Columbus Brewing Company, Columbus OH

3 November 2023

As many times as I’ve been to Columbus, this is my first visit to CBC. They’re out of the way in an industrial park and they have a large building with a sizable taproom that is very nicely done. I sat at the end of the long bar closest to the door so you really can’t see all of the space in this interior photo.

I started off with this flight of four and every single one of them was top notch:

Citrapillar Pils – West Coast Pilsner, 5.4% – I hadn’t heard of this style of Pilsner before, but after tasting this one I’m sold on it! They used Citra and Strata hops to create an interesting, light, and refreshing Pilsner that I would absolutely love to drink more of.

A Song of Oak and Fire – Oak-aged Rauchbier, 4.9% – this is a collaboration brew with Oak Springs Brewery and it is amazing. Some Rauchbiers are so smoky that that’s all you get; this one is subtle, more like a Märzen that has a smokiness lying just underneath the surface. Lovely.

Wet-Hopped Devil’s Kush – Wet-Hopped American IPA, 6.66% – OK, with this ABV value, how could I not try it? I did have to look up “wet hopping” as I hadn’t heard of that term before. I knew about dry-hopping — adding hops in the fermentation stage — and have done it myself. It turns out that “wet-hopping” refers to a similar process but using whole fresh hops that have been harvested that same day so they’re still “wet.” To be honest, I’m not sold on this style — it was good and there was certainly far more “fresh hops” flavor than one would expect, but I decided that it was more than I prefer. I’d go with the regular Devil’s Kush the next time around.

Black Tides – Wet-Hopped Black IPA, 6.7% – Black IPAs are a style that in my opinion promise a lot but often don’t quite deliver. This one does. It was very, very good.

The food menu is small but based just on what I ordered, it’s high quality stuff. This is a “diner-style” double cheeseburger and the sauce for the fries — they give you a few choices — is a “Southern Aoili” (basically, spicy mayo). I particularly appreciated that this isn’t so much food that I wouldn’t have room for more beer!

Then it was time for flight #2!

Cauldron’s Curse – Pumpkin Ale, 6.5% – I loved the name more than the beer. It wasn’t that there was anything objectionable about it; I just run hot and cold on pumpkin beers and this year I’m not as fond of them. In a different year, this would easily be a favorite.

Wet Hopped Frosty Cones – Wet-Hopped Cold IPA, 7.3% – I tasted a Cold IPA for the first time just a few months ago at Two Weeks Notice Brewing near me. This style takes a typical IPA recipe but ferments it with a lager yeast at colder temperatures, hence the “Cold” in the name. Frosty Cones absolutely did not disappoint — it was one of my absolute favorites from this visit!

Everyone Plays Guitar – Hazy IPA, 7.4% – By this point and after so many very good beers, one had to be just outstanding to get my attention. This one was very, very good, but not outstandingly so.

Bodhi – Double IPA, 8.3% – They say this is the best-selling DIPA in Ohio and I can certainly see why — it is smooth, tasty, and very easy drinking.

By this point, I was a happy camper and ready to head out … but then I discovered a SECOND SIDE to the beer list! There were only four listed there, but still … so I ordered two more flight-sized pours:

Peel Pusher – Citrus Imperial Hazy IPA, 8.5% – This really was my only disappointment of the day — it reminded me of a beer I had somewhere at some point that tasted like Tang. I wouldn’t say this one was that strange, but it did have a too-strong orange flavor for my taste.

Steel Dawn – Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout, 11% – I don’t usually like barrel-aged stouts, especially when they’ve stayed in the barrel for a full twelve months (!), but this one was so well done that I found myself thinking about how to have it available at home for a nightcap. It’s definitely not a beer for a hot day, but it makes a truly interesting after-dinner beer in (relatively) small quantities.

CBC is on my list of spots to return to. Things went a bit downhill from here over the next two days …