I had to go to Columbus on a business trip. No biggie. So I looked on Beer Advocate for a nice place to go and grab a few local brews. Boy was I in for a surprise.
Less than 20 minutes from my hotel (in Short-North as the locals call it) was a bar called Bodega Café – with 50 (yes that is fifty) beers on tap, and 3 fridges full of bottles – ALL at Happy Hour prices. We don’t have Happy Hour in MA, so that in itself would have made it a great place for me.
But if that was not enough, they served half pints. So often when I travel I face the issue of which beer to choose when I am driving. I have a steadfast rule max 2 when driving. With the half pint option I was able to try 4 different local brews!
Bodega also serves food. The menu was decent – quite a nice selection for a vegetarian. Although I am not a veggie, I eat veggie most of the time.
The folks in the bar were friendly. I met another female beer geek and we chatted for hours about brews we liked, brews we did not like, and even a little bit about wine. The crowd was mixed. There was my fellow beer geek, as well as people who like to go there because it is trendy. I kid you not, one guy ordered like this - verbatim - “you know, the beer with the dog with a hat on it”? (Seadog Blueberry). I could not resist teasing him and his girlfriend about it. He was surprised and awed that I knew which beer he was talking about. I said that I was from the North East and it was very common.
The staff was eah.
The only unfortunate thing about the visit is that I forgot what I drank. I do recall sampling Great Lakes, and 2 other local brews, but as per the variety I could not tell you.
All in all I would have to give Bodega Café a double thumbs up and an A rating.
Well, that's too bad you had to drink that beer without me. I was perusing Columbus blogs because I live here. Low and behold I found this cute girl writing about Bodega. Being that I am a dashing gent, I would have more than happily kept you company at the bar.
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