Road Trippin to Columbus

On Friday, August 1, my good buddy Jim (blog is over there) and his wife Kris; picked me up for a trip to Columbus. It was his annual early August pilgrimage for the Irish Festival and for the Ohio State Fair. We got there right as the sun was going down on Friday, and spent some time catching up with his dad. For the trip out there, his wife was re-reading a book, getting ready for the next release.

At around 1145, Jim and I were sent out to book stores to try to find Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer. We weren't allowed into the first book store we went to, because we hadn't reserved a copy. The second place let us in with no problem. The line went really fast, I wish Dark Lord was that fast. So we got the book then headed out.

Our next stop was Lucky's Grille. For a Friday night with another hour to drink, this place was really dead. There was a decent beer selection, but not very much on draft. The draft selection was predominately from the MillerCoors distributor. I looked through the cooler and saw some Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, so I ordered that. One of the bartenders/managers said he had 2 single bottles of other things, and asked if I wanted them instead. The first was Moondog ESB (review in a later post). I followed that up with the Eliot Ness Amber. After that, I got to my Edmund Fitzgerald. Jim had a Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. We finished our beers and headed back to Jim's Dad's and dropped off the book to Kris.

Woke up, and headed to the Irish Festival. There were lots of Irish things there. They had (what appeared to be) an Irish stout that was made specifically for the festival, but I (for some reason) wasn't really in the mood for a beer. They also had Killian's on draft. For lunch we all grabbed some grub, I went with a Reuben (go figure) Jim had a sausage, and Kris had a pork chop sammich. There were all kinds of other things available, Jim's sister had a sausage that had a flaky pastry crust around it, that was pretty good. We walked around until almost getting heat exhaustion, and then decided it was time to leave.

We then headed out to "From the Vine". (I wish From the Vine had a web page or a blog, they do have an Email newsletter that is pretty good). I delivered 2 bottles of Three Floyds Dark Lord and a bottle of the Hvedegoop to Jamie (the proprietor). Even though it's not the biggest selection of beer, she seems to just fill her store with great beer (it's mostly a wine shop). When I walk up and down the beer aisle, I just seem to find myself grabbing, what seems like, one of each. Here's some of the highlights (with links to ratebeer).

Oude Geuze Boon Mariage Parfait
AleSmith Decadence Anniversary Ale
AleSmith Horny Devil
Chocarrubica
Southern Tier Imperial Creme Brulee Stout

I got a box of beer, total cost was about $130 (after the trade).

We left there and went to the state fair. It was there that I picked up the Doctor Who Black Dalek Diecast Figure (yeah, I'm a geek). Didn't drink any beer there either. After leaving the fair, we had plans to go to a friends house to play poker, so we stopped at World Market, to grab some beer. I got a bottle of Arrogant Bastard, and a 6 pack of Bells Double Cream Stout. Also got me a nice big thick chalice for drinking my beer out of. Well, we changed our minds and didn't go play poker.

Instead we went to Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus. I started with the Three Frogs IPA, which went well with their spicy hummus. I ordered the crabcakes for my meal and had the Dirty Dicks Nut Brown Ale with that (I forgot I got crab cakes and ordered the beer based on eating fish and chips... oops; but it paired ok). Finally for a digestif, I tried their monthly special which claimed to be an Altbier. It was ok. Jim had their Rock Filet (which you cook on a 450 degree stone that is on your plate) while Kris had the burger.

After leaving there, Jim and I dropped off Kris so she could read some more. We then went to Bob's Bar. Bob's is a pretty cool place. It has the beer selection of Crane Alley, but had the ambiance of... well, I don't know any bar that is similar. It's like a corner tavern with a world class beer selection. They had some featured selections, mostly from DFH, but they also had the Stone Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, so we tried that. It was pretty good, but another beer that reminded me of my own Chocolate Stout. I followed that up with a Lone Star, and finally a Full Sail IPA.

We left there and went to Bodega. Bodega is listed as having 50 taps, so we thought that'd be a good place to try. Jim really likes Hefeweizens that have a banana note, so I ordered him a Konig Ludwig. I went with a Great Lakes Blackout Stout (I never knew it came on draft). After that, I ordered the Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout. They had apparently just got it in, as the bartender didn't know that they had it. It's also weird to try to pronounce it at a bar, especially if you don't know how to pronounce it in the first place. We left there and headed back.

Sunday was breakfast with the other part of the family at Bob Evans. Then heading back to Illinois.

C-bus is a good beer trip. If you are looking for Great Lakes beers, it's a good destination. There are several brew pubs that put out some quality beer.