Cost Plus World Market at Tuttle Crossing

There are a number of Columbus beer retailers with a decent craft beer selection.  One of these is the World Market at Tuttle Crossing.  World Market is probably more well-known for its collection of international furniture, imported foods, and wine selection, but their craft beer selection is nothing to sneeze at.

The photos in this article were taken during a recent visit.

In these, you can see the variety of beers available.  Breweries represented during my visit included:

• 19th Amendment
• Avery
• Ayinger
• Chimay
• Epic
• Great Lakes Brewing Company
• La Chouffe
• Left Hand Brewing Company
• Magic Hat
• Ommegang
• Rogue
• Samuel Adams
• Samuel Smith
• Saranac
• Sierra Nevada
• Southern Tier
• Stone
• Strongbow (cider)
• Thirsty Dog
• Tommyknocker
• Troeg's
• Unibroue
• Victory
• Yuengling

World Market's staff are friendly and helpful.  I haven't tested their beer knowledge, so I can't speak to the advice you'll get from them, but they do seem to have an extensive knowledge of the wines they sell.  It wouldn't surprise me if their beer knowledge was comparable.

If you find yourself at Tuttle Crossing, or at the nearby Best Buy or Wal-Mart, you may want to drop in and check them out.

World Market
5720 Britton Parkway
Dublin, Ohio

Phone: (614) 717-9400

Below are photos from a June 2013 visit:

Victory Festbier (6/10)

Victory Brewing Company produces V-Twelve, which is one of my all-time favorite beers.  I'm also a fan of their Golden Monkey, so  I was curious to see what I thought of their other products.

Festbier is a Marzen or Oktoberfest style beer.

The beer pours a slightly cloudy reddish brown, with a thick off-white head.

The aroma is yeasty.

The flavor has a hint of smokiness to it, and is an excellent balance between malt and hops.  I enjoyed the beer, but didn't love it nearly as much as V-Twelve.

The folks at Beer Advocate give it an 83-85 out of 100, or call it merely "good".

ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 20
My rating: 6/10

Upcoming: Columbus AleFest 2013

The 8th Annual AleFest Columbus is a craft beer festival showcasing over 250 beers from more than 100 breweries.  It's held twice a year in Dayton and once in Columbus. 
The Columbus event is scheduled for Saturday, February 2, 2013, from 2pm to 6pm.  It's held at the Aladdin Shrine Center Ballroom.

Unlike the much-larger Columbus Winter Beerfest, the Columbus Alefest focuses on offering a variety of draught, cask, and bottled beers from what they describe as "world class" breweries.  Organizer Joe Waizmann is quoted as saying it's his desire to make the AleFest better each year, not necessarily bigger.

Breweries whose products will be available at the event include (but are not limited to):  21st Amendment, Abita, Alesmith, Avery, Ayinger, Bard's Tale, Bavik, Belhaven, Black Sheep, Bockor, Bosteels, Charles Wells, Dogfish Head, Fort Collins, Hoppin' Frog, Kona, Lager Heads, Lakefront, Left Hand, Magic Hat, Maumee Bay, Moritz, New Holland, North Coast, O'Fallon, Penn, Rivertown, Rogue, Samuel Smith, Sixpoint, Stone, Troegs, Unibroue, Westmalle Trappist, Weyerbacher, and Worthingtons.

In addition to beer tasting, there will be live entertainment, retail sales of beer wearables and memorabilia, a silent auction, and a raffle for beer collectibles.

Tickets at $35 in advance and $40 at the door.

I look forward to attending the event in a couple of weeks.

See their web site (linked above) for more information or to order your tickets.

How to Get the Most from a Beer Festival

I love attending beer festivals.  They offer a chance to try many different beers without spending a ton of money, and to spend time with friends.  Having attended several now, I've developed some techniques for getting the most out of them.

If all you want from a beer festival is to drink as much beer as you can, then you don’t need a plan.  Walk in and start drinking.  Repeat.

I want more than that.  Specifically, I want to:

• Taste beers I haven’t tried before (“new” beers)


• Taste any rare or limited edition beers available


• Taste as many of these beers as it is reasonable to do


• Avoid beers that I dislike


• Remember which beers I liked and disliked


• Not get unnecessarily tipsy or sick


• Get home safely afterward

How do I accomplish those goals?

Days before the festival:

• Filter the beer list:  Most festivals publish a list of beers and breweries planned for the event.  Download this, filter out those you dislike or have tried before.  Sort it in the order you want to try the beers, and/or by brewery.  Print the list for reference at the event (or load it into a tablet or smartphone).


• Make a pretzel necklace:  Take a bag of your favorite pretzels and a piece of string long enough to wrap around your neck (plus several inches).  Run the string through one of the holes in each pretzel.  Tie the ends of the string together.  (This ensures you have food handy during the event.)


• Arrange for a designated driver or hotel room:  If you expect to leave the festival "buzzed" or drunk, arrange for a designated driver or take a cab to the nearest hotel.  Don't drive.

The day of the festival:

• Load up:  Grab your tickets, list, pretzel necklace, a notepad, and a pen


• Have a nice meal:  You want something in your stomach before you start drinking.


• Hydrate well:  Drink plenty of (non-alcoholic) fluids beforehand to avoid dehydration.

Inside the festival:

• Get a map: Most festivals provide a map showing where the breweries can be found. Get one.


• Strategize:  Use your list of beers to mark the map for the breweries and beers you want to see.


• Prioritize:  Mark the breweries that offer rare, limited edition, or in-demand beers you really want to try (using a star, for example).


• After each sample: Make a note in your notebook of the beer and what you thought of it. Consider eating a pretzel to clear your palate.


• Pace yourself:  It's not a race.  Don't be afraid to sit down, eat a few pretzels, and catch your breath.

When you get a sample, follow this strategy:

• Dislike the sample?  Pour it out and get the next one.


• Like the sample?  Sip it as you make your way to the next one.  Pour out what’s left when you get there.


• Love the sample?  Drink it until you get to your next sample, or until you finish it. Your call.

Why do this?  Imagine you can tolerate 15 full samples before you've had "enough".  If you drink every sample in its entirety, you'll try at most 15 beers all night.  If you disliked five of them, and poured them out, you might be able to try 20.  If you pour out some (but not all) of the ones you liked, you could increase that to perhaps 22 or 23 samples.  This can make the difference between trying everything you wanted to try, or only some of it.

The most important piece of advice I can give you is that if you leave a beer festival feeling "buzzed" or even "slightly drunk", DO NOT drive.  Call a friend or family member.  Take a cab.  Check into a hotel.  Don't risk injuring or killing yourself or someone else.  It's not worth it.  I've heard too many horror stories about beer festival attendees crashing cars afterward.  Don't be one of them.

Ducato Verdi Imperial Stout (6/10)

Birrifico Del Ducato is an Italian brewery.  They produce a variety of beer styles, including pale ale, oatmeal stout, barleywine, saison, and tripel.  Verdi Imperial Stout is an export stout brewed with chili peppers.

The beer pours into the glass a pitch black color.  The tan head is coarse and thick, dissipating very slowly in the glass.

The flavor is a fairly standard stout.  It's a little bitter, has some leather and chocolate notes to it.  The chili pepper burn is very, very subtle.  If you didn't know they were in there, you might not notice the flavor.

Beer Advocate's reviewers rate it an 88, or "good".

ABV: 8.2%
IBU: 100 (per Frisco Grille) - I personally think it's much lower
My rating 6/10

Weiland's Gourmet Market

Today I visited Weiland's Gourmet Market for the first time.  Weiland's features an assortment of gourmet foods, including produce, meat, cheese, lunch meat, vegetables, and other items.  I saw purple asparagus, lentil crisps, sweet potato chips, and a variety of unusual soft drinks (like one flavored with lavender).  There is also a large wine selection down the center of the store.  Since Weiland's made it on to this site, you can be sure that craft beer is part of their inventory.

In the back of the store, you'll find a room dedicated to Weiland's State Liquor Store and craft beer selection.  Their liquor selection included pretty much every liquor I could imagine ever wanting to buy, including some very unusual ones like higher-end scotch and corn whiskey (the stuff you see them making in the "Moonshiners" show).

I was immediately impressed by the selection of beer brands I saw.  I will provide a list of the breweries whose products were represented on Weiland's shelves during my visit.  The list appears at the very end of this post.  Bear in mind that this is a point-in-time and incomplete list of the products on their shelves.  It's offered as a way to help you compare Weiland's selection to that of other retailers.

Here are a couple more shots of the beer selection (and realize that are other racks and an entirerefrigerated section that I didn't take pictures of, so you're not seeing it all here).

This is a less impressive selection in terms of craft brews (since there are some mass-market beers here) but the main refrigerated section is much more interesting.

There is also an entire refrigerated case of ciders, a part of which is pictured at the left.  It includes ciders and gluten free beers from: Rogue, Julian, Thistly Cross, Oliver, New Planet, Woodchuck, Angry Orchard, Samuel Smith, and Ace.

While the cider selection is less extensive than the beer offering, it is nonetheless a larger collection of ciders and gluten-free beers than I have seen anywhere else I can recall.

As if all this wasn't enough "beer goodness" for you, there is also a growler station where you can choose from several different varieties of draft beer to have dispensed into a 32-ounce or 64-ounce growler for you.  The selection changes as they finish off a keg, so you'll have to drop in to see what they're offering at the moment.  To give you an idea, though, I saw Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale ($12 for a 64-ounce growler), Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Barrel Aged Stout, and a Left Hand beer that isn't available in bottles (the name escapes me at the moment).

I found two beers in the refrigerated section that I haven't seen in a while.  Both were from Ommegang.  The first was Seduction, their Belgian Dark Ale brewed with cocoa nibs.  The other was Art of Darkness, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that I sampled at the Columbus Beerfest.

The staff at Weiland's is very helpful and friendly, and seems to know their products well, whether you're talking about wine, lunch meat, or beer.

If you haven't taken the time to browse their store and you love craft beer, you owe it to yourself to drop by and check them out.  While you're in the area, you should also check out the nearby Palmer Beverage Center, which has a different (but also good) selection of brews available.

Weiland's Gourmet Market
3600 Indianola Ave.
Columbus Ohio 43214
Phone: 614-267-9878



Below is a list of the many beer brands seen on the shelves at Weiland's.  Please note that this list is only current as of late March 2013 and is by no means complete.  Though incomplete, it should give you some idea as to the selection and beers you might find there when you visit.

• Abita


• Adnams


• Anchor


• Aventinus


• Avery


• Ayinger


• Ballast Point


• Baltika


• Bayerischer Bahnhof


• Belhaven


• Bell's


• Boddington's


• Breckenridge


• Brew Dog


• The Brew Kettle


• Brooklyn Brewery


• The Bruery


• Chimay


• Chouffe


• Clausthaler


• Columbus Brewing Co.


• Coopers Brewery


• Corsendonk


• Czech Rebel


• Daleside Brewery


• Dark Horse Brewing


• De Koninck


• Dogfish Head


• Dupont


• Elevator Brewing Co.


• Epic Brewing


• Estrella


• Evil Twin


• Fat Head's


• Founder's


• Franziskaner


• Full Pint


• Fuller's


• Goose Island


• Great Divide


• Great Lakes Brewing Co.


• Green Flash


• Grolsch


• Gulden Draak


• HaandBryggeriet


• Harviestoun


• He'Brew


• Heavy Seas


• Hinterland


• Hitachino Nest


• Hoegaarden


• Hofbrau


• Hoffstettner


• Hoppin' Frog


• Indigo Imp


• Innis & Gunn


• J.W. Lees


• Kaliber


• Kapuziner


• Kentucky Ale


• Kingfisher


• Kirin Ichiban


• La Baladin


• La Trappe


• Lagunitas


• Leffe


• Left Hand Brewing


• Liefmans


• Lindemans


• Lion


• Manchester


• Marston's


• Meantime


• Mission Brewery


• Monk's Cafe


• Moosbacher


• Moretti


• Murphy's


• New Grist


• New Holland


• New Planet


• Newcastle


• Nogne


• North Coast


• O'Hara's


• Ommegang


• Oranjeboom


• Orval


• Oskar Blues


• Otter Creek


• Palm


• Paulaner


• Peroni


• Petrus


• Portsmouth Brewing Co. (Portsmouth, OH)


• Radeberger


• Red Hook


• Rince Cochon


• Rodenbach


• Rogue


• Samuel Adams


• Samuel Smith


• Scaldis


• Schneider & Sohn


• Shiner


• Shipyard


• Sierra Nevada


• Singha


• Sixpoint


• Smithwick's


• Southern Tier


• Spaten


• Staropramen


• St. Bernardus


• St. Peter's


• St. Stefanus


• Steen Brugge


• Stiegl


• Stillwater


• Stone


• Stoudt's


• Tennent's


• Theakston


• Thirsty Dog


• Tilburg's


• Trappist Achel


• Trappistes Rochefort


• Traquair


• Troeg's


• Tusker


• Two Brothers


• Unibroue


• Urthel


• Victory


• Weihenstephaner


• Well's


• Westmalle


• Wexford


• Weyerbacher


• Wittkerke


• Wolaver's


• Worthington


• Wychwood


• Young's

Jever Pilsener (4/10)

Jever is a German brewing company whose web site seems more obsessed with its green Harley Davidson motorcycles than its beer.  Jever Pilsener is one of their four beer products.  The other three are a light beer, a lime beer, and one labeled simply "Fun".

Poured out of the green bottle, it looks pretty much like any other pilsner lager.  It's nearly completely clear and gold in color, with a decent white head on it.  The head leaves behind moderate lacing.

The aroma is very hoppy.  The flavor backs this up.  To my tastebuds, the hops bitterness pretty much overwhelms every other flavor component to the beer.  Being that I'm not "all about the hops", this makes it a beer that I don't particularly enjoy.  I've certainly had worse, but I've had many more that were better.

Beer Advocate rates it at 79 out of 100, calling it "average".  I think that might be a little kind, but then their reviewers are more appreciative of hops bitterness than I am, I think... though the first review I read described the beer by saying "The aroma is a balanced mix of hops and malt that is stronger than expected given the light color. The taste is stronger yet, especially the hop note and the surprisingly bitter (but not objectionable) aftertaste."

I received this as part of a gift set from Cost Plus World Market, but have seen it available at local retailers.  I believe Kenny Road Market may carry it.

ABV: 4.9%
IBU: 33
My rating: 4/10

Brew Kettle Kitka Coconut Chocolate Stout (10/10)

At the 2012 Columbus Beerfest, Brew Kettle's Kitka Coconut Chocolate Stout was one of the few beers that really stood out to me.  It was probably the only beer there that I sampled more than once (more than twice, actually).  I was incredibly impressed with it.  Finding it on tap at The Pint Room was like bumping into an old friend you weren't expecting to meet.

The pours a completely opaque black with a finger-thick beige head that dissipates quickly but leaves behind a thick lacing.

The aroma hits you with coconut and dark chocolate right off the bat.  Think a Mounds Bar and you're on the right track.

The flavor begins with that traditional roasted malt stout bitterness, which quickly gives way to the coconut and chocolate flavors, ending with a milder malt bitterness.

Mouth feel is a silky, mildly creamy thickness.

This is one of those beers I can't recommend strongly enough to you, especially if you like coconut and chocolate.  (If not, well, this is certainly not the beer for you.)  The brewers do an excellent job of making the coconut and chocolate flavors balance each other out, and balance against the grainy bitterness.  None of those flavors overwhelms the others, and they work extremely well together.  To me, this is truly a great beer.  It's a beer I would be happy to have again and again.

Beer Advocate has only a small number of reviews for this one.  One rates it low, claiming there is a mint element to the flavor that drowns out the rest.  I think that reviewer may have forgotten to spit out his gum, because I don't get any mint in this one.  The other reviewers rate it very high (4.5+/5), and seem to have had the same beer I did.

I had this at the 2012 Columbus Winter Beerfest and at The Pint Room in Dublin.  I've not seen it available for purchase in bottled or growler form.

ABV: 4.6%

IBU:  unknown, best guess 26-28

My Rating: 9/10

The Pint Room–Dublin, Ohio

The Pint Room is a craft brew and burger bar that recently opened in Dublin on the Shoppes at River Ridge, just off 161 between Riverside and Sawmill.  It features a menu including fresh cut fries, wings, crab cakes, salads, soups, chicken sandwiches, and of course burgers.

The burgers are their main claim to fame, and feature a blend of Prime Chuck and Kobe beef served on Brioche Rolls.  The burgers are served with fresh cut fries, sweet potato fries, or onion rings.  The burgers range from a classic burger that offers meat and cheese, to more exotic versions like the Lobster Burger that includes steamed lobster, asparagus, and Hollandaise.

On a previous visit, I had the Hangover Burger, which features a beef patty, Ohio smoked cheddar, double smoked bacon, mni hash browns, a sunny side egg, and tomato.  It was without question one of the best burgers I've had in a while.  Flavor and quality wise, it ranks up there with Thurman Burger, Bub's Burger in Carmel Indiana, and others.  (Burger prices range from $9 to $19 – with the Lobster burger being that $19 one).

On the visit during which this article was written, I had their Bistro Fries and Broiled Lump Crab Cakes.  The crab cakes are generously sized (together, the two cakes were about the size of a baseball) and are served with roasted corn salsa and chipotle butter.  For $12, they rival the crab cakes I've had anywhere else.  Lots of crab meat, plenty of flavor, and moist.

Bistro Fries and Crab Cakes

The Bistro Fries are thick wedges covered with braised short rib meat, Ohio cheddar, sour cream, and roasted vegetable relish.  The short rib meat was the highlight of the dish for me.  It was moist, had good flavor, and was tender.  The potatoes were good as well.  When you combined a bite of potato with the relish (which had nice chunks of vegetables like zucchini) with the cheddar and sour cream, the result was a very hearty and tasty dish.  I could imagine ordering this as my entire meal.

The Pint Room's other claim to fame is its extensive beer selection.  They have 100 beers on tap, and many more in the bottle.  The selection during my visit (it changes regularly) included beers from Founders, Left Hand, Troeg's, Finch's, Penn Brewing, Dark Horse, Avery  Breckenridge, Brew Kettle, Lagerhead, Thirsty Dog, and many others.

During my visit, I had Magic Hat's Heart of Darkness, Penn Brewing's Nut Roll Ale, and The Brew Kettle's Coconut Chocolate Stout.  All three were good beers.

The beers are listed on the back of the food menu.  Beers 1-100 are available on draft.  Beers 100+ are in bottles.

If you're a sports fan (which I'm not), you'll appreciate their good sound system and many large flat-screen televisions featuring Ohio State and other sporting events.

The large sit-down bar is located near the taps.  In the back of the restaurant you'll find a wall-sized chalkboard showing all the current drafts, organized by beer type such as

Stouts, Belgians, and IPAs.  The while place is friendly, clean, and feels slightly up-scale.  Servers are knowledgeable and attentive, and tend to arrive just about as often as you'd want them too.  They neither hover over you or ignore you for long periods of time.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of 161 and Sawmill, drop by and check the place out.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  I certainly haven't been.

The Pint Room
4415 W. Dublin Granville Road
Dublin, Ohio 43017

(614) 889-6558

Penn Brewing Nut Roll Ale (7/10)

The Pennsylvania Brewing Company is located in Pittsburgh, PA.  They pride themselves on brewing beers in accordance with the ancient German beer purity law Reinheitsgebot, which limits the kinds of items which can go into their beers.  Their beer was one of the first micro-brews I ever tried, and I was immediately impressed with the rich and complex flavor compared to the American beers I'd been drinking.

Their Nut Roll Ale is a spiced ale they produce from November through January each year.

It pours a deep brown, but not quite black, in the glass.  The head is a finger-thick beige that dissipates fairly quickly and leave behind absolutely no lacing.

The flavor is initially one of grainy bitterness, followed by a hint of flat cola (the image of Coca-Cola flitted through my mind as I drank it, which is something I've never encountered in a beer), ending in a mix of the to.  The grainy bitterness lingers past the finish until your next sip.

On balance, I like it.  I don't love it.  The Beer Advocate rating is 80/100.

I tried this locally at The Pint Room in Dublin.  I've not seen it available for sale elsewhere in Columbus.

ABV:  5%

IBU: Unknown, best guess around 28

My Rating: 7/10

Magic Hat Heart of Darkness (7/10)

Magic Hat Brewing Company's Heart of Darkness is described as a Winter beer and a stout.

It pours a nearly black dark-brown color with a finger-thick brown head.  As you drink it, the lacing is a thick sheet on the glass, which dissipates into a thin lattice pattern later on.

The aroma is one of roasted malt and chocolate.   The mouth feel is smooth and thick, something like a melted milkshake.

The flavor matches the aroma perfectly.  You'll get a strong roasted malt bitterness at the outset, followed by some malty, sweet dark chocolate.  The flavor is the same from start to finish.

Overall, I like Heart of Darkness, but no more or less than I like any other stout.

The Beer Advocate crew is slightly split on this one.  The "Bros" give it a 97 while the visitors rate it merely 89 or good.

As a stout, it's certainly one of the better ones.  As a beer overall, I stand by the 7/10 rating.

I sampled this at The Pint Room in Dublin.  I've seen it in bottles at Giant Eagle supermarkets.

ABV:  5.7%

IBU:  unknown

My rating: 7/10

Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit Ale (5/10)

This is the first beer I've tried from Indiana-based Three Floyds Brewing Company.  They describe Rabbid Rabbit as a "Franco-Belgian style Farmhouse Ale" or "Saison".  My experience with Saisons is pretty mixed.  I tend to really, really like them because they remind me of the Belgian style beers I love, or I hate them because the brewery emphasizes the hops component over everything else.

Poured from the bottle, Rabbid Rabbit is a cloudy orange-amber color with a reasonably thick white head which takes some time to dissipate.

The aroma is both yeasty and hoppy.

The flavor is a balance of Belgian spiciness and hops, leaning toward hops.  In fact, it leans toward hops a bit more than I care for.  I'd describe is as "OK" but nothing I'd be in a hurry to have again, making it neither a Saison that I love or hate... which is something of a rarity.

The reviewers at Beer Advocate give it an 86 out of 100, or "good".  That's somewhat consistent with my 5/10 or "OK" rating.

ABV: 7.4%
IBU: 25
My rating: 5/10