C-Buzzed: The Pub Polaris

I opined in the last session that it was not easy to find cask ale.  Little did I know that the pub down the road from my office not only has a cask conditioned ale on tap, but it's a rotation of cask ales from Brew Dog, the (im)-famous scottish brewery.  That's reason enough for me to make a few return visits.  Currently they have the Paradox on tap.  It's a stout aged in Scotch barrels.  I normally don't like smokey beers, but this one works.  The rest of their beer list is rather impressive, with quite a nice selection of English/Irish/Scotch beers that you don't normally see on tap in US bars.  See the list here.

They have the normal bar food, along with some traditional english food.  I got bangers and mash.  That's sausage, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots.  Simple, greasy goodness that begs for at least two pints to un-clog your arteries.

As you have guessed by now, I liked this bar a lot.

Ale Fest wrap up

Let's talk about what it is and what it is not.  It is a shit load of different beers in one place.  It is not a craft beer convention.  A few breweries sent reps, but mostly you were poured your drink by volunteers.  Most of the beers are bottled, there were some drafts available.

I realized how spoiled that I am.  Between Bob's, and the weekly tastings at Weiland's, I was challenged to find 20 beers (out of 170!) that I have not had before.  I went with my friend's Sue, Chris (Not BHC), and Paula.  The tasting glass is somewhat small (2 oz at the fill line, the pour was typically more.), and everyone was worried that they were not going to get enough to drink.  6 samples into it, we felt dumb worrying about drinking enough to get buzzed.

Drunken Tasting Notes, in no particular order:

Rogue Juniper Pale Ale: More of an english style pale ale.  Uses juniper instead of hops as a bittering agent.
Thirsty Dog Lab Lager (draft): It's beer.
Bluegrass Bourbon Barrel Stout: To much stout, too little bourbon.
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (draft):  The draft is much smoother than the bottled version.  Very popular amongst the crew.
Belhaven Twisted Thistle: Nice.
Goose Island Mathilda: Belgian!  Blech.  Thank goodness I had nachos for a side car.
Black Sheep Holy Grail Ale: Budweiser, brought to you by Monty Python.  Whose beer is like making love in a canoe?
McAuslan St Ambroise Vintage Ale: A very nice barley wine.
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye: Ummm good.
Bear Republic Red Rocket: A bit better than OK.
Founder's Double Trouble (draft): Very hoppy.
New Holland Pilgrim's Dole: Kick ass wheat wine.
Bell's Cherry Stout (Cask): Too smokey at first.  The sour cherry element makes it drinkable.  At least at sampling size.
Bell's Best Brown Ale (Cask): Nice mellow, very drinkable.  Another favorite amongst the crew.
Avery Salvation (draft): I was looking at the description for this beer, apricot, nutty, blah blah blah.  I asked the guy manning the tap what style it was.  He said Belgian.  I wrinkled my nose.  He says that everyone likes it and if I didn't he'd drink it.  I didn't.  He was shocked.  I did not let him drink my beer.
Brewkettle 4 C's Pale Ale: Very nice IPA.
Brewkettle Red Eye: Very bitter.
Odd Notion Wheat IPA:  Nice light bitterness.  Very drinkable.
Blue Moon Rising Moon Spring Ale: Waste of time.
Erie Railbender Ale: Euro style beer.
Pyramid Audacious Apricot: Buttery texture.  Avoid.
Spaten Lager: Euro beer.  Unlike the Erie Railbender, I was expecting the Euro flavor.

I realize that's 22, not 20.  One guy felt bad about a bad pour and would not take my ticket.  Another time, I was so annoyed with a bad pour that I walked away without giving the lady my ticket, and did not realize it until I was back at my table.

C-Buzzed: BJ's Brewhouse

This is a chain of "micro" breweries.  Columbus' restaurant is located up on Polaris Parkway.  Which is where I work.  Also located in the area is Babies R Us.  I had to meet Mrs. Rye there to attend an info session about car seats and strollers.  Nothing says child car safety like stopping by the pub for a pint.

This actually turned into 2 1/2.  Mrs. Rye called as I was finishing my dinner and told me that the class was at 6:30, not 6:00 after all.  Which led to Mrs. Rye having to shush me for heckling the demo guy.

Demo Guy: This model has the crumple bar, which protects your baby by.. uh... crumpling.
Me: Pbbptt!

I can recommend their open faced meatloaf sandwich for good pub grub.

BJ's annual grand cru:  One definition of insanity is that you keep doing the same thing and expect different results.  For some reason, I keep trying different belgian style ales.  This one was somewhat drinkable, with orange and other citrus notes helping to make up for the general stomach acid flavor of the style.
Grade: C

Tempest IPA:  An ok IPA
Grade: B-

I finished it off with a Guiness, because I wanted a light beer.

Fun BJ's brewhouse fact.  All of the non-Ohio restaurants brew their beer on site.  Ohio's liquor laws are such a pain in the ass that our beers are brewed in Reno, which has the capacity to double their output, and shipped here 3 days after being kegged.

C-Buzzed: Villa Nova

Their website can be found here.

That frosty mug of goodness can be had for $3.00 at happy hour.  It is officially the coldest beer in Columbus at 32° F.  To add to the greatness, they bring out free pizza, wings, subs, corn dogs and other greasy treats for free.  Their pizza is one of the best in town.

Mrs. Rye usually insists on veggie pizzas.  My routine is to order the pizza, and drive there as fast as possible to get a big beer and my required dose of nitrates while the girly pizza is being cooked.  On New Years Eve, we stopped by on the way home from running some errands.  Little did I know that I was going to get a fan of my drinking prowess.  I had about 1/4 of the mug left when the pizza was ready.  With a pizza in my right hand, a wife heading for the door, there was only one thing to do.  Knock it back.  One of the regulars cheared the chug, "That's how you do it man!" but the story gets better.  Last night we ate at the restaurant with Cousin David.  I went to the head and my fan came in and started telling his friend about what is apparently going to be a chug of great legend.  "Hey you're that guy!"  It's not often that you get a round of applause in the men's room.

The Session #34: Stumbling Home

This month's session is being hosted by me!  The subject is your favorite local watering hole.

If you have been following this blog on a regular basis, it will come as no surprise that I will be talking about the “Cultural Hub of the Midwest”, Bob’s Bar.

What makes Bob’s so special? The beer folks, the beer. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall, located in a small strip mall on a busy road. What I like to tell people is that they have 30 beers on tap, and their crappy beer is Guinness. It’s only a mile from my house which makes it well within stumbling distance.  Once upon a time, Mrs. Rye's cousin was in town for a visit and I told him that there's a place down the road that has Chimay on tap.  His response was typical.  "Can we go there now?"

The drinking buddies: World-Wide-Kev and the 6 Million Dollar Man. At the end of the '08 church softball season, we decided to do their “world tour” at Bob's  (130 beers are on the tour.  Why, oh why didn't I start the blog last year?). $6MMm and I finished the tour early this year. WWK is pacing himself. He’ll probably finish in 2012, just in time for the Aztec Armageddon.  We call him World-Wide-Kev because he'll say things like" "I can't come next week, I'll be in the Ukraine." or Paris or New York or Seattle...  The 6 Million Dollar Man has had a lot of parts replaced for a 40 year old and I suspect that some of them came from Area 51.  I've been coaching 3rd base and when he swings the bat he breaks the sound barrier.  The ball goes whizzing by, and two seconds later you hear the ping of the bat.  He hits it foul.  But it's still impressive.

Low on decor.  High on beer.

The curse of the big mug: When you finish the tour, you get a 25 oz mug, engraved with a phrase of your choice. You can fill your mug for the price of a pint. It’s a good deal. During happy hour, it’s cheaper to drink there than at home. The downside is that 25 oz of a 10% abv beer will knock you on your butt. Hence, the name of the session and the caveat of no cars allowed.

What did you have engraved on your mug? “STOP CALLING IT A SMALL GROUP!”

Huh? At about the same time we started to go to Bob’s, there was a push in our church for people to form small groups that they could meet with regularly and discuss spiritual matters and what-not. Admittedly, a beer tour was probably not what the pastor had in mind and we are not officially church sanctioned.

Jim:  Honey, I'm off to Bob's to meet my small group.
Mrs. Rye:  “STOP CALLING IT A SMALL GROUP!”

The draft line-up as of 12/1/09

Magic Hat #9
Delirium Tremens
Chimay White
Founder’s Backwoods Bastard Bourbon Ale
Loose Cannon Heavy Seas
Great Lakes Christmas Ale
Stone Ruination
Leiny’s Fireside Nut Brown
Hazed & Infused
Lagunitus IPA
Stone Pale Ale
Dogfish Head Theobroma
Guinness
Bass
Dragon’s Milk
Elevator Brewing Co. Procrastination Doppelbock
Brooklyn Lager
Dogfish Head 60 min IPA
Barley’s Brewing Company IPA
Founder’s Breakfast Stout
CBC Pale Ale
Great Lakes Elliot Ness
Great Lakes Edmond Fitzgerald
Strongbow Hard Cider
Stella Artois
Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic