shift of the craft beer industry toward a rotating mix of seasonals and one offs. In the latest episode of the Pat’s Pints Podcast, Mark and I sat down with... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I received a press release from Jimmy Stockwell, co-owner of Little Fish Brewing, announcing plans to open a second location in Dayton. Founded in 2015 by Stockwell and longtime friend Sean White, the Athens brewery has enjoyed considerable critical acclaim for their farmhouse ales and barrel aged sours. Notable awards include medals from the... Continue Reading →
Awards were given out at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival last night. Given the dumpster fire that is 2020 you can be forgiven if you didn’t realize that the GABF was being held this year. I must admit I didn’t realize awards were being given this year myself until the award show was wrapping... Continue Reading →
Two Ohio breweries, Akronym and Jackie O's, had a strong showing at the National Honey Beer Competition earlier this month. The competition, which is sponsored by the National Honey Board, features 13 different style categories. BJCP-certified judges use the standard criteria (aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel) for evaluating the beers, plus take into account the role... Continue Reading →
Despite the recent respite from the heat, it has been a long hot summer in more ways than one. When the mercury rises, there’s nothing like a nice cold beer to slake your thirst. Beers that fill this role, sometimes called lawn-mower beers, tend to be light bodied, neither too bitter nor too sweet, with... Continue Reading →
Life over the last month is like nothing I’ve experienced. As I write this, the sun is shining, flowers are coming into bloom, and crimson red cardinals fill the air with song in hopes of attracting a mate. Hardly the stuff of a Hollywood pandemic movie. In some ways the world seems normal, but in... Continue Reading →
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