Reviews

Below are some of the wonderful things that have been said about us in the media. 
Awards and Media Reviews for Columbus Brewing Company:

614 Magazine, Best Brewery - May Issue 2010

Voted Best Brewery - February, 2010 - Columbus Alive

Columbus Brewing company was voted Best Brewery, Columbus Alive 2-25-2010

614 Magazine, Kimberly M. Stolz, January 2010

This month, Restaurant Week can be your culinary wingman. Restaurant Week can not only help you find new places, but it can also re-introduce your palate to old friends. Take the Columbus Brewing Company. Their seasonal Winter Warmer Ale, spiced up for the low temps with a higher alcohol content amid notes of ginger and cinnamon, is worth the visit alone.

While excellent beers are always on tap at CBC, the outstanding Restaurant Week menu price of just $30 for two diners is available for a limited time only. Dinner starts with a choice of their House or Lemon Caesar Salad.  For the main course, three entrées are vying for attention, and two of the dishes are long-time patron favorites: Orange-Glazed Atlantic Salmon and Pecan-Crusted Chicken. The salmon is a lovely bit of fish, and, thankfully, Chef Brian Cook is not so besotted with his delicious glaze that he drowns the poor fillet. The glaze is citrusy, savory, and doesn't overwhelm; it hints at sweetness. Set upon a timbale of rice, with four corners of bright, tenderly crisp peppers, this colorful dish might help you forget that it's winter.

The Pecan-Crusted Chicken consists of a chicken breast duo, dressed up in pecans and crispy along the edges, for that great texture-twist of tender and crunchy. An ice cream scoop of buttermilk mashers corrals any wandering Ohio Honey Wheat mustard sauce. I like to go "old school" with a plate like this - a fork full of chicken, taters, and the sweet corn side all adds up to a mouthful of comfort.

Making its debut on the Restaurant Week menu is Chef's homemade Sausage and Pepper Linguini. The sausage is so delightfully tangy with fennel that you'd never guess a vegetarian chef put the flavorful meaty dish together. The sausage plays well with the marinara and fresh linguini, hand-made by locals Pasta di Toni.

To top it all off, the menu includes a dessert to share for you and your dining partner: either Upside-Down Banana Cream Pie or Baby Key Lime Pie.

With the impressive trio of entree choices, you have no excuse not to re-acquaint yourself with Columbus Brewing Company. The great beer is always there, but you'll want to catch this awesome deal while it lasts.

Fresh Look – A New Review Of An Old Favorite
Columbus Monthly, John Marshall, May 2008

When the Columbus Brewing Company opened in 1997 as part of the burgeoning Cameron Mitchell empire, it was a quick success.  It featured well-prepared and boldly flavored food and excellent selection of brewed-on-the-premises beers.

 

In January 2007, Mike Campbell and Doug Griggs purchased the restaurant and wisely decided not to mess with the formula. In fact, with executive chef Brian Cook at the helm, CBC is better than ever.

 

My favorite thing on the menu was not beer food, but the roasted chicken salad.  A base of romaine was littered with chunks of tasty roasted white meat, olives, dates, pine nuts, grape tomatoes, soft cornbread croutons and bits of tangy white goat cheese-with a slightly sweetened sherry vinaigrette.  It’s a full (and kind of healthful) meal.  The rest of the salads were worth eating too, including a decent Caesar and one with romaine, mesclun, cucumbers, onions and red peppers topped with feta cheese and slices of smoked salmon.

 

The hearty French onion soup, full of sweet caramelized onions, was terrific with a dark beer.  Other starters included a seared rare yellowfin tuna that was nicely paired with apricot ale mustard and wasabi.

 

A lot of hearty sandwiches were available, from an OK pulled pork (this is not a barbecue place) to an excellent blackened tilapia.  I also highly recommend the slightly oily but delicious garlic fries served with any sandwich.  The combination of tilapia, fries and and India Pale Ale was pub food at its best.

 

Main Dishes of notes were the rich and spicy Low Country Shrimp and Grits and the yummy Cuban roasted chicken with black beans and fried plantains (my favorite entrée).  There also were good pizza selections, from pepperoni to one with jerk chicken and corn salsa.

The big desserts were a little much, but there’s no arguing with the delicious Upside-Down Banana Cream pie-a massive thing of custard, whipped cream, bananas and caramel sauce.  Also worth trying is the warm blueberry bread pudding with white and milk chocolate and ice cream.

 

About the beer, of course:  The menu recommends one of the several house brews for most dishes, but not for the onion soup for some reason (I direct you to the Porter).  The suggested beers I sampled were spot-on.

 

Especially wonderful was the popular Columbus Pale Ale.  Brewmaster Eric Bean really knows his stuff.  (The only one I can’t recommend is Apricot Ale, but only because of a personal prejudice against turning any good alcoholic beverage into something that tastes like soda pop.)

The service was quite good – because one of the owners usually was prowling about.  These are nice folks who do their jobs well.

 

Columbus Alive, Thursday, May 1, 2008

THE BAR EXAM:  Have you been dying for a top-shelf margarita but your beer buddies are always zeroing in on top-notch suds?  Or maybe you like more soothing orange juices and less acidic lime squeezings in your adult Mexican beverage.  Then again, are you the type of clever contrarian to uncover a terrific fish dish on a steakhouse menu?  If any of these describes you, then zoom on down to the Columbus Brewing Company.

 

ESTA CASA ES SU CASA: Whether sitting under the alluring covered patio or at the breezy, rectangular red bar surrounded by light-leaking windows, the stylish but unstuffy CBC is a pleasant place to grab a made-here brew and bite.  But I bet few people know they also make a great margarita.

 

TABLE OF THE COCKTAIL:  You don’t have to have a million bucks to get one of CBC’s Millionaire Margaritas – but you will need $9.  That’s because CBC’s bartenders squeeze to order the juices of one lime and one orange.  Then they add expensive Grand Marnier, Gran Centenario tequila and a splash of house-made sour mix.  Do not cringe at the mention of sour mix – which too often means sweet mix – because the addition of CBC’s mix does not subtract from the great taste of the margarita.  The result is a distinct drink that lets the lime have a say even while the orange flavors do most of the talking.

 

MARGARITA MUNCHIES:  The Millionaire Margarita is an excellent complement to CBC’s appetizers – half-priced during happy hour.  So order up some calamari in a garlicky and sweet Thai chili sauce, some pepper-rimmed rare tuna with a nice Asian slaw, and one of the better quesadillas around, made with chicken and andouille sausage.

 

Restaurant review: Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant
G.A. Benton, Columbus Alive, November 8, 2007

What's more, CBC sports a beer-friendly, something-for-everyone menu rife with smoky and spicy fare. CBC seems out to prove you can have your craft beer and eat a nice meal too.
Columbus Brewing Company conducts one of the best happy hours in Columbus, with reduced beer tariffs and half-priced appetizers ($4-$5)

And revisiting CBC is certainly no chore, not with its futuristic, industrial exterior that yields to a laidback and duskily lit copper and red interior flaunting an unusual tree leitmotif. There's also a large, almost Block-O-like red lacquered bar, the always friendly staff and those fab-tasting suds complementing high-performing brewpub grub. See, there is life beyond McPreFab chow and Corporate Lite.

Something Old, Something New, Something Bottled, Something Brewed
C-Bus Magazine, September/October 2007

Something Old, Something New, Something bottled, Something brewed. 

The establishment has a ten-year history and a loyal following but ongoing creative changes should only encourage more people to flock to his hard to find nugget in the Brewery District.

This fresh and original version of CBC is well on track to be a dining destination for customers old and new.

A Taste of Cuba
Maureen McGavin, Columbus Monthly, September 2007

At Columbus Brewing Company, the Cuban roasted chicken ($15.95) is marinated for 24 hours in a mix of vinegar, onions, garlic and spices, then seared and served with black beans and rice, fried plantains and charred yogurt salsa.  “It’s not spicy, but it’s flavorful,” says Bret Hickman.  “The black beans and vinegar bring out some contrasting flavors.” The dish is paired with the brewery’s own India Pale Ale, which is “very hoppy,” Hickman says.  “It finishes with kind of a bite.”

Desserts: Old Faves, New Waves, All Good
Jon Christensen, The Columbus Dispatch, Friday, September 28, 2007

Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant’s  banana whipped-cream pie: (refashioned into mounds of whipped cream and light banana custard on powdered graham crackers).

Forget the name; enjoy the grub; This is no brew pub.
Doral Chenoweth, The Columbus Dispatch, July 24, 1997

Ron Carter is a Dispatch business writer by day and a restaurant critic sans portfolio on his own time. He’s an average guy who goes to restaurants. So when I invited him to check out the food part of Columbus Brewing Co., his first question was, “It is typical brew-pub grub?”

Nope. Far from it.

Right there is the crux of a problem for Columbus Brewing, the restaurant. People wonder about the food before considering a visit. Regulars who patronize brew pubs are different from those who go for an upscale casual dining. Columbus Brewing, the restaurant, is upscale casual.

Creator of this winner-in-the-making is Cameron Mitchell. This is his fifth restaurant success story, his fifth tagged with a name too long to be remembered; Columbus Brewing Co. Restaurant and Brewery.

Can you add “& redundant”?

“The Brasserie” would be a better name for this off-the-beaten path delight. It’s the French word for a brewery that serves food.

In the months leading up to the restaurant’s opening, Mitchell was careful to proclaim his intent, lest be he tagged with the brew-pub misnomer. That meant avoiding potato skins, cheese sticks, beer nuts, tank-top-wearing servers and a muscled brute checking Ids at the door.

The place is more a restaurant than a brewery. Working brew tanks are visible through a rear window, but they’re unobtrusive and there’s no smell of hops.

I’ve been there seven times, each visit devoted to one of two menu items, with an eye judging consistency in this startup effort.
• June 11—duck sausage chowder, favorable; rib sampler, favorable; a taste of hot-and-sour fried calamari, also favorable.
• June 16—prime rib sandwich, banana cream pie, both pluses.
• June 25—herb-crusted walleye, a major plus.
• June 30—a cheeseburger, excellent.
• July 2—Potato pizza. Every brasserie today has to have a pizza.
• July 10—barbecued pork ribs, maybe the meatiest in the city, tender perfection for those who like meat falling off the bones. But I was struck by the total lack of smoke—even the bottled stuff. The sauce is thick as molasses, seasoned with honey, garlic powder, brown sugar, orange juice, cider vinegar and Worcestershire. There are all good, but wood-smoke aroma should be a mandatory part of the recipe.

COLUMBUS BREWING CO. Stopping by for a slice (or a square)
T.R. FITCHKO, The Columbus Dispatch, Thursday, July 12, 2007

PIE PURCHASED 10-inch wood-fired jerk chicken, cut in half to serve two
INGREDIENTS chicken-breast pieces, corn salsa, roasted peppers, tomatoes
CRUST chewy
SAUCE spicy-hot
PRICE $10.25
QUICK CLICK Wash it down with a sampler tray of seven brews. The real deal can be had from 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, when 10 bucks buys a pizza and a pint.

The Columbus Dispatch, Thursday, July 5, 2007

4-stars

COLUMBUS BREWING'S GENERAL MANAGER TAKES OVER AS OWNER
Barnet Wolf, The Columbus Dispatch, Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Doug Griggs has worked as general manager at Columbus Brewing Co. for the past four years, but yesterday, he became something more there: the owner.

Griggs and business partner Michael Campbell have purchased the Brewery District restaurant from Cameron Mitchell's restaurant empire, which opened the brewpub more than nine years ago.

Carried Away; Quick Review of Local Carry-Out
Will Christensen, The Columbus Dispatch

Cameron Mitchell sits atop the food chain in central Ohio for a reason: Something to please just about everyone’s palate can be found on any of his restaurant menus.

His restaurants also are good for carryout, which is nice in summer. Who wants to be cooped up indoors when it’s 75 degrees outside?

Columbus Brewing Co. in the Brewery District is a prime example. It’s Mitchell’s take on the standard brew pub, featuring staples such as pizzas, salads and grilled sandwiches but with a twist. For example, you probably won’t find a crab cake English muffin melt with cheddar cheese, tomato and Cajun tartar sauce ($9.95) at your basic alehouse.

A number of offerings are spicy. The grilled chicken and hickory-smoked bacon sandwich ($7.95) comes with a remoulade that packs a jolt. It’s a definite two-fister or a forkand-knifer, depending on your company. Fortunately, Mrs. Carried Away du Jour didn’t mind when I used my hands.

All sandwiches come with garlic fries that aren’t overwhelmed by garlic, and the sandwiches can be halved easily. That’s a good idea for those who order the duck sausage chowder ($4.95 for an 8-ounce cup), the best selection on the menu. The soup is medium on the sausage and white onion and heavy on the cream, with enough hot pepper flakes to remind you why you should have brought a beverage in your picnic basket. If you like salads, check out the Asian chicken ($9.50), which comes with a half-pound of chopped chicken, various vegetables and a sweet mango and rice-wine vinaigrette reminiscent of teriyaki. It was more than enough for two, but I was able to discern only five of the promised seven veggies (unless the different types of lettuce counted separately). Atkins disciples be forewarned: The salad is loaded with fried rice noodles.

Much of the menu remains in place during the dinner hours, although some items have another $4 to $6 tacked on the lunch price.
By the way, Columbus Brewing will let you take a half-gallon growler of its eponymous beer with you for $8.95. Just take note of any restrictions concerning adult beverages at your outdoor mealtime locale of choice.

Craft beers, bold dishes make ideal partners
Chris Russell, The Columbus Dispatch

Columbus Brewing Company remains the only concept in the Cameron Mitchell group that hasn’t been cloned.

The view from the booths at the rear — overlooking the microbrewery next door that provides the restaurant’s outstanding selection of artisanal beers and ales — is striking.

Anchored by the famous, boldly hopped Columbus Pale Ale, the brews cost $4 a pint and can be sampled for $4.75 — six permanent brews and one seasonal one (currently, an intriguing pumpkin ale).

The menu has as much character as the rest of the operation. Grits are rich with a saute of shrimp and spicy andouille sausage ($9.95). Tomatoes are roasted and made into a pleasant, slightly creamy soup of the day ($3.95 a cup), although more roasting would intensify the flavor.

The winning soup is the duck-sausage chowder ($3.95 a cup), its thick, creamy and spicy base a good setting for chunks of sausage, potato and pepper.

Large corn bread croutons give the house salad ($4.50) its claim to fame. They also decorate the Caesar ($4.95), a salad that profits immensely from the whole leaves of romaine that stay fresher from less chopping and other manhandling. The right quantity of dressing (a good blend of oil, lemon and garlic) and shavings of Parmesan benefit the salad.

An off-menu special ($15.95) pairs two tender, brined, lightly grilled pork chops with fresh asparagus and a perfectly cooked sweet potato. The garlicky chops are well-trimmed and match well with the accompanying diced apple. (Try the 1859 Porter and the Columbus Nut-Brown Ale as accompaniments.)

The regular-menu pork tenderloin ($15.95) is outstanding, gaining its excellence as much from the pungent marinade as from the accurate roasting that sears the exterior without toughening the interior. The mound of tart-sweet chopped red cabbage makes a sound accompaniment, while mashed potatoes round out the plate.

In contrast, the daily special of filet mignon ($25.95) seemed pretty laid-back, even when topped with too-sweet cranberries. But there was no lack of flavor in the side of potato hash seasoned with bacon.

There’s more action in the catfish fillets ($15.95), dipped in a well-herbed buttermilk batter and fried crisp. As wellflavored as it is, the fish is accompanied by a couple of spoonfuls of what tastes like a cross between tartar sauce and a hollandaise sauce, plus an unremarkable risotto. A side of fresh green beans is sprinkled with chopped bacon.

The most-original dessert here is a deconstruction of banana cream pie ($5.25). Instead of a crust, a sprinkle of powdered graham crackers lies beneath a mountain of light banana cream coated with a thin layer of whipped cream and drizzles of caramel sauce.

Then there’s the mammoth slice of vanilla bread pudding ($4.50), cleverly dotted with chunks of milk chocolate, as well as a creamy creme brulee topped with a refreshingly large quantity of fruit ($4.95).

The wine list doesn’t provide much competition for the microbrews. Among the reds, the Mark West Edna Valley pinot noir ($6.95 a glass) is big, hot and alcoholic, while the much better-structured Burgundian pinot noir from Jadot ($8) is on the simple side.

Go for the brews, stay for the food.

Nine for Nine: 9 Lunches Under 9 Bucks
C Magazine

If you’re going to have a menu at a joint with “brewing company” in its name, you better make sure that all the food goes with the beer. That is exactly what Columbus Brewing Company has done. Starters like Tamarind Glazed Chicken Wings and Shrimp and Grits beg for an ice-cold lager or amber ale, while concoctions like the Blackened Fish Sandwich ($8.95) or the Jerk Chicken Pizza really want a nutty brown thing or even a stout. Start with whichever appetite overpowers the other (beer appetite vs. food appetite) and a style a meal around that. Can’t decide?!? Have a couple courses and a different beer with each.

Awards for Columbus Brewing Company
September 12, 1997

The Grumpy Gourmet’s Top 10 Columbus Dispatch