A few days after I got back from LA, I drove out to Ohio and back within a 24 hour period. It was a whirlwind that I just woke up from, but it was very worth it. I got to see some old friends, play some music in a beautiful chapel, and of course, drink some killer brews. I hit up my friend Aaron who used to live in Oberlin where we were playing, and basically got into craft beers while he was there, and he told me “you want to go to Johnny’s.” He was right, I did.
Johnny’s is a small liquor and beer store that is close to a college campus and therefore will be perpetually in business until the college vaporizes itself somehow. Far from being a typical liquor store spot, however, Johnny’s stocks the finest available craft beers Ohio has to offer, providing a nice selection at a great price right near anywhere you’d want to be in Oberlin. Score.
The first night in Oberlin we stopped and picked up a couple six packs and a few bombers for the night. We ended up with some Bell’s Porter, a bomber of Brew Keeper’s Mad Brewer’s Hop Fusion IPA, and a sixer of Bell’s Third Coast Beer. Before we hit the gig, however, we stopped at a local Mexican joint and sampled Great Lakes Dormunder Gold, the pervasive session beer in Oberlin. A great session Lager that I’ve sampled on many other trips thoughout the midwest, Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold is a very solid, drinkable rendition of one of the most classic and revered styles of German Lager. Golden and crisp with enough malt to balance and a nice dry, noble finish, Dortmunder Gold is a perfect brew to enjoy with food and could replace any other BMC bullshit Lager in any college town and leave the masses more enlightened for it. Maybe one day.
Bell’s Porter is an American style Porter with a good amount of residual sweetness and a bitter finish that packs quite a punch if you try to make it your “beer of the night.” Getting through two or three of these really had me going and it’s funny how you can never tell how a night with Bell’s will leave you. This one left me feeling pretty bent, but the nice fruit and chocolate malt flavors, balanced with enough hop bitterness to make it drinkable was exactly what I was looking for from one of my favorite breweries who can seemingly do anything. Classic.
Alternating between the Porter and Bell’s Third Coast Beer was a bit jarring, coming as they do from two different sides of the Bell’s Beer camp. Third Coast Beer is a biter golden ale that doesn’t have enough yeast presence to be Belgian, enough hop presence to be an IPA, or enough malt presence to be a Pale Ale. A somewhat thin, middle of the road beer, it took some getting used to before I realized it was just never going to taste right if I was switching it up with some Porters. Decent enough on its own, sort of a thinner Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Third Coast Beer deserves a shot on its own because it’s brown brother kinda killed it. Oops.
T-Bone chose to start the night with the bomber of Mad Brewer’s Hop Fusion IPA, a “fusion of four hop varities” that came in a very DIY looking bomber, promising enough as a craft selection from Ohio. We weren’t expecting much but we got a very satisfying Hoppy IPA with a great floral nose, a solid amber malt backbone, and a ton of bitterness to finish. Excellent beer that I would love to have on tap — I have another selection of theirs to review later.
We hit Johnny’s on the way out of town and grabbed some other Bell’s selections I haven’t tried or written about, along with some other gems not available in these parts. Stay tuned for some more words on those.
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