Columbus Beer Week logo supplied by Jeremy Slagle. Picture of beer bottles by yours truly.

Over the past 9 days and three podcasts, I’ve been pimping local Columbus beers because of Columbus Beer Week. I would love to go to 6-1-Pour Saturday but I will be attending a Columbus Crew game. They do sell local beers at Mapfre Stadium at least. If you didn’t hear the reviews on the podcasts, here they are in print.

OHPA 43 – Columbus Brewing Co. – IPA – Ken started us off with an old one, but a good one. Though I enjoy their pale ale more, this IPA is a staple for all of the hop heads that I know. It is a tad on the orange side in appearance rather than a hazy yellow that I tend to think of in an IPA. The bitterness is prominent while not being overwhelming. My problem lies in the fact that there isn’t much of a citrus tang to take away from the bitterness like they have in their pale ale. CBC doesn’t list an IBU but Beer Advocate has it listed at 50, which is usually in my taste zone. It has a low ABV for IPAs at 6.5%. Like I said, I may not be it’s biggest fan, but any hop head would be smart to try it.

Stunt Granny Audio 300 – Sideswipe Brewing Co. – Pixelated Sun – This beer is billed as a hoppy wheat beer and it delivers. Wheat beers are perfect for the warmer weather and considering it’s gone from frigid to fried here in Cbus in the matter of a month, it’s a good choice right now. Wheat beers have that nice quench-ability to them that most beers don’t have. The hops end of things was handled quite well because you can just get a little taste and a whole lot of aroma of Citra hops. Wheat beers don’t have the best back bone to stand up to a heavy bitter flavor so one needs to be delicate. The stats aren’t available for the IBU. Sideswipe does tell you it comes in at 6.0% ABV. Summer is almost here, start cracking open the wheat beers and start with this one.

OHPA 44 – Actual Brewing Co. & Barley’s Brewing Co. – Simplicity – This was the only collaboration beer I got to try and it was a good pick up by Ken. It is a Golden Strong Ale which neither company makes on a regular basis. I do like that they’re growing in popularity. This one is not quite as yeast heavy as the previous beers. With any Belgian style, I’m surprised when the yeast isn’t prominent. I wasn’t surprised that the IBU is listed at 25. The bitterness level is near non-existent. The ABV is not a surprise at 8.4%. It packs quite a punch in an under stated way that could be big trouble. I hope this beer comes out more often than just during this event. – Kevin

Picture for Simplicity supplied by Actual Brewing.