Grove City Brewing Company, Grove City OH

5 November 2023

I’ve been to Grove City once before and really enjoyed their beers. While the menu looked interesting, I’d decided to have a flight, pick up a crowler or two, then eat at the hotel later after picking up food from Jason’s Deli, another of my favorite Columbus institutions (and an easy walk from my hotel).

Here’s the flight as well as zoomed-out view of the bar area.

The lack of other photos perhaps will lead you to believe this wasn’t a great visit, and you would be right! From left to right:

Jolly Apple – Kölsch, 6% – This is brewed with six dozen apple fritter donuts from Jolly Pirate Donuts in Grove City. I love a good Kölsch and I love a good donut, but the two do not belong together. For me, this was a truly disappointing beer that just tasted “cakey.”

America, Hells Yeah – Helles Lager, 5% – This one should have been refreshingly good, especially after the Jolly Apple. Instead, it had no discernible taste whatsoever! It could have been colored water for all I could taste of it.

From the Heart – American Pale Ale, 5.4% – Of the four, this was by far the best. Unfortunately, by the time I finished the sample size I was tired of it; it was far too hoppy for the style and there was no way I was going to get a crowler of this.

Abscission – Oktoberfest, 6% – It definitely has the color going for it, but not a lot else. Whereas the From the Heart was all hops, this one was all malt. That’s fine if you like that, but it doesn’t fit my image of a good Oktoberfest.

So … 0/4 for this visit and I’m striking GCBC off my list of possible future stops. Now I needed somewhere else to go as I was getting hungry … I briefly considered going back to Derive Brewing (I’d discovered them on my previous visit) but decided instead to wash down these disappointing beers with some genuine Rheinheitsgebot brewing, so I headed to the Hofbrauhaus.