Category Archives: Events

Founders KBS and 3 Floyds Zombie Dust “Contest”

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You read that correctly my friends, we here at Ohio Beer know how difficult it can be to come across the rare / super limited beers so we’re taking the hassle out of it for you. Aren’t we sweethearts? The contest is going to take place over a period of two weeks starting 4/5/13 and ending at 8pm on 4/19/13. When the contest is over a winner will be randomly selected.  Here’s how to obtain a entry.

Step 1:
In the comment area below this post tell us what your favorite Ohio beer is and why. This will count as a single entry. Please include your first and last name (this will ensure we don’t get spammed to death and that everyone only gets a single entry. (If you are in witness protection or this skeeves you out, post your response with your initials and email BubOhioBeer@gmail.com your first and last name and a copy of your post)

Step 2:
Spread the word! anybody that gives us a Faceboook Like or Twitter Follow (of any of the Ohio-Beer crew) that mentions you sent them gets YOU another entry.

Step 3:
Be our friend! A like AND follow to any of the contributors accounts is good for 1 entry for each. (shoot us a tweet/post on this event on our wall that you are here for the contest so that we know you are really Patrick Duffy and not a Patrick Duffy bot)

So for example if you comment your favorite Ohio beer, Like, Follow one of our accounts and get 5 referrals, your name will be entered in the contest 8 times!

(If you already Like us and follow at least one of us, let us know in your post on our webpage because your name will be entered 3 times initially.)

Extra Credit: We may tweet questions about the blog, beer, or any damn thing we like on twitter or facebook. First correct response will get your name in again.

Rules:

  • Must be 21 years old. No Exceptions. We will ask for proof.
  • Must be a resident of the United States (lower 48 only, sorry Alaska and Hawaii)
  • As stated above contest ends 4/19 at 8pm
  • We announce the winner on the blog via video by 4/21
  • Winner may have the prized shipped but we if you are in the Columbus area we would like to meet you, come out to our next MDNC meet up!
  • There will be no charge for shipping or the goods.
  • DON’T BE A DICK

Best of luck to everyone!

Event: Monday Night Drinking Club (April)

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So BubOhioBeer had this idea. Usually we ignore his ideas because, well… frankly, he is drunk a lot. But this time we felt like he might be on to something. He said to me, “Ya know -hic- you guys know what, what, what we should do? What we should do is get drunk… I know, I know, I know, I know ‘we get drunk all tha time’ but what I mean ‘s we should get drunk with people, like, all the time, like reg-u-laraly. Like make it like a thing, you know, I know yoooou know. Like on Mondays. Ha, yeah like we should do some drinkin’ on Mondays, drinkin’ on Monday’s with people.” And Monday Night Drinking Club was born!

So here is the deal, one of any number of the Ohio-beer.com crew will be at a bar with a great craft beer selection each Monday. Come out and share a beer with us. Chat beer with us. Chat non-beer things with us. Meet people who [hopefully] won’t order flavorless lagers when there are better things to be consumed. And most importantly have a good time after dealing with work on a Monday.

The inaugural meeting of Monday Night Drinking Club is this Monday, April 1st, at World of Beer Brewery District, and we have laid out a plan for the rest of April as well, see below:

April 1- WOB Brewery Dist.

April 8 The Daily Growler

April15 Hal & Al’s

April 22 The Pint Room

Apri 29 Bob’s Bar

So come out and there might be a gift or two in it for you (hint we have 50 snap bracelets to give out). And to keep your self updated with the latest Ohio-beer events check out our facebook page. 

Event: Columbus Winter Beerfest

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Hey drinkers in the Columbus area, it’s that time of year again, time to put your beer drinking pants on and head down to the 3rd annual Columbus Winter BeerFest this Friday and Saturday (Jan 11&12) at the Columbus Convention Center. 300+ beers to try from local and global breweries. We covered the Summer Beerfest and had a blast, check out our event review for Drinkup Columbus here and our review of the beers here. If you think you might be interested in attending (and you should be) head on over to their website for ticket information.

Event Review: Columbus Microbrew Festival

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As the summer slowly winds to an end, there are few events in Columbus outside of Ohio State football that I actually get excited about. For the past three years. the one thing I truly look forward to is the Columbus Microbrew Fest held every year at the North Market – now in its 6th year. Typically the festival is held indoors with beer from Columbus breweries; but not only was this year’s Microbrew Fest held outdoors, the lineup was expanded to include other breweries in Ohio. The one thing that really set this local beer fest from other big festivals held in Columbus is the fact you actually get a chance to speak with the people who are responsible for making beer and who really care about their product (brewers, owners, etc) instead of distributor reps or volunteers. Local staples such as CBC, Barleys, and Elevator were present, and the Columbus beer scene also welcomed a few newcomers to the festival: Hoof Hearted Brewing, Zauber Brewing Company and Four Strings Brewing Company - each bringing multiple samples for festival goers to check out.

Admission to the fest was only $20 which included a souvenir pint glass, 10 tasting tickets, and a $5 coupon good at any shop in the North Market (additional tickets were also available for 50 cents as well).  I started off by checking out a brewery from Ohio that I have never heard of, Great Black Swamp Brewing Company. I went with their Black Frog Stout which wasn’t anything special, but overall not a bad beer. After that I spent a little time and a majority of my tickets at the Neil House Brewing stand; you saw in our last post we all really enjoyed their Milk Stout, so I needed to get my hands on some more. Neil House also offered a Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout that was my favorite of the fest. Right next to the Neil House stand were Hoof Hearted brewery where I tried three of their offerings Permafrost Wheat Porter, Musk of the Minotaur IPA, and Permafrost Coffee Chipotle Porter (which had a lot of different things going on; the peppers offered a slight burn but mostly a roasted flavor that accented the coffee and chocolate you typically find in a porter).

Zauber Brewing was up next for me and I was a little let down. When I saw via Twitter that they had brewed an IPA, I was excited and made sure I was there right when the fest started on Saturday, but alas they were out. So I sadly moved on to the next stand (I had previously had their beers so I saved my tickets). My second-to-last stop was at the Elevator Brewing Company stand where I ran in to my beer rep, so I spent most of my time there because my pint glass of Wicked Goat seemed to be bottomless. Wicked Goat is their 3 Frogs IPA aged in Woodford Reserve barrels for nine months, and it is the last in their barrel-aged series. I know I’m getting this when it comes out, so I’ll hold off a review until then (plus they said the beer was incomplete; it’s going to be dry hopped before they bottle it). My last beer was at the Mt. Carmel Brewing stand where I had my second favorite beer, 3rd Shift Imperial Coffee Stout. It had a solid roasted espresso taste and it followed that with hints of vanilla and chocolate.

Matt also had a chance to visit the fest this past Friday; we haven’t really talked about it, but hopefully he got his hands on some good beers.

Here are some of his thoughts.

Overall, I really enjoyed the fest, even though it was very packed on Friday night and the required tickets needed for beers differed between map and the stands at times. The best beer I tried there for the first time was the Permafrost Coffee Chipotle Porter by Hoof Hearted. This is a beer I would drink and drink, well balanced and full of flavor, and the chipotle added that little kick that made it super unique and fun to drink. I wish they would have had the standard version available for comparison, but it wasn’t available Friday night.

Coming in a (very) close second for me was CBC’s Creeper – holy shit, these guys can make an IPA. My love for Bohdi has been documented and I was expecting Creeper to not be nearly as good, but I was wrong. It was very close, a little less floral and grapefruity than the Bohdi, with a little bit more lingering bitterness.

Others I enjoyed were Mt. Carmel’s 3rd Shift Coffee Stout, Neil House’s Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout, and Hoof Hearted’s Musk of the Minotaur.

Event Review: Drunk Football Brunch

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So last week was the official start to the college football season, but I was out of town. While I did get to watch my Buckeyes on Saturday, I didn’t quite get to celebrate start of the greatest time of year the way I usually would. So I decide to make up for it by doing it up big on the second week. I called some people over to help celebrate with beer breakfast and breakfast beers.

About a month ago BubOhioBeer forwarded my wife and I a link to an interesting french toast recipe from the Beeroness that called for the use of Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans he wanted us to make it so he could eat it. So we dug the recipe out and beer breakfast now had main character my mouth eagerly awaited. I did the prepwork and allowed my wife to perform the delicate task of cooking the french toast – and, more to her credit than mine, they came out absolutely delicious. They were very light and fluffy and jam-packed with sweet vanilla flavor, with a slight bit of smokiness that caught in the back of your throat. It was said by all that this was some of the best french toast they had ever had, and we all hoped that the vanilla bean beats out the chipotle pepper so we could always make all french toast this way in the future. I drank the Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale with my breakfast, and they worked very well together (but more about the beers at the end of the post).

It wouldn’t be much of a breakfast without meat, so I don’t want you to think we were some sort of nihilists that don’t have love for bacon and breakfast-tube-meats. So here’s a gratuitous breakfast meat shot. (Also, it should be known that there was also a bowl of fruit brought by a lovely guest, but I left it out because I care about you and don’t want to bore you to death.)

One of the wonderful breakfast surprises brought to us by the lovely Dr. Hillary can be seen at right. This Strata (a savory bread pudding) was a full of bread, cheese, turkey sausage, and rosemary – and it was absolutely delicious.

 

 

Knowing that brunch wouldn’t keep us full through out all of the football game(s), I baked some pretzel rolls that were made in part with spent grain flour left over from the beer I brewed on Wednesday. To do this I dried out the spent grain (the grain left over after the majority of the sugars are taken to make beer) from my maple-brown sugar-milk stout by laying it out on several cookie sheets and putting in the oven at low temps for about a day. I then ground the grain up to make a flour. If you look at the picture below it may not look like a pretzel roll, but I can assure you that it definitely tasted like one, with a nice whole grain texture provided by the spent grain. My wife also made a beer cheese dip to go along with it out of a red ale, smoked gouda, and sharp cheddar cheese. This combo was a huge hit at the half time and I would absolutely make them again.

Finally, on to the breakfast beers; we drank a lot of different breakfasty beers, so I am just going to give you a short description of each with an overall ranking from both Bub and I.

Rogue – Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale
(Matt: 5-pack & Bub: 5-pack)

I know this beer sees a lot of hate on the beer message boards and Reddit but we didn’t think it was that bad. It might be a lot of beer to drink by itself, but with food it is great. You can definitely smell both the bacon and the maple on the nose and it tastes the same, with a lot of sweetness and smoke going on.

Stone – Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans
(Matt: 5-pack & Bub: 6-pack)

This might be the most enjoyable smoked porter I have ever had, the vanilla really helps to mute that campfire taste that you often find in smoked beers. Sweet and very drinkable.

Founders – Kentucky Breakfast Stout
(Matt: 6-pack & Bub: 6-pack)

If you haven’t had it, find it; a truly amazing beer. For a whiskey-aged beer, the whiskey doesn’t overpower the beer at all; all of the notes of the beer come out as well as some of the additional flavors the whiskey adds.

Mikkeller – Beer Geek Breakfast
(Matt: 5-pack & Bub: 6-pack)

Smells like coffee and dark toasty malts. It tastes like bitter coffee with a sweet beginning and a dry bitter finish. Not one of my favorite coffee stouts, but I would not hesitate to drink this on the regular.

Mikkeller – Beer Geek Brunch
(Matt: 6-pack & Bub: 5-pack)

I felt that the cognac aging added a little smoothness and slight vanilla taste to this beer and made it a little more pleasant to drink for me, than the Breakfast. Bub disagreed slightly.

AleSmith – Speedway Stout
(Matt: 6-pack & Bub: 6-pack)

I love this beer. It is everything I want, or have ever wanted, out of a stout. Perfectly balanced and loaded with coffee and chocolate, without being too bitter or too sweet.

Kopi Loewak
(Matt: 2-pack & Bub: 2-pack)

Smells and tastes like a super-sweet version of that last inch of office coffee that could have been sitting on the burner for hours, but you are just too lazy to make another fresh pot so you take a half of a glass, being careful to leave a little behind so as to not oblige yourself to make another pot.

Monks Stout Dupont
(Matt: 5-pack & Bub: 5-pack)

If there is such a thing as a warm weather stout, it is this guy. Super refreshing and clean, even if it smelled a little skunked. It almost tastes a bit sour like a flemish red, but with plenty of sweet stoutness to go along with it.

Hr. Frederiksen
(Matt: 5-pack & Bub: 4-pack)

Very nice coffee stout, nothing complicated or overbearing about it, just a nice enjoyably drinkable stout.

*Note: we also split a 1000 IBU by Mikkeller and a Red Horizon by Nogne O, but they didn’t really fit the theme. That said, we both gave each a 4-pack.

Event Review: Columbus Summer Beerfest

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This is the companion article to the one in Drink-Up Columbus on the Columbus Summer Beerfest. Check it out first!

Bub:

Hey guys, I decided to rank my five favorite beers at the festival in order. There were a ton of amazing selections, but these are the 5 beers that I would rank as a 6-pack.

#5) Triple Karmaleit by Brourwerji Basteels in Belgium (Triple)

This is a fairly easy to find triple that is world class. I have had it before, but not ranking it as one of the best of the festival would be dishonest. The beer pours with a nice Belgium head. Pefecrt carbonation delivers banana flavors that mask a high ABV%. This is the kind of beer that you can drink in 90 degree festival weather and still feel refreshed.

#4) Big Star by Four Strings Brewery in Grandview Ohio (Belgian IPA)

This beer was fantastic and had everything you would want in a Belgian Style IPA. Crisp and clean up front with a nice Belgian yeast flavor, followed up an IPA bitter hop bite. I know lots of local bars are starting to carry Four Strings Beer, so be on the lookout for this gem.

#3) Milk Stout by Neil House in Columbus Ohio (Milk Stout/Sweet Stout)

All of the guys had wanted to get their hands on some Neil House brews after hearing rave reviews about their cider. We were glad we finally got to try this stout. It is perfectly balanced with dark chocolate notes and coffee malt. The lactose sugar flavor chases the bitter after every sip bringing amazing balance. This is a beer that needs to be in stores and consumed with breakfast.

#2) Head Hunter by Fat Heads Brewing in North Olmstead Ohio (American IPA)

I was the last of our group to finally get my hands on some of this beer. The guys were excited that I was going to get it at the festival and it was my second stop. I now know why it carries the hype that it does, it is delicious. The nose on the beer is full of grapefruit and hops; it begs you to have a drink. Each drink is followed by another as the floral hops dry out your mouth and demands another taste. If you see this beer, buy it.

#1) Bodhi by Columbus Brewing Company here in the Capital (Imperial IPA)

Without sounding like too much of a homer, this beer makes me proud to be from Columbus. This is a world class beer that is brewed just a few miles away from me. The bouquet on this beer is one of the best I have ever smelled and I huffed it like some sort of a hop junkie before my watering mouth won the battle and I took a swig. OH, MY! The citrus and grapefruit notes balance perfectly with the hops delivering a delayed bitter that is hard to find. The 8.5 % ABV brings the perfect amount of harsh into the equation while keeping the mouth feel light enough to drink as much of this as you can find. MattOhioBeer has alluded that this may be the best beer brewed in Ohio and I am not sure I have a solid argument to rebut that statement.

Nick:

If you take look at the contributors page you’ll notice the Bub, Matt, and myself all have very similar taste when it comes to beer style and from what I can recall I believe we were all on the same page wether or not we liked the beers we tried. Based on that I was expecting to see almost identical top 5′s but mine differs from Bubs except for one beer.

#6) Tyranny by Lager Heads Brewing Company from Abbeyville OH. (Pale Ale)

This is not really a review because I have previously reviewed this beer. It’s more of an update. In my post I gave Tyranny a less than stellar review because of a metal taste that was very prominent and was hoping to give it a second shot. Well I got that chance at the beerfest and It was much much better than when I had it a few months ago.

#5) Bourbon Barrel Aged Uncle Rusty by Columbus Brewing Company in Columbus (Red Ale)

Now the other guys seem be fans of CBC I on the other hand am impartial to their beers I’ve never really had one that wowed me. This beer however I enjoyed very much and coming in at 10% doesn’t hurt either! It poured a dark off red color and the aroma was straight whiskey barrel and the taste followed suit with a very slighty maltiness typical to red ales. This beer is probably one of my favorites from CBC.

#4) Nut Brown Ale by Mt. Carmel Brewing Company in Cincinnati (American Brown Ale)

This was my first experience with Mt. Carmel and I’m kicking myself for having waited so long to try a beer from these folks. Before I discovered craft beer I was a New Castle man so I’ve always had a place in my heart for this style. It poured a really nice dark brown with the aroma of sweet nuttiness and malt coming through with a taste to match. Solid beer and great first impression on me from Mt. Carmel.

#3) Sorcerer by Fat Heads Brewery in New Olmsted OH (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)

While the other two we’re sampling Incubus from Fat Heads I went with Sorcerer both of which are only offered at the brewpub. Sorcerer comes in at 9.5% and pours a dark reddish brown with notes of plum and raisins in the nose. The taste is much of the same with a sweet maltiness that balances well with the alcohol and and fruit flavors. Seems like every beer I’ve had from Fat Heads has been top notch.

#2) Milk Stout by Neil House Brewery in Columbus (Sweet Stout/ Milk Stout)

Before we arrived at the Neil House stand I had no idea that they even brewed a Milk Stout so I was pretty pumped to get my hands on some. This Stout was well balanced with with sweet and roasty flavors, I get down on some Left Hand Milk Stout and at least for me this rivals it. Hopefully they’ll start to distribute this I would love to get my hands on some more.

#1) Ivan Porter with Vanilla Beans By Barleys Brewing Company Columbus (Porter)

It was pretty late in the festival when we made our way to the Barley’s stand and looking back it was well worth the weight. The table was decorated with dried hops scattered all over it, I’ve been to Barley’s quite a bit and maybe I’ve missed it but haven’t ever come across this beer before. The 8 ounce tasting glass glistened with the tan head flowing over it and the aroma smelled amazing with the vanilla beans really coming through. The taste was much of the same I would compare it to having a Founders Porter with a scope of vanilla bean ice cream but not as sweet. With out a doubt this was my favorite beer at this beerfest.

Matt:

With all of the beers on that were availible here I didn’t want to include any beers I had reviewed for this site, but Bohdi and Head Hunter would have made this list for sure if I hadn’t.

#5) Big Star by Four Strings

Crisp Clean and wonderful I could drink this all Summer-long too bad summer in Columbus is almost over ;

#4) Stone 16th anniversary IPA

This beer is filled with lemon flavors its actually made with lemons and lemon verbena. But the IPA beneath is very good too. One of the only non-Ohio Beers that jumped out and pulled me in for a second drink.

#3) Sorcerer by Fat Heads Brewery

I only got a few sips of this one that Nick was so nice as to share with me, as I was drinking their maple triple which I didn’t like nearly as much. But in the few sips  I had of this beer was a flavor explosion of dried fruits (raisins and plumbs) but it wan’t muddy like some can be. This was very solid for me and Belgian darks are not my favorite style.

#2) Ivan Porter with Vanilla Beans By Barleys Brewing Company

I had this toward the end of the fest and my drunk pallet isn’t as good as my sober one but, this was very very good, sweet and so much vanilla, in a great way. I would drink this all of the time if it were available.

#1) Milk Stout by Neil House

Bohdi, Head Hunter and this were the beers I told everyone who asked me they should try. This gives Left Hand milk Stout a run for its money for best milk stout I have had. Sweet, coffee, light feel, and just fantastic

Event: 7th Ohio Brew Week Festival

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Somehow, I had never heard of this before…but thanks to a fantastic write up by Debbie Bitzan over at DrinkUpColumbus, I’m much smarter than I was 10 minutes ago. How such vitally important information could’ve slipped by me is a mystery.

This year’s festival will last 8 days (June 22nd-June30th), and is action-packed with things going on. Sadly, I can’t make it this year…but I’m looking forward to next year!

Read all about it over at DrinkUpColumbus and/or the Festival’s Website

Event Review: Elevator Tap Takeover

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This month’s tap takeover at World Of Beer in the Brewery District was Elevator. They had six of their standard offering beers: Xtra Lager, Dark Horse Lager, Mogabi Hoppy Wheat Ale, Bleeding Buckeye Red Ale, Bare Ass Pale Ale, and their Three Frogs IPA. They also brought along four seasonal/limited selection beers; these included their Hefeweizen, Import Bock, Baltic Porter, and an Aged Nut Brown Ale (the Angry Goat Barrel). These alone would have provided plenty of options, but they also brought along a firkin of what they called Citrus Wit “Super Shandy” to top it off.

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Naturally, the first beer I had when I showed up was the Citrus Wit because I am in love with firkins. It poured hazy orange, and smelled like an orange-peel mimosa almost. The orange peel transferred over to the taste in a big way – in fact, it might have been a bit much – but it didn’t kill the beer. It was much more orange than most of the lemon shandies I have had in the past, but this made it a very interesting drink.

Ratings: Sessionability: 4-pack (out of 6).    Overall: 4-pack.

After the firkin, I decided I should spent the rest of my time on the beers that I had not had before. Having had all of their year-round offerings and loving their Hefe on too many occasions, I next ordered the Angry Goat, and boy was I glad I did.  This thing was fantastic, I think I drank it in less than 15 minutes even though it’s a brown ale. This beer was aged in rye barrels, which made it perfectly balanced; not too much of that whiskey taste that can be found in a lot of beers that are aged in whisky barrels, it just added a little vanilia sweetness and mellowed the bitterness a bit. I was told that this beer can be found in bottles. I would highly recommend that you seek this one out because I don’t think it will be long for this world. I also had a chance to talk to one of the brewers at Elevator, and he said to keep an eye out for an IPA aged in those same barrels – and after this beer you better believe I will.

Ratings: Sessionability: 4-pack.    Overall: 5-pack.

Next up was the Baltic Porter, and as I have said in the past, Baltic/Russian stouts/porters are some of my favorite beers. This beer poured dark black with a tan head as beer in this style should. It smelled like roasted malts and you could definitely taste the sweetness of those toasted chocolate malts in this beer with a bitter back end. Overall, not one of my favorite porters but another solid beer from Elevator.

Ratings: Sessionability: 3-pack.    Overall: 4-pack.

I rounded out my night with the only other Elevator beer that was on tap that I had not had before, the Import Bock. Full disclosure, I am not that biggest fan of bock beers, so if you are you might like this beer much more than I did. That said, I did not hate it. It was a full-bodied dark bock beer with a nice amount of sweetness and maybe a little hop flavor as the beer leaves the mouth.

Ratings: Sessionability: 3-pack.    Overall: 3-pack.

Overall, the event was great, the beers they brought were very good, and I would highly recommend heading to a tap takeover for any brewery if you have the chance. Keep an eye on the Ohio-Beer team Twitter accounts, and we’ll try to let you know whenever one is coming up in the Columbus area!

 

Beer Review: Barley’s Mini Real Ale Fest

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This is the companion article to the guest post we did for Drink Up Columbus, where we rank and review all of the beers at the Barley’s Mini Real Ale Fest. Nineteen is our least favorite and number one is the best, but there were so many good beers here that even being in the bottom few doesn’t say that the beer was necessarily bad. It should also be noted that there were so many double and imperial beers at this fest that some of the lighter beers just tasted “less than” and might be very good in a different setting. That being said, we tried to be as honest as possible with our reviews, and if you disagree please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments!

19. Beer Name: Buckeye Blonde
Brewery: Buckeye Lake Brewing Co.
Beer style: American Blond Ale
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: BubOhioBeer

This beer poured without any issues but had almost no head. I could try to use a bunch of adjectives to extend the review of this beer, but it would be as arbitrary as drinking it. There was a slight banana taste on the front end; this was followed by a slight wheat finish. But there is virtually nothing going on here. This beer is so light that it may hydrate the drinker. I hope this is just a beer that did not do well in the firkin or against the other heavy beers here, and look forward to giving it a second chance.

18. Beer Name: Dark Helmet
Brewery: The Brew Kettle Works (Cleveland)
Beer style: Imperial Black Lager
ABV: 9.0%
IBU: 45
Reviewed by: BubOhioBeer

Poured relatively easy and with a tiny, tan head. The firkin caused a lot of the carbonation to dissipate. The beer still had vanilla notes up front, but smelled and tasted like raisins. The only thing I tasted was heavy raisin flavor throughout the mouth. It was almost reminiscent of a dubbel. This beer is tasty from the bottle, but falls flat from a firkin.

17. Beer Name: GB Schwarzbier
Brewery: Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.
Beer style: Schwarzbier
ABV: 4.2%
IBU: 21
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

This was one of the beers that I felt may have been overshadowed by some of the bigger flavored beers. For being a dark beer, it tasted almost rather bland. That’s not to say that it tasted bad, because it didn’t; if it was in my fridge it would just be left on the shelf for a while as it got passed over when grabbing for more exciting beers. I would like to drink this beer by itself or as one of the first of the night if I had it to do over again, as it might be unfair to compare it out of style.

16. Beer Name: Left Coast Indie Pale Ale
Brewery: Barley’s Smokehouse & Brewpub
Beer style: American IPA
ABV: 7.4%
IBU: 94
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

When we first tried this beer there was something off about it and we gave it a pretty low ranking, but as the fest was winding down I gave it another shot mainly because they were giving it away. The second time around was much better. The beer actually had the flavor and aroma of a West Coast IPA, but it was still lacking something to make it stand out. The beer poured a hazy orange color with very little head, and the aroma was citrusy but very light as was the taste. The beer had a hoppy finish, but it quickly dissipated – especially for a beer that comes in at 94 ibu.

15. Beer Name: Gonzo Imperial Porter
Brewery: Flying Dog Brewing Co.
Beer style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 9.2%
IBU: 85
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

This is a solid imperial porter, but nothing special. Having had it in a bottle before, I hoped Flying Dog was going to do something special with this cask. The beer pours a deep dark brown with a very small head, and the aroma was that of roasted malt and cocoa with a slight hint of caramel and coffee. The taste has some hop bitterness up front that is quickly met with the cocoa/coffee flavor and the beer is then balanced out by a nice roasted malt backbone. The mouth feel is thick and has slight burn from the alcohol. Had Flying Dog done something new and exciting with this beer (like their barrel-aged version), it may have been rated higher by the Ohio-Beer crew.

14. Beer Name: Twisted Kilt
Brewery: Thirsty Dog Brewing Co.
Beer style: Scottish Export Ale
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 13
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

This dark caramel beer smelled heavily of coffee – more like coffee grounds – and only one of our reviews ranked this beer high (I was not one of them). I don’t know if they added coffee grounds to the firkin, but that’s the impression that I got. If you can get past the coffee taste, it is a sweet beer with toffee and caramel notes. I have one of these in a bottle in my fridge and will definitely be reviewing it with the hope that the coffee notes are not as pronounced.

13. Beer Name: Brown Stoat Stout Aged with Cherries 
Brewery: Weasel Boy Co (Zanesville)
Beer style: Stout
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 28
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

Weasel Boy Brewing Company out of Zanesville showed up to the fest with their barrel-aged cherry stout. The beer poured pretty thin for a stout and the mouth feel was also very thin. The color was a dark murky brown, not close to black like most would expect a stout to be. Holding the beer in the light, a tint of red could be seen from the cherries. The taste was very pleasant, neither the barrel nor the cherries were overpowering and both of those flavors played very nicely with the roasted malt flavor. I was pretty impressed with this offering from Weasel Boy.

12. Beer Name: Bell’s Porter
Brewery: Bell’s Brewery, INC
Beer style: American Porters
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

Bell’s is the maker of some of my favorite beers, including Two Hearted IPA, so I was interested to see how much I remembered this beer. This beer poured with a very frothy head, almost stout-like, and it tasted of caramel and chocolate. A very solid drink. I have only had this beer before in a bottle, and from what I recall this version was not hugely different.

11. Beer Name: Imperial Red Ale
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Co
Beer style: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 7.8%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

This beer, like the Flying Dog Gonzo, wasn’t anything special or out of the norm for Lagunitas; it’s one of their standard beers that was just made as a cask ale. Going to these events I kind of expect to see the breweries take some chances and do something different with their beers. The smell was very big with piney/earthy hops and a slight malt sweetness. The beer pours a clear amber color with a tiny white head, and the taste is pretty on par with the bottle version; hoppy and bitter up front with a finish that has a malty flavor of caramel and toffee. Overall I’d say this beer comes off like more of a IPA than a red, which is not a bad thing because red ales really aren’t my preferred style of beer.

10. Beer Name: Plank II
Brewery: Heavy Seas Beer
Beer style: Doppelbock
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

The Plank II is a very dark beer, as the doppelbock description might lead you to expect, It is loaded with sweet toffee flavors. I got to this beer later in the night and it was a bit flat, from being in a firkin I would suppose. The description sheet says that this beer was aged with poplar and eucalyptus; I don’t know if I have ever had a beer aged with those woods before, and it would have been very interesting to have tried it back-to-back with one that wasn’t to learn what they do to the flavor of the beer. But over all this was a tasty, well-rounded beer.

9. Beer Name: Oaked Bodhi DIPA
Brewery: Columbus Brewing Co. (Columbus, OH)
Beer style: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

The was the first beer that I had during the night, so it may have struggled a bit when I was ranking them all. It was very hoppy on the nose with a nice floral bouquet. I am pretty sure they added a ton of hops when dry hopping, which made me wonder why they would oak it as well. It is very hard to get the right balance that would give you both the vanilla and smooth notes that an oak would provide, while also adding the floral and citrus notes that come from a good dry hop. I didn’t taste much oak in this one, but it still was a very good IPA.

8. Beer Name: Mojo IPA
Brewery: Boulder Beer Company
Beer style: American IPA
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: BubOhioBeer

Again out of the firkin, the carbonation in this beer was barely present. There was a slight hop smell. When it first hit the tongue, there was a slight hop bitterness and dryness. The malt is barely present. It finished dry and hoppy, but still pretty light. It is a very drinkable beer and a good entry beer for those just getting into IPAs.

7. Beer Name: Barley’s Bicentennial IPA
Brewery: Barley’s Brewing Company (Columbus, OH)
Beer style: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 105
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

So many imperial IPAs! This was another good imperial IPA, in fact it was my favorite standard IPAs and would have been ranked higher had we left one of our rankers at home. That being said, there was nothing I didn’t like about this beer. According to the poster in front of the firkin, it was dry hopped with centennial, simcoe, and Columbus hops, but it wasn’t as hoppy on the nose as some of the other beers that were at the fest. It was, however, very balanced when tasting. It was a bit cloudy which is strange for an IPA, but I attributed this to possibly getting a bit of yeast because it was a cask ale, but that wasn’t an issue for me.

6. Beer Name: 2XIPA
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Co.
Beer style: American IPA
ABV: 8.2%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

The 2XIPA is a beer I have very much enjoyed out of the bottle and it was similar in taste out of the firkin. But when it came to the smell, it was much more exultingly floral than I remember the bottled beer being, and that is a definite good thing. It may have aged in the firkin with more hops than usual. I would guess that they use handfuls and handfuls of cascade hops in this one. Again this is a great example of the style and was a pleasure to drink.

5. Beer Name: Raven Black IPA
Brewery: Thornbridge Brewing Co.
Beer style: English Black IPA
ABV: 6.6%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

This BIPA from across the pond was the first beer I tried at the fest, and what a great way to start it off. This English black IPA poured a nice deep brown color (almost black) with a nice, solid white creamy head. The aroma has a nice combination of roasted malt mixed with earthy and citrus hops. From the first taste, this BIPA packs a punch of bitterness that I like in a IPA and is then almost immediately balanced out with dry roasted malt that really accents the bitterness from the hops. This beer set the bar high for the rest of the festival!

4. Beer Name: Backstage Blonde infused with cherries
Brewery: Four String Brewing Co. (Columbus, OH)
Beer style: Belgian Blonde Ale
ABV: 5%
IBU: 28
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

As light as this beer was when compared to the others, it says a lot that this beer was so highly ranked by our reviewers. It was very light in color with an almost dish-soap-like head. Fortunately for everyone involved, this beer tasted nothing of soap. I have had this beer before and thought it was just okay, but the cherries add so much to this beer. It was the opinion of the table that they should make this beer with cherries all of time. I would absolutely drink this very balanced cherry-tinged beer constantly, even if the cherries come from The State Up North.

3. Beer Name: Raspberry Frogs IPA
Brewery: Elevator Brewing Company (Columbus, OH)
Beer style: American IPA
ABV: 8.0%
IBU: unknown
Reviewed by: HaleOhioBeer

I am not one who is usually for adding fruit to any beer, but I will admit when I first saw the line up I was intrigued the most by this beer because locally Elevators 3 Frogs is my go-to IPA. I tried this beer twice mainly because I enjoyed it, but also because on the first go around I didn’t pick up the raspberry in the beer, just the dryness that they gave it. The second time the raspberry was more prominent and it showed in the glass. The head of the beer had a soapy look to it and the tint of the beer was a reddish color with little raspberry seeds floating around. The taste and the dryness of the raspberries were a nice compliment to the dry citrus flavor from the hops that is balanced off at the end with just a slight hint of malt. I am glad to see that Elevator went outside the norm with this beer because not only was it good, it was a lot better than I was anticipating – which is exactly why it was a top three choice for the Ohio-Beer crew.

2. Beer Name: Palate Wrecker
Brewery: Green Flash Brewing Co.
Beer style: American Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.5%
IBU: 100+
Reviewed by: BubOhioBeer

Go ahead and call a tow truck for you palate, and then call your insurance agent and inform them that you palate is totaled. One of the more apt names for a beer in recent memory, this beer will override any taste you have in your mouth. It pours with relative ease and has a small poofy head. It smells very piney with hints of malt. When it hits your tongue, be ready. This is the full-on palate assault that is so popular on the left coast. Its light carbonation still packs a punch that almost stings the tip of your tongue. Malt and pine notes will flood the corners of your mouth and make your cheeks pucker. Oak notes will be faint, but present. It will finish hoppy, dry, and well-balanced.

1. Beer Name: Cocoa Raspberry Stout
Brewery: Lagerheads Brewing Company (Medina, OH)
Beer style: American Stout
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 32
Reviewed by: MattOhioBeer

This was ranked in the top three by every one of us at the table, and was the best beer we had here by two of the reviewers (I even had this one twice). When I smelled this dark-dark, cherry-colored beer, it took me on a flashback to my childhood sitting at those giant desks everyone had in elementary school, eating a raspberry Tootsie Pop. You know that smell that comes when you take it out of your mouth for a second to see if you can bite into the Tootsie Roll without breaking your teeth or cutting your gums? It smelled exactly like that to me and it tasted like that too, if you had dipped your Tootsie Pop into a very drinkable stout. A very enjoyable beer to drink as a fruit-beer fan or not, this was a beer that I hope I can have again.