Brewery 100!! And 101, 102, 103, and 104
- Kassandra-Ashley
- Jan 12, 2023
- 6 min read
When we first started going to breweries, I didn't even like beer. Austin was a huge fan of craft beer, and I wanted to explore one of his hobbies with him. I immediately loved the good vibes breweries always have, and quickly acquired a taste for the beverage that is now one of my favorites. I had no idea we'd have Here for Beer, go to our local brewery's monthly beer release parties, or visit 100 breweries in three years. It's crazy how far we've come!
Early last year, I had lunch with my college mentor and she said she heard of this brewery hotel... a BREWERY... HOTEL. How cool! I immediately told Austin and from that day, we decided this was going to be our 100th brewery. While sitting on the couch one evening in October, I looked at Austin and said, "Let's plan brewery 100. We’ve been stuck at 99 and haven't been able to go to a new brewery since July." We already knew the destination, BrewDog in Columbus Ohio and figured the weekend after thanksgiving would work perfectly since we both had black Friday off from work. All that was left was to book the hotel. Easy peasy.
BrewDog/DogHouse is the world's first beer hotel. There are 32 beer-themed rooms equipped with a draft beer tap and a beer fridge. The rooms also a featured a record player and several records from Ohio musicians (I was hoping we had a Twenty One Pilots record in our room, but we didn't), a guitar, and a neat mini bar with snacks and other useful items for sale. BrewDog did not originate in the United States. The idea began in 2007 in Scotland by James Watt and Martin Dickie (BrewDog Website, 2023). They have expanded to have 4 breweries and over 100 taprooms worldwide. BrewDog Columbus opened in 2015.
After our tummies were full of Thanksgiving food, we came home and packed our bags to get ready for our trip. We hit the road to Ohio the next morning and arrived at BrewDog/ DogHouse Hotel around 3pm. The name is a little confusing because I kept calling it "BrewDog" and Austin kept saying "DogHouse." When we arrived, we realized the brewery was BrewDog and the hotel was DogHouse. The building is decorated with lots of colorful aquatic animals like a shark, octopus, and fish with holes for eyes. At first it seemed a little weird that a hotel named "BrewDog" would be aquatic themed, but later on the brewery tour we found out it's because of Scottish folklore. Also, the mural artist was known to paint everything with holes for eyes. And I just read that BrewDog fermented a beer in the ocean in 2011! Read more about that here.
We cheers-ed our complementary check-in beer as soon as we got into our room. Our room overlooked a portion of the brewery with lots of barrels and colorful walls, which I really think is a display area... not where actual brewing happens. When we walked into the room, we immediately saw the beer fridge in the shower, a beer tap next to a record player, and a comfortable king size bed. We quickly changed and headed out the door to explore our home for the night. We drank our first draft beer while walking around the free museum which had tons of beer facts. My first draft beer was It's a Beaut, a 7.5% stout with notes of pecans and toffee. I loved the aroma and said on Untappd, "I wish I had the aroma in a candle." I rated it 4.5 out of 5. Austin had Lost Lager and actually wrote a review on Untappd. *claps for Aus* He noted the clear, light head with white bubbles, a lemony/bready aroma, and light bitterness and grassy taste. He gave this a 4 out of 5.
We relocated to a bar table while we drank Hellcat and Light Speed. Hellcat is an India Pale Lager that the staff recommended to Austin. He said, "The staff knows good beer," and loved that it was "incredibly drinkable." Light Speed is a Session IPA that I really enjoyed, except someone compared it to a Miller... not even the same style of beer, but okay. It was so much more complex and delicious that I rated it a 5 out of 5. We scarfed down our appetizer before heading to the brewery tour. We drank a canned beer during the roughly 30-minute tour of learning the story, the beers, and the facility. Our night was filled with ping pong matches, talking by the fire pits, and enjoying a complimentary cookie and stout pairing to wind down the night. We shared Jet Black Heart, which I thought was bitter like coffee with super creamy nitro bubbles. The cookie must have tired us out because we quickly took the short walk across the lobby to the elevators and stumbled our way back to our cozy bed in beer heaven.

We enjoyed breakfast and beermosas at the hotel before heading out to explore Columbus on Saturday. We happened to be in Columbus during the big Ohio State vs Michigan game, so the city was pretty busy. In a search for the best chicken and waffles my mom and I had a couple years ago, we went to North Market. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them, so we chatted with some of the small businesses before walking Short North. The highlight of my day was visiting Big Fun, the toy store Twenty One Pilots recorded the music video for Choker. I got myself a Josh Dun t-shirt and we headed to a brewery with the funniest name... Hoof Hearted Brewing. Someone at BrewDog recommended we stop here, and when they said the name I thought he said, "Who farted?" … Take a second to say "Hoof Hearted" out loud right now... lmao.

Hoof Hearted Brewing is located a street or two over from all the activities on N High Street. This brewery has some of the best nachos I've ever had. We paired our giant tower of nachos with some beer, of course. Austin got a pint, and I got my usual, a flight, though I only logged two of the beers: Bulgin Musk and Wet Musk of the Minotaur (2022). Bulgin Musk is an IPA with definitely lots of musk. I loved the wheatiness of it and thought the aroma was wild. Wet Musk of the Minotaur was a standard Hazy IPA.
While we walked the main strip, we saw this place called "Half Baked" and Austin kept saying that he thought it was a brewery. I doubted him until he Googled it. Half Baked started in someone's garage until they had enough money for brewery space. They had some wild times like getting robbed, locked down for a SWAT raid, and had an electric box dropped from the building onto their sound person's head (Half Baked, 2023). The vibes of this place were a lot different from breweries we normally go to. It was very skater and punk, and they open their doors at 4:20... very interesting brewery to say the least. I didn't log the beer I had, but I remember it was some kind of sour. I thought it was okay.
We continued our walk down the street, stopping at various shops. We wandered inside Penn & Beech Candle Co. We didn't realize until someone approached us but it's a place to make your own candle! We picked a few of our favorite scents like oven baked bread, dad's den, and either hops or pine, and poured a candle. It was so much fun. While we waited for it to dry, we went to Barley's Brewing Company. This brewery was interesting because the brewing process happens UNDER the restaurant. One of the beers in my flight was Blood Thirst Wheat. I thought it could have had a little more blood orange flavor, but overall it was super smooth and easy to drink.

Exhausted from the day, we spent the rest of the night in our hotel room watching The Waterboy until we fell asleep. On our drive back home, I was in charge of finding food. As I looked on the maps for a cutie place to stop, I saw a brewery that served pizza. I don't normally choose to eat pizza so when I told Austin where I wanted to go, he said, "Is it also a brewery?" I said, "OF COURSE!" Cushwa Brewing Company in Williamsport, Maryland was such a good find. In the same building as the brewery was Rad Pies known for their award winning pan pizza. We decided on birria pizza with braised barbacoa, shaved bell peppers, crema, cotija cheese, Flaming Hot Cheeto dust, and spiced bone broth for dipping. It was absolutely delicious!! Cushwa had Never Say Hefeweizen on tap and I love me a nice tall Hefeweizen. It was garnished with an orange, which Austin made fun of me for eating instead of putting it in my beer.
Now that we've drank beers at our 100th brewery, I wonder where we will celebrate the next big milestone brewery... Any suggestions?
Cheers,
PS: Feel free to reach out with blog ideas or any questions you may have about our brewery experiences.
Disclaimer: We are not Professional Beer Drinkers. We should be. We will not slander any establishment, but will be honest. We have not kept a log on any of the elements of beers (e.g. aroma, hoppy-ness, after taste, or burp). This blog is for fun!
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