Tales of ales from the heart of Ohio to the ends of the Earth
Four Strings, a local Columbus brewery, recently started canning their flagship Pale Ale, Brass Knuckles. Local canned beers are pretty rare around here, so when I visited the Four Strings Brewery last weekend I bought some to bring home for a proper review. Four Strings partnered with a mobile canning company called Buckeye Canning out of Amherst,... Continue Reading →
We’re back with another round of blind taste testing. This time we’re tackling a relatively new but increasingly popular style of beer, the Black IPA. As was the case with our American Robust Porter blind tasting, my friend Mark Richards organized and hosted this event in his basement on a snowy Saturday in mid-March. Over... Continue Reading →
Earlier this year two Central Ohio breweries, Rockmill and Seventh Son, collaborated to brew a Belgian-style stout dubbed Urban Cowboy. As local beer lovers will know these two breweries are something of a contrast in styles. Rockmill is located on a farm near Lancaster, while Seventh Son is located in downtown Columbus in an old... Continue Reading →
Alpha King Pale Ale is the flagship beer of Three Floyds Brewing. It's not as coveted as Three Floyds other pale ale, Zombie Dust, but I'm of the opinion that non coveted is a good thing. For those of you who have any memory of Gilligan's Island I guess you could say that Alpha King is Mary... Continue Reading →
The latest beer released by Columbus’ Actual Brewing is a Berliner Weiss called Curiosus. Aside from the occasional German import the only readily available Berliner Weissbiers I've come across when perusing Central Ohio stores are Festina Pêche by Dogfish Head (a summer seasonal), Oarsman by Bells, and Hottenroth by the Bruery. In fact I’ve never seen... Continue Reading →
Indigo Imp is a Cleveland brewery that uses open fermentation for all of their beers. They also bottle condition each beer and dip the neck of one beer in each six pack in wax. I think it is safe to say there are no other Ohio breweries quite like Indigo Imp. In terms of beer style the... Continue Reading →
There are several fantastic Imperial IPAs coming out of Ohio right now (Chillwave, Hop JuJu, …), but until very recently I don’t think any of the Columbus breweries were bottling an Imperial IPA. That’s not to say that no Columbus breweries make an Imperial IPA (CBC’s Bodhi immediately comes to mind), but until now your... Continue Reading →
When I started this blog about 6 months ago I have to admit that I knew relatively little about Cincinnati breweries and their beers. Even though Columbus is only about 100 miles away most of the new, up and coming Cincinnati breweries don’t distribute here. I still have a lot to learn, but all of... Continue Reading →
Even though the final round of quadrophilia wrapped up last week, once I got going I couldn’t control my urge to add more raisin soaked 11% abv beers to the list. There are after all only a finite number of quads out there, so by adding a few more one can start to approach a... Continue Reading →
This week brings another highly anticipated special release to Ohio, Bell’s Hopslam, which is a 10% abv, double IPA, brewed with honey and six different varieties of hops. For those of us living in Ohio there are more elusive beers to come by (like Founders KBS or Three Floyds Zombie Dust) but Hopslam is usually... Continue Reading →
Not too long after Thanksgiving I visited Seventh Son Brewery with my wife and our friends Tom and Mary. We ordered a couple of sampler trays and among the beers we tried I thought the most interesting one was Golden Ratio IPA. The brewery doesn’t offer a lot of details about this beer other... Continue Reading →
Sideswipe Brewing is the newcomer to the Columbus brewery scene. Unlike the other new breweries in the capital city, Sideswipe chose to enter the marketplace with bottled beer rather than a taproom or brewpub. Toward the end of last year (2013) 22 oz bottles of three Sideswipe beers started showing up on the shelves around Columbus:... Continue Reading →
I brought back several bottles of beer from my early December trip to Boston. Most of them are gone now except for the darker, less hop forward beers. Tonight I’m reviewing Saint Botolph’s Town by Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project, based in Boston. Pretty Things is brewers Dan and Martha Paquette, who are tenant... Continue Reading →
Green Bullet is a new seasonal release from San Diego brewery Green Flash. Billed as a triple IPA it has been on the shelves since September. Although it has been on my list of beers to try, the price and my continuing struggle to warm up to New Zealand hops have made me hesitant to... Continue Reading →
Piercing Pils is a new seasonal release from Dogfish Head. Ever fond of going against the grain, DFH have released a Czech Pilsner as their winter seasonal. After all when the temperature drops to single digits who doesn't reach for a Pilsner? There are many boring Pilsners out there that give the style a bad... Continue Reading →
Not too long ago when perusing the internet I came across something called the Fantasy Ohio Beer League which pitted beers from 32 different Ohio breweries against each other in a contest hosted by Cincinnati based Ohio Beercast. Somewhat to my surprise the winner was a beer that I was unfamiliar with, Fork in the... Continue Reading →
I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but sometimes I make modest ones. Given the explosion of new breweries in Ohio this year (90 and growing) I’m pledging to drink more local beer. It will be a sacrifice, but it’s my small contribution to make the world a better place. I’m starting out on New... Continue Reading →
Here is another beer from from my Boston trip. This one is made by Jack’s Abby, a brewery located in Framingham, MA that specializes in lagers (see my earlier review of Kiwi Rising by Jack's Abby). Jabby Brau is made with Pilsner and Munich malts and American hops and dubbed a session lager by Jack’s... Continue Reading →
Cambridge Brewing Company was the brewery I was most looking forward to sampling during my early December trip to Boston. I was able to try 4 different CBC beers on tap while in Boston—Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Soleil d’Hiver, Hop X, and the Audacity of Hops. Here I review of the one bottle of CBC beer that... Continue Reading →
This is another beer I brought home from my early December trip to Boston. A few months back my friend Chris brought me another Maine Beer Company offering, their IPA Mo, which was delicious. So I'm looking forward to this beer. Amber Ale’s span a wide spectrum in the hop/malt balance so one never knows... Continue Reading →
Pat's Pints 