CBF Archives

You want fries with that?

While it’s a common refrain at your local drive-through, it isn’t often necessarily associated with beer. And by associated, I don’t mean accompanying, I mean in the beer, like in the recipe for the beer.

That brings us to this week’s docket for News & Brews where we cracked open a few cold cans of Drop the Fries, yet another quirky creation from the hooligans at Hoof Hearted Brewing Co. It’s a double IPA that boldly attempts to mimic the flavors of dipping french fries into a Wendy’s Frosty and so it’s alleged recipe includes cacao nibs, vanilla, milk sugar and french fries.

How does that go down? Listen and find out.

Meanwhile, in other Hoof Hearted news, the brewery has expanded the hours of its 4,000-square-foot taproomin Marengo. The space, which features 12 taps and ample art from their Philadelphia-based creative director Thom Lessner (the man behind the brewery’s distinctive cans as well), is now open 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Up until this summer the space previously was open for can release events only.

Owners Trevor Williams, Jarrod Bichon and Ryan Bichon renovated the taproom space last year from its more rag-tag origin to its new iteration featuring a small arcade, front and back patios and a horseshoe pit and bocce ball court coming soon. It hold around 175 total.

Back on the podcast, there’s a roundup of the breweries that have opened in 2019 and the ones still to come, news on the North Market Tower, talk about vacationing in France and not one but two songs from Assistant Managing Editor Eleanor Kennedy.

Hot days and high temps demand a light, refreshing beer.

Pouring this week at the News & Brews bar is Bubbles — a Rosé wine inspired cider/beer thingamajig from Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist Brewery. This intriguing creation is a big seller for Rhinegeist, accounting for an estimated 20 percent of sales, or about 12,000 barrels a year, which alone is larger than most craft breweries. It’s not only an interesting beer on its own merits, but also might prove to be an alternative to the monster in your life who puts ice cubes in their red wine. Does that include one of the News & Brews panelists? Unfortunately, yes.

Beyond our wistful assessments of wine-inspired beers, there’s local alcohol news as Franklinton’s Land-Grant Brewing is expanding again, though the newest addition will give guests more to do with their hands than simply holding a beer. Also, for those looking to stock up on spirits either for the July 4 holiday or other summer festivities, the Ohio Department of Liquor Control is putting even deeper discounts on already discounted choices at its Last Call stores.

Beyond those actionable bits of looking imbibing intelligence, there’s discussion of drinking craft beers (and vodka) in Russia as well as insights into the Bachelorette and (of course) The Grateful Dead.

After a post-Columbus Craft Beer Week/Memorial Day hiatus, the News & Brews podcast is back this week with something not from Columbus, but certainly memorable.

With the summer coming soon (did spring ever really arrive?), I ventured out to secure a light and refreshing brew that could slake the people’s thirst on those hot days of yard work or backyard recreation.

I failed. Miserably.

My eyes were drawn to the distinct can design of Aon by Sweden’s Omnipollo and having had the delectable Pecan Mud Cake Stout once in the past, my hand just sorta unconsciously moved to grab it. Though News & Brews is pro not abiding by seasonal beer drinking restrictions — “This is America” one panelist notes — best at least be sitting in the shade, if not a cool, dark basement for this choice.

Other topics of note — soda, doughnuts, caloric content of beer, running clubs and New Jersey beer laws. In local news, a new brewpub is in the works at the old Clintonville Outfitters store space, provided it gets some necessary approvals.

This week’s News & Brews raises a glass to Columbus Craft Beer Week.

The annual event kicks off Friday and runs through May 25 offering a wide array of beer dinners, tap takeovers and other happenings to sate the local beer imbibing public. It felt appropriate then to split a sixer of the this year’s collaboration beer, Six One Pour.

The Central Ohio contingent of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association gather every spring to brainstorm and brew a beer to mark the occasion. This year’s version is a very on-trend hazy IPA finished with a kick of key limes. How did this go down for our panel, which includes a few admittedly IPA-averse participants?

Come for that discussion, stay for a tour of several Central Ohio drinking establishments, as organized by Experience Columbus, updates on the Columbus Ale Trail and why Kindred is no longer on it and, a little bit of pie talk.

Columbus Business First dipped into its archive for this 2018 interview with Adam Benner, co-owner of Land-Grant Brewing.

Benner talks about Land-Grant's origins — did you know its original name and where it initially was going to open? What inspired its owners?

Land-Grant has been a bit of a "good luck charm" for local sports teams, but how did it get into the area stadiums?

Benner also opens up about the challenges craft brewers face from can shortages to an overcrowded marketplace.

News & Brews is never afraid to tackle the major issues, such as what the heck is on the can of Catawba Island’s Hot Blonde?

Dead fish? Steak? Mango? Tulip glass? Something else?

The Lake Erie brewery’s habanero blonde is this week’s beer, prompting not just inaccurate interpretations of can art but also talk of Ohio geography — where exactly is the brewery? — and spelling. Which Business Firsters struggle to spell which states and cities?

This beer pairs well with a news discussion on what happened to Four String Brewing and how its Hilltop is coming back as well as why Wolf’s Ridge is re-branding its six packs.

Seventh Son Brewing took a lager and hopped it up.

Float is a modern twist on an old classic and it got a short-handed News & Brews squad all hopped up on a variety of beer topics including the business case for ales versus lagers, why brewers choose cans over bottles, what defines a craft brewer and how the proliferation of new beer is hurting some in the beer industry.

Which team members confess their secret acceptance of Corona and disclose their lime application techniques? Which team members are aghast at these revelations?

Also, Emily explains IPAs and news updates concerning Actual Brewing’s Clintonville space and BrewDog USA’s 2019 aspirations.

A treat (at least for some of us) this week as News & Brews took on the Dark Lord.

This opulent creation from 3 Floyd’s Brewing Co. draws fans from around the U.S. to its Munster, Indiana brewery every May for Dark Lord day, a $180 a ticket annual festival of big beer and heavy metal music.

Managing Editor Mark Somerson generously shared a bomber of the 2018 Dark Lord with the team. Who among us now hail the Dark Lord? Not as many as one might think.

Come for the beer, stay for some Munster history thanks to Munster native and Assistant Managing Editor Eleanor Kennedy.

News updates include the Columbus arrival of Taft’s and a long-awaited taproom from Columbus Brewing Co.