A Tale of Two Tastings - Hills Market and Tip Top

Hills Market had a British Beer and Cheese tasting on April 17th. The turnout was smaller than I expected, only eight souls, but we had a fabulous time. Kent Rand walked us through the cheeses and Constance Begue covered the background of the beers we sampled. Kent did a wonderful job creating appetizers to complement the beer and cheeses.

This is what we sampled:

All the beers were Ales.

Beer: Smithwick’s Irish Ale (Ireland)
Cheese: Blarney Castle (Ireland – semi-soft, park skim milk)
Appetizer: Melon balls wrapped with Blarney castle cheese and a dusting of pistachio nuts

Beer: Samuel Smith Organically Produced Ale (England)
Cheese: Cotswold (England - semi firm cheddar)
Appetizer: Flour tortilla with mayo, spinach, Cotswold cheese, roasted red pepper and grilled chicken breast

Beer: St. Peter’s Golden Ale (Wales)
Cheese: Red Dragon (England - Cheddar blended with toasted mustard seed and a bit of ale)
Appetizer: Brioche with mesclun, red dragon cheese, roast beef and a drizzle of horseradish

Beer: Black Douglas Ale (Ireland)
Cheese: Dubliner (Ireland – aged semi-firm)
Appetizer: endive leaf wrapped with ripe pear, Dubliner cheese, thyme, lemon zest, olive oil, salt and pepper

Beer: Fuller’s Extra Strong Bitter (England)
Cheese: Stinking Bishop (England – soft English stinky cheese)
Appetizer: a wafer-sized slice of fig almond cake with Stinking Bishop cheese and dried cranberries

Beer: Kelpie Seaweed Ale (Scotland)
Cheese: Shropshire Blue (England – aged Stilton)
Appetizer: baby portabella mushroom caps stuffed with Shropshire Blue cheese, tomato bruschetta and Panko bread crumbs

This is what you missed, make sure to give at least one of the Hills tastings a try in the future.

May 29, 2008 - Wines & Cheese from Spain 6.30 p.m.

June 26, 2008 - Wines & Cheeses from Greece 6.30 p.m.

July 24, 2008 - Wines & Cheeses from Italy 6.30 p.m.

August 21, 2008 - Wines & Cheeses from Australia 6.30 p.m.

September 25, 2008 - Wines & Cheeses from France 6.30 p.m.

October 23, 2008 - Octoberfest: Beers & Cheeses 6.30 p.m.

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Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails partnered with the Columbus Beer Wench for the first Tip Top Drink with the Wench Beer Sampling on Sunday, April 20th from 5pm until 8pm. The sampling included beer, and generous helpings of Ohio Nachos (housemade potato chips topped with melted cheese, tomatoes, green onions, black olives, jalapenos, and sour cream), Sweet Potato Fries and Red Bean Hummus.

We sampled six different beers, three from the Tip Top menu and three candidates for new beers to update the menu. Each person had the opportunity to vote on which of the current beers should be discontinued and which of the new beers should be added to the Tip Top beer selections. Beers chosen by the group will be featured as local selections. The end result, two old beers stayed and one new beer was added.

The Columbus Beer Wench coordinated the pours and poured on the commentary with a touch of charm. Tim Lessner, co-owner keep the food coming and added some Surly Girl insight. Andy Wuelfling from Premium Beverage Supply gave us insider information on each of the beers and clarifed that in the industry - there are two schools of thought on just about anything so the end result is essentially - if you like it, it is good.

Here is what we tried.
Southern Tier - HopSun (my favorite)
Lagunitas - The Censored - (formerly Chronic) Cooper Ale

Flying Dog - Old Scratch Amber Lager
Flying Dog - Garde Dog (Biere de Garde)
Southern Tier - Phin and Matt’s (the owners) extraordinary ale
Ft. Collins Brewery - Retro Red

The bolded selections were the winners.

So - as I often say, if you can not find something to do in Columbus - you are not looking.

Beer and Cheese - The New Peanut Butter and Chocolate!

Pace Hi Carry Out in Clintonville closed in February. The signs of demise were there for a long time - they just never seemed to be able to keep things in stock..so I stopped going long ago. Having the wine displayed in the window made me wary as well - you could not do anything worse to a bottle of vino.

I often wonder if a new business concept called Hops and Curd - a high end beer and cheese store might work in Clintonville.

OK - the concept of wine and cheese is well sold.

But beer and cheese…. not so much. I believe beer and cheese is the undiscovered peanut butter and chocolate of the 21st century. So that is why I am posting this post…to build a groundswelling of support for this advanced idea.

And as it just happens - Constance and Kent at Hills Market will be offering a Beer and Cheese Tasting on April 17th - check out the Hills Market web site and get on the mailing list for more details. I have attended two Hills Market wine and cheese tastings - both were wonderful so I expect the beer and cheese pairing to be just as good. The format for the wine tastings has been 6 pairing of wine and cheese with a appetizer for each. The Beer and Cheese tasting will probably have the same format. The cost would be no more than $35. As a bonus, you typically get 10% off anything you buy at that store following the tasting. It a great deal. See my post about the December tasting for more information.

To further sell pairing beer with cheese check out the site below:

A link with all you need to know about beer and cheese

So what do you think - is it time to open Hops and Curd during a recession?

Worthington Pub Crawl / Stroll

I acknowledge that a pub crawl is a little outside the typical scope of this blog, but with St. Patrick’s Day in view - why not. All of these spots are within the distance you could hurl a beer bottle so the strolling is minimal. This would be a great way to spend a late afternoon with a gang of friends - share a few beers and an appetizer or split a meal at each place. I plotted out the paces, (if you opt to jaywalk) it is 165 steps from door to door.

P.K. O’Ryans Irish Pub

666 High Street

Worthington

614.781.0771

Web Site

Happy hour is Monday - Thursday from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. The place offers a wide range of pub style meals with several beers on tap. Happy Hour gets you: reduced prices on draft and domestic bottled beer plus 1/2 price appetizers. The regular menu item to try here is the Irish Stew - a hearty mix of slow cooked beef, onions, carrots and potatoes with at least a pour of Guinness mixed in - served in a bread bowl. That will keep you warm.

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Old Bag of Nails
663 High Street
Worthington

614.436.5552

Old Bag of Nails Web site

The best menu item is the Famous Fish Sandwich. It easily serves two. My favorite reason to go here is the Fried Snickers (not available at all locations - but you can count on it here.) It is battered and devine, served with ice cream. There are plenty of beers on tap. It feels like a true pub when you walk through the door. Since you just hit O’Ryans you may think you are on the Emerald Isle - until you notice no one has an Irish accent and everyone is talking about the Buckeyes. This is the original Old Bag of Nails and has the best “feel” of any of the locations. There are old beercans and other pub bric a brac lining the walls. Many of the staff have worked at this location for years and they know their regulars by name.

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Worthington Inn

649 High Street

Worthington

614.885.1223

Web Site

Most people do not think Happy Hour when they think of Worthington Inn - but there is room at the Inn within the spacious bar area. Their happy hour is the longest on this stroll - Monday to Saturday, 4 - 7 PM. They offer domestic beer and well drink specials. However the best deal here is the discounted plates to share specials. The Worthington Inn is a very good restaurant and their “bar food” is more than one would expect.

1/2 off “Plates to Share”

Artichoke-Spinach Dip

Grilled Flat Bread Pizza

Provolone, tomato sauce and pepperoni

Seasonal Bruschetta

Our Famous Parmesan-Truffle Fries

House Cheese Plate

Warm Garlic and Herb Potato Chips

Blue cheese dip

Flash-fried calamari

Thai sweet-chili sauce and napa slaw

Roasted Pepper Hummus

Aunti Carol’s Sauerkraut Balls

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La Chatelaine

627 High Street

Worthington

614.848.6711

Web Site

There is a nice selection of French wines along with some hard to find Belgian and Euro beers on tap at the bar. If this is your last stop for the day consider picking up a bakery item as you are walking out the door - for a snack or maybe for breakfast the next day. The wine bar happy hour is from 5 to 7 PM. If owner Val Wielezynski is behind the bar - ask him about anything - he has great stories to share about the restaurant, his family and life in general.

So that is your Pub stroll agenda - a mix of small town and uptown for a Eurotrash style day out in the heart of Worthington.

Buckeye Donuts: an OSU Late, Late Night Tradition

Buckeye Donuts

1998 North High Street

Corner of 18th and High Street

OSU Campus

614.293.3923

Web Site

Most of OSU is new now. One exception is Buckeye Donuts. This small nook of a corner donut shop has been serving up donuts and coffee since 1969. I do not know how long it has been 24 hours a day service but based on my own trips and drive by’s - my guess would be at least a decade. Gyro’s were added into the list of offerings sometime in the 1990’s… it all kind of blurs together sometimes. For quite some time, the Gyro’s were made by Souvlaki George from (closed) Souvlaki Palace but he is no longer with us at BD.

One of the most memorable nights at the shop was when it was a featured destination on Insomniac with Dave Attell.

My favorite Buckeye donut would be a tie between an old fashioned and a chocolate covered crueller.

The Barouxis family has owned BD since day one. The Buckeye Donuts in the German Village area is no longer affiliated with the campus location but I hear the donuts are still good. There are many great BD stories and you can find some of them on Columbus Underground as comments to the Buckeye Donut review I posted on CU in January.

Yeah, Me Too - A Coffee Shop and that is it.

Yeah, Me Too

3005 Indianola Ave.

Clintonville

No Phone

No Website

Monday to Saturday

7 AM to 6 PM

 

Yeah Me Too is a very small coffee shop in Clintonville. If the place had a motto - it would be: just coffee - no perks and no pretense. I don’t really drink coffee but all of my friends have raved about this simple shop for over a year. YMT sells four types of coffee to take home to your coffee machine and usually has one type available to drink when you drop in. There is no place to sit, no Wi Fi, no gimmicks, no frills - just coffee. Everything is simple - hence no phone, no web site, no marketing - they just sell coffee. There may be a few baked goods from Pattycake Vegan Bakery and/or Wellness Forum Foods (Del Sroufe) in case you need a snack as you head out the door but that is more of an afterthought - maybe even a public service.

 

 

One of the current coffee choices is Black Swans Blend, a mix of coffee beans from Rwanda, Guatemala, and Flores. The Black Swans are a local band with ties to past punk rockers, Gaunt (the owner was in Gaunt ). And Yeah, Me Too is a reference to the musical roots that mix into the shop. There is a great story about some of the art work on the wall and if you look into the corner by the window you will see an album about several special people from ARC Industries who created artwork for Black Swans album covers. Here is a LINK to the story.

 

It is refreshing to see a business just do one thing and do it well. YMT is as simple as one could make it and that is just fine for all involved. It is also nice to see a business survive and maybe even thrive on Indianola - the less developed Clintonville artery.