Drinksgiving Goes to Eleven: Chapter II

Every year, we always struggle to find a bar or brewery open on Thanksgiving day. In the end, we get lucky and find at least one place that opens after dinner for the locals. This time around, I did a bit more reconnaissance and found two craft beer bars that opened at 7 p.m. as well as a cool movie theater and craft beer bar hybrid. As if that wasn't enough, I discovered several establishments serving Thanksgiving dinner! With our agenda pretty much mapped out for the entire day, we set out to our first stop on Turkey Day.

After checking out a few potential candidates for dinner, I decided on a winery called Cooper's Hawk. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. The menu sounded perfect - a traditional 3-course Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixins. Turns out the winery is based in Chicago, and they have a few regional locations, Columbus being one of these. We arrived about 30 minutes early because Google Maps indicated it might take a while to navigate through a shopping strip littered with traffic lights every tenth of a mile. Traffic was pretty light, hence our early arrival. The place was massive; much larger than I'd anticipated. We checked in, and they were able to seat us after only two or three minutes, which was great because we might not have made it to the 3 p.m. screening of the movie we'd planned to check out after dinner (more on that later). We were seated upstairs in a loft area overlooking the gift shop. The place was a bit more elegant than I thought it would be, but definitely not too fancy. I'm a pretty cultured guy anyway... or at least can be when I need to be.

The loft area inside Cooper's Ridge (courtesy of Google)

Our meal began with a thick, creamy butternut squash bisque with walnut and creme garnish. It was delicious and served at the perfect temperature. The pretzel rolls were also pretty awesome. I could have eaten two more but knew I had to keep some room in the gut for the main course. The main entree featured both white and dark meat turkey with all of the sides you'd expect on your Thanksgiving dinner plate: mashed and sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies (green beans and roasted carrots), cranberry relish, and a creamy corn casserole that was sweet and savory. For dessert, we each enjoyed a piece of pumpkin cheesecake that was totally worth the calories! The wine, a house Cabernet Sauvignon with notes of black cherry and pepper, elevated the meal. This was indeed a far cry from the Subway turkey sub I'd consumed on Thanksgiving day a several years prior on our Drinksgiving trip to Charleston, SC. One of the things I've always hated about Drinksgiving is missing dinner at my mom's house, but this definitely lived up to the umami of past Thanksgiving dinners prepared by my mom.

After dinner, it was off to Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse for beer and a movie. I was hoping Bohemian Rhapsody would still be playing (we'd seen it already and enjoyed it, but was hoping to see it again... you know me and rock music), but Creed 2 had just taken over the day before. The other location (there are two similar theaters in Columbus) was screening Fantastic Beasts, some Harry Potter-esque wizard nonsense, so we opted for Creed. I shouldn't hate on Harry Potter because I never saw any of the movies or read any of the books. Plus, I was a bona fide D&D nerd for most of my adolescence. But the Rocky movie franchise was one of my favorites as a kid, and even though we didn't see the first Creed movie, I figured I'd be able to follow along just fine.

Pretty dope tap selection at Studio 35.

We perused the surprisingly vast draft selection and made our picks. I went with Bodhi, a DIPA from Columbus Brewing, primarily because I wanted something hoppy but also because it appeared that CBC was a production brewery only (i.e. no taproom), so this was a good opportunity to try one of its beers. The server behind the counter indicated it was their top-selling beer. And for good reason, because it was pretty damn delicious! I'd even go so far as to say it was one of the most memorable beers of the trip. A no-frills DIPA with a West Coast vibe (the way I like 'em) Bodhi boasted a bellyful of Citra hop goodness with lots of juicy orange and grapefruit notes with a balanced malt profile and a pretty dry, hoppy finish. Absolutely delicious. Fun fact: The name "Bodhi" refers to the type of tree under which Buddha was enlightened. I actually remembered this from 10th grade World Cultures class (thanks, Mr. Probert). We took a quick stroll around the lobby, which was decorated with movie posters and memorabilia, including a nice little nook dedicated to my favorite movie, The Big Lebowski. See?

Studio 35 is privy to all the new shit.

Midway through the movie, it was time for a refill, and Brewslut could tell that I was more into the movie than both of us would have thought. Hey man, it's Rocky! I told her to pick something I'd like, and she returned with a beer called Hazy Miss Daisy from the local Columbus brewery Zaftig (more on Zaftig in Chapter III). A NE-style IPA, this one is hopped with Amarillo and Mosaic for a juicy, fruity, sweet-tart kind of flavor. It was pretty tasty but fell kind of flat after the Bodhi. West Coast IPAs are definitely more aggressively bitter than their NE counterparts, and one of the side effects of imbibing a DIPA is enduring its palate-wrecking nature. Regardless, the movie was much better than I had anticipated. Most people know that, despite not being into sports at all, I'm a sucker for underdog sports movies. I've seen Rocky many times over the years and still cry at the end. Every time. Without going into too many details about the movie, I will say that it has intrigued me to go back and watch the Balboa and first Creed movies, both of which I've never seen despite my Rocky fandom.

After the movie, we had some time to kill before the bars opened, so we headed back to the homestead to relax and watch some TV before heading out to Bodega. I'd gotten a tip on the BA forum that this place is open on Thanksgiving evening, so I made sure to lock it into the agenda. We arrived shortly after they opened for the evening at 7 p.m. A healthy crowd of regulars was already beginning to emerge, and we took two seats at the bar among them. Almost immediately, Pleeps ascended to his usual rock star status with the customers, so he felt right at home. The tap list was pretty impressive and included plenty of local breweries with a cast of heavy hitters and rarely seen favorites like Alaskan. They even had Troegenator on tap, which always proves a good segue into conversation with the bartender.

Decor-wise, the place was kind of quirky but clean and uncluttered. A mural of cassettes adorned one of the back walls, which reminded me of something Modern Times in San Diego would do. There were also some other cool, unusual decorations giving the place a modern-vintage look.

Wall of cassettes (mostly shitty music, though... I looked).

Always glad to see something from Jackie O's on tap, I opted for one of their beers called Perpetum, a Berliner Weisse-inspired American Wild Ale. To achieve its tart character, the base beer - a blend of two-row barley and white wheat paired with German noble hops - is introduced to a proprietary mixed culture of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Saccharomyces during fermentation. After four to six weeks, the beer is blended with previous runs of Perpetum to ensure a consistent flavor profile. Think light, refreshing tartness with bright lemon and subtle wheat bread notes.

Meanwhile, Brewslut was working on a pour of Sunrise at Dusk from Cleveland-based brewery, Platform. Platform actually has a remote tasting room in Columbus, but we'd already visited its main location in Cleveland a few years back, so we decided to explore other new-to-us breweries. A Berliner Weisse (one of her favorite styles), this beer features a pinkish hue and dark fruit notes akin to plum and cherry and a faint tannic, slightly tart finish.

Continuing on, I decided to explore the dark side with an Imperial Pumpkin Porter from Alaskan Brewing. Unless we're out galavanting on the West Coast, its beers are few and far between. So when I come across one of its beers on tap, I'll generally order it. This particular pumpkin beer was brewed with six different malts including Alaskan alder-smoked malt. Alaskan's smoked porter is one of my favorite beers ever and easily my most loved smoked beer of all, so once I read that little nugget of information, it was a no-brainer. The spice blend comprises brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove for the typical "pumpkin" flavors and aromas. It's also brewed with actual Red Hubbards pumpkin, too. Well, technically they're squash. Flavor-wise, this slick, black ale reminded me of the smoked porter thanks to the addition of the smoked malt, but the spices formed the basis of the dominant flavor. Honestly, the smoked malt aspect made it more enjoyable and added a depth of complexity rarely seen in pumpkin beers. While the spices could have been dialed back just a tad, this was a very enjoyable beer overall.

The coolest pachyderm-shaped mirror ball ever!

Brewslut was hankering for some hops and settled on Proliferous, a DIPA from Seventh Son Brewing (more on this brewery in an upcoming chapter). This Mosaic-heavy DIPA boasts layers of tropical fruit and citrus with bracing pine bitterness in the finish. This was pretty solid and definitely piqued our interest in going to Seventh Son later on during the trip.

Overall, this was an amazing visit. The staff was excellent, and to celebrate the holiday I cracked open a bottle of Wild Elf to share with the bartenders (one of which was the beer manager). They both enjoyed it immensely, and the manager inquired about how to obtain some to sell at the bar. We also enjoyed a long conversation with two thirtysomething guys who worked for Amazon. They weren't huge beer guys, but we talked a lot about music (especially Metallica and Rush) and just life in general. It made our visit that much more enjoyable.

After a lengthy session at Bodgea, our plan was to visit another local bar called St. James Tavern, which was also open on Thanksgiving evening. We made the short drive, just a few blocks from Bodega, and parked on the street. We headed in and the tap list wasn't nearly as impressive as Bodega. We were also pretty hungry, but unfortunately they had no food options and nothing was close. So we decided to leave and find somewhere to eat. We drove by a few places, but alas, none were open. After all, it was Thanksgiving night. We found another place the appeared open, so we parked and went inside. Unfortunately, they too had no food available.

After wandering around town a bit, we circled back around to Bodega and decided to hit up a place a few doors down called Oddfellows. Someone at Bodega mentioned they were offering a Thanksgiving dinner buffet for only $12. Thoughts of nasty-ass food at a strip club quickly entered my mind but were eventually thwarted by my hunger pangs. Surprisingly, the buffet was pretty legit (even though much of the turkey had already been depleted). No fear, though, as I'm a king picker! In addition to turkey, the buffet featured mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, apple walnut stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and even tofurkey (i.e. baked tofu). See?

The best $12 I spent on the trip!

This place was decorated to the hilt for the holidays. Strands of old school lights were strung across the ceiling, vintage-looking signs and dolls adorned the walls, shelves, and pretty much any nook and cranny they could cram them. I was digging it! The bar was packed, but we were able to grab a small table betwixt two groups of patrons. Meanwhile, some annihilated customer had to be hoisted out of his seat by two friends - one on either side to prop him up - and escorted out of the bar. I was hoping he wouldn't vomit near us. Honestly, I think he was completely passed out. It looked like they were dragging this guy out of there. Amateur.

It appears that Oddfellows enjoys the Christmas season. 

While we were here, we might as well get a beer, right? I was pleased to see yet another Jackie O's beer on tap (especially since we were so close yet so far away from Athens), so I ordered it. Nothing like ending the day with a cheap turkey day feast and a Triple IPA. Hopped with six different American hop varieties at the rate of 5 lbs. per barrel, this triple IPA boasts aromas of orange marmalade, ripe melon and zesty lemon. To quote from the official beer description: "The flavor is full of rich orange flesh with herbal piney jabs that linger endlessly." Jabs. I like that. Seems fitting since we'd just seen Creed 2.

The reason for the season, mother fuckas!

I could have stayed here for a while, but the day was catching up to us. Two big Thanksgiving meals in one day meant that the tryptophan was kicking in hard... not to mention all of the beer. Plus, the music changed over from STP-like 90's alternative rock to flavor-of-the-moment modern pop while we were there, which just grates on me after a while (like ten minutes... and that's being generous). After a bit, I visited the unisex bathroom to rock a piss and saw this poster displayed on the wall...

Amazing! Where do I sign up?!

Man, I wish we'd have been staying until the following week! I definitely need to pitch this to a local bar in my area. I'm just not sure if I'd want to host it or be a contestant. Well, that's all for now, folks. By then it was time to head back to the ol' homestead for some rest. Stay tuned for Chapter III, when things get kicked up a notch or two and more drinking ensues. Until next time...