(Photos by Jim Lauwers)

The First Annual Columbus Beerfest kicked off last night at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and continues this evening with more beer, music and festivities from 7pm to 11pm. The event features over 150 craft beers from both local and national brewers. Below are are photos taken at last night’s event. [Read More]

Special Memorial Day Weekend Edition! For those of you not grilling out to your own tunes, here are some events happening around town. Hit the new Farmer’s Market today at the Wexner Center at 4pm. Later Thursday evening at Barrio see DJ Legend Rich Medina. On Friday, the Hyatt Regency is hosting MARCON 45 Necropolis: A Year in Horror. The Statehouse Summer Lunch Series also starts Friday at noon. Listen to bands while you enjoy your lunch on the Statehouse lawn. The 1st Annual Columbus Beerfest is going on both Friday and Saturday at the Convention Center.  The 16th Annual Salmon Roast is happening at The Hills Market on Saturday from 11:30am to 3:30pm. No reservations needed. At 5pm, zombies are invading Goodale Park for this year’s Zombie Walk. Head there at your own risk! Can’t get enough of brains? New Cult Classics at Studio 35 is showing Brain Candy late Saturday night. Hop over to Grandview on Saturday night from 5-9pm for their Grandview Hop. Don’t forget that Sex & the City 2 debuts this weekend! Or join The Crew at 7:30pm to Blackout the Galaxy. The Clippers are at home all weekend if you are in the mood for baseball. Friday and Saturday, the new arts collective abX is presenting Visual Rhythms at the Ohio Art League space. Saturday and Sunday, the Columbus Asian Festival takes over Franklin Park. Creekside Gahanna’s Paddleboats will be available starting this weekend.  The North Market is hosting their 5th Annual Grillmaster’s Festival on Saturday and Sunday. Celebrate the Lincoln Theatre’s First Year on Monday. Also on Monday, check out a new art gallery downtown at the No One Dogma show at Lynn-Braun Gallery. Grill, Columbus, Grill!

The first annual Columbus Beerfest takes place this Friday and Saturday at the Columbus Convention Center. Over 150 local and national craft beers will be available for tasting, including offerings from The Elevator Brewing Company, Goose Island, Founders, Gordon Biersch, CBC, Stone Brewing Company, Barleys and more!

We’re giving away a pair of tickets to the Friday Night portion of the event. To enter to win, simply log in and post a reply to this topic and tell us about your favorite craft beer! The deadline to enter for today’s giveaway is midnight tonight. One name will be drawn at random, and the winner will receive two free will call tickets.

Additional tickets can be purchased online at www.beerfesttickets.com.

Update: This Contest has ended. Congrats to our winner!

Both the homebrew and microbrew scenes in Columbus recently gained a notch in their belts with the opening of the Neil House Brewery & Homebrew Supply store. This Reynoldsburg-based business not only sells the supplies needed for brewing up your own beer at home, but they will also soon be selling their own batches at a store or bar near you. We recently caught up with Patrick Kelleher, Brewmaster, Owner and Founding Member of Neil House Brewery to find out more about the new operation. [Read More]

In this week’s podcast we sit down with James Marks, co-founder of the Columbus Beer Guys Blog, a new local resource that provides information about craft beers. Their site showcases beer events, local bars, local breweries and interviews with industry professionals. James shares with us his passion for craft beer and provides some insight on the best places to seek it out in Columbus.

You can use the player below to listen to the podcast, click here to download an mp3, click here to subscribe via iTunes, or click here to subscribe to the rss feed.

Zane Lamprey, host of the international bar-crawl show “Three Sheets” (which will be returning to the air on the Travel Channel on April 14th) is hitting the road this month on a cross-country drinking tour. According to his website, one of those stops will take place right here in Columbus:

“I’ll be in most cities for just a day. So, I’m not just interested in checking out any ol’ local bars or hang-outs… I want to know THE local bar or hang-out! What is THE bar in the city that best represents the city?”

So… if you could only recommend one bar for Zane that best represents Columbus… which bar would it be?

Happy Hour means a lot of different things to different people. For some it’s a way to unwind after work. For others it’s cheap drink without breaking the bank. No matter what your reason may be, it’s hard to beat the happy hour specials at Bodega, who soared to the top of our reader’s poll as the best happy hour deal in 2009. Their 50 beers on tap is one of the largest selections in town, and when they run them all at half price from 4 to 8 pm every weekday, it’s no wonder they stay as busy as they always are. [Read More]

We’re not quite sure if this is a result of conducting our reader survey at the end of the year, or if people really anticipate this seasonal beer all year long, but either way, Great Lakes Christmas Ale took home the number one spot as Best Drink of 2009. Made by The Great Lakes Brewing Company located in Cleveland, this award-winning Ohio beer is only available in November and December. Many local bars feature keg tapping parties to celebrate the arrival of their first (and sometimes only) batch of the season. [Read More]

Like many residents in many neighborhoods around Columbus, Orin Hemminger has spent plenty of time eyeballing the boarded-up retail space at the end of his block and wishing that someone would open up the type of business that he’d like to see: an east-coast style pizza shop with killer happy hour deals on a variety of microbrews. After a few years of dreaming, Orin decided to take matters into his own hands, and the concept for Yellow Brick Pizza was born. We sat down recently with Orin to find out more about why he decided that it was time bring this idea to life. [Read More]

While curling has a history of popularity in Canada and the upper Midwest, the 2002 Olympics, brought curling to a wider American audience. Columbus Curling Club experienced a period of rapid growth after the last Olympiad. The club is now home to curlers of all levels of experience and all walks of life, including Canadian expats, the OSU Club Curling Team, and even local artist Jim Maneri. [Read More]