2971 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
614.461.3622
website
The craft beer craze has led to dozens of new breweries springing up in Columbus, and in the northern neighborhood of Clintonville, Lineage Brewing is the area’s best local brewhouse. It’s a wide open and modern brewhouse, comparatively small but very friendly and very intentional with its brews. There’s a relatively short menu of food too, and by and large, this bar is a good hang-out spot for small groups, especially the beer fanatics who inhabit this middle-class neighborhood. But, just about everyone who drinks beer is destined to find something they like.
The beers are the top thing to try:
- Surf’N Cow: A milk stout and one of the creamiest of the type you’ll taste. With a giant head but a silky smooth body, this one is a winner if you like heavy beers.
- Ispolin’s Bane: This blackberry wheat beer has an assertively fruity taste up front, but it smoothes out and I definitely would call it more a wheat beer than an overly fruity one. At 5.4 percent ABV, also not overwhelming in flavor.
- Spaceship #6: One of the IPA options that’s so popular these days, with the character being a moderate bitterness with late citrus notes.
- Van Dad: A pale ale, this one has a muted flavor and a slightly bitter character that makes it an easy drink.
- Oscura Obscura: A nitro blonde stout, this brew is a contradiction of sorts, a light and smooth body that has a sneaky 7.9% ABV. Fantastic!
- Wake Life: Another easy drink, this blonde has a light and thin body but a pleasant smell and a golden color.
- Dr. Oktoberfest: This marzen is, naturally, only to be found here during the late fall months, and the golden brown color belies a wonderful, slightly toasted flavor and a smooth, wonderful character.
- Peter’s Propensity: This one is another fall speciality, a pumpkin beer, I found the pumpkin character a bit lighter than I’d hoped but it’s a good mid-bodied drink.
- Billingsworth: An English mild ale, this one has that slightly cloudy color to it. The hop character on this one is very light.
There’s also a short menu of food too, worth mentioning:
- Gazpacho: A cold tomato-based soup with a little bit of sweetness to it. Otherwise a pretty simple one.
- Turnovers: Lots of little chopped apples make this dish a spectacular one for dessert, not naturally too sweet which is nice.
- Calzone: These have a few options, none of which is overly doughy and all really good light meals that don’t overwhelm the palette. Which is good, these beers are best standing on their own.
Neighborhood breweries like this one are a real asset, because here’s where you meet the neighborhood. These beers are good, the environment great, and the people even better. Hard not to like it.
Recommendations
- Flights of up to six beers let you taste them all.
- Look out for seasonal brews, there are many over the course of the year.
- Food is light, probably plan to dine somewhere else if you have a big appetite.
Another Food Critic 