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A Tale of Two Tastings – Hills Market and Tip Top

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 21, 2008

Hills Market had a British Beer and Cheese tasting on April 17th. The turnout was smaller than I expected, only eight souls, but we had a fabulous time. Kent Rand walked us through the cheeses and Constance Begue covered the background of the beers we sampled. Kent did a wonderful job creating appetizers to complement the beer and cheeses.

This is what we sampled:

All the beers were Ales.

Beer: Smithwick’s Irish Ale (Ireland)
Cheese: Blarney Castle (Ireland – semi-soft, park skim milk)
Appetizer: Melon balls wrapped with Blarney castle cheese and a dusting of pistachio nuts

Beer: Samuel Smith Organically Produced Ale (England)
Cheese: Cotswold (England – semi firm cheddar)
Appetizer: Flour tortilla with mayo, spinach, Cotswold cheese, roasted red pepper and grilled chicken breast

Beer: St. Peter’s Golden Ale (Wales)
Cheese: Red Dragon (England – Cheddar blended with toasted mustard seed and a bit of ale)
Appetizer: Brioche with mesclun, red dragon cheese, roast beef and a drizzle of horseradish

Beer: Black Douglas Ale (Ireland)
Cheese: Dubliner (Ireland – aged semi-firm)
Appetizer: endive leaf wrapped with ripe pear, Dubliner cheese, thyme, lemon zest, olive oil, salt and pepper

Beer: Fuller’s Extra Strong Bitter (England)
Cheese: Stinking Bishop (England – soft English stinky cheese)
Appetizer: a wafer-sized slice of fig almond cake with Stinking Bishop cheese and dried cranberries

Beer: Kelpie Seaweed Ale (Scotland)
Cheese: Shropshire Blue (England – aged Stilton)
Appetizer: baby portabella mushroom caps stuffed with Shropshire Blue cheese, tomato bruschetta and Panko bread crumbs

This is what you missed, make sure to give at least one of the Hills tastings a try in the future.

May 29, 2008 – Wines & Cheese from Spain 6.30 p.m.

June 26, 2008 – Wines & Cheeses from Greece 6.30 p.m.

July 24, 2008 – Wines & Cheeses from Italy 6.30 p.m.

August 21, 2008 – Wines & Cheeses from Australia 6.30 p.m.

September 25, 2008 – Wines & Cheeses from France 6.30 p.m.

October 23, 2008 – Octoberfest: Beers & Cheeses 6.30 p.m.

---

Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails partnered with the Columbus Beer Wench for the first Tip Top Drink with the Wench Beer Sampling on Sunday, April 20th from 5pm until 8pm. The sampling included beer, and generous helpings of Ohio Nachos (housemade potato chips topped with melted cheese, tomatoes, green onions, black olives, jalapenos, and sour cream), Sweet Potato Fries and Red Bean Hummus.

We sampled six different beers, three from the Tip Top menu and three candidates for new beers to update the menu. Each person had the opportunity to vote on which of the current beers should be discontinued and which of the new beers should be added to the Tip Top beer selections. Beers chosen by the group will be featured as local selections. The end result, two old beers stayed and one new beer was added.

The Columbus Beer Wench coordinated the pours and poured on the commentary with a touch of charm. Tim Lessner, co-owner kept the food coming and added some Surly Girl insight. Andy Wuelfling from Premium Beverage Supply gave us insider information on each of the beers and clarified that in the industry – there are two schools of thought on just about anything so the end result is essentially – if you like it, it is good.

Here is what we tried.
Southern Tier – HopSun (my favorite)
Lagunitas – The Censored – (formerly Chronic) Cooper Ale

Flying Dog – Old Scratch Amber Lager
Flying Dog – Garde Dog (Biere de Garde)
Southern Tier – Phin and Matt’s (the owners) extraordinary ale
Ft. Collins Brewery – Retro Red

The bolded selections were the winners.

So – as I often say, if you can not find something to do in Columbus – you are not looking.

Posted in bar, beer, beverages, cheese, Columbus | Tagged: Hills Market | 2 Comments »

Delicacies by Sheri – (High Street Bakery Hop, Stop #1)

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 17, 2008

5320 North High St
Columbus, OH 43214
614.431.2800

website

This is the type of place a person drives by each day and it just falls off the radar. I passed by this business twice a day during the work week for years and never dropped in. Due to the screens on the windows, the place usually looks closed and the parking lot is not ideally accessible. Every once in a while I would think I should pop in but I never acted, it was not convenient. However, fate intervened, the weekend before Thankgiving, I strategically picked up two pies from Just Pies; pumpkin and pecan. Try getting a good pie the last couple days before Turkeyfest – it is damn hard. Fun to watch but demoralizing to live through. I had learned the hard way in the past so I was not going to get pie in my face again. I got my pies before the crazed last minute rush.

I let my dad house sit for me that weekend. I came home Sunday evening to find one empty shell of a pumpkin pie in my refrigerator…. my dad said it was great! I knew I was screwed. I was a day late and a pie short

The following Tuesday, I remembered Delicacies by Sheri – it was worth a shot!. When I burst in at closing time, they had two pies left – no pumpkin pies but a very good looking cherry crumb pie. As I waited for my selection to get boxed up, I picked out a few cookies and read an older article about Sheri’s Grandma B’s Peanut Cookie. Things looked promising and if not – at least I had something. The peanut cookie was great. The cherry crumb pie was a 9.8 on the Pie Goodness Scale (PGS). I now drop in from time to time to sample new cookies. They mix up their mix of cookies frequently so you never know what they will have. They rarely have much else available on the fly – everything is made from scratch and usually on request. They will stock a few pies and other things before big holidays for walk in traffic – which they would love to see more of. However, they make their bread and butter on specialty cakes. I have not tried one yet – that is another post.

Posted in CLOSED | 2 Comments »

Quadruple Hamburger – Circleville Roadtrip, Part 1

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 1, 2008

The Original Hamburger Inn
125 Watt Street
Circleville, Ohio
740 747 1233
(Closed the business in November 2008 – please let me know if they reopen)

I heard about the Original Hamburger Inn in Circleville for a couple years. I was passing through town one afternoon while coming back to Columbus after doing some work for “the man”. I popped in for a quick hamburger and found it to be very tasty. While I was there I noticed a little sign titled Josh Dares You. I am all about dares – they typically get me into a lot of trouble.

In case you can not read the bottom line – it says – Don’t be a pansy, no sharing please!

As it turns out, for $10, Josh dares you to eat a quadruple hamburger – with cheese if you like, unlimited fries and free refills on Pepsi. Um….duh, how could I not want to do that – it is a bargain. I was determined to come back and get my ten dollars worth.

A few weeks later I was back with two friends in tow. The Quadruple hamburger was really good and not so big as to cause illness. There is no way Josh is making any money on this ten dollar steal. Josh is the owner, he dropped by about every 5 minutes refilling my fries. There was almost a sense of panic if my beverage was less than 3/4 full. My non foodie friend Chris had a quad burger as well and thought it was great.

Josh reports that the “Josh Challenge” is popular on the weekends, 3-6 people will come in for the dare and most usually finish their burger. During the Circleville Pumpkin Festival 10 or more quadruple burgers are ordered each day. The most memorable consumption was two quadruple burgers, a load of fries and a piece of pie by an out of town visitor during a past Pumpkin Festival. There are also Pumpkin Burgers for the festival. Really!

The Original Hamburger Inn has been around since 1930. Josh has owned and operated it with his family for about 6 years. It is a Circleville local landmark and worth the drive for the experience of eating in a small town eatery where everyone knows everyone by name. This would be a good summer or fall adventure. Circleville is about 30 minutes from Columbus depending on where you hail from. There are several farmers markets along Route 23 you can check out on your way there or back to mix up the drive.

Josh dares you, so do I – hit the road and get that hamburger.

Posted in CLOSED, hamburgers, Ohio, restaurants | Tagged: The Original Hamburger Inn | 7 Comments »

Wittich’s – America’s Oldest Confectioner? – Circleville Roadtrip Part 2

Posted by CMH Gourmand on April 1, 2008

Wittich’s

117 West High Street

Circleville, OH

740 474 3313

After my run to the Original Hamburger Inn, I drove a block or so to the northwest for a visit to what may be the nations oldest confectionary – Wittich’s. This chocolate and candy shop has been operated by the same family since 1840. It is currently run by Fred Wittich the great grandson of the founder. I did some quick research on confectionaries in the country. I am not sure it is the oldest – but it probably is the oldest run by the same family (I am still researching this).

My party sampled the candy selections with a venegence and found all to be very good. I really enjoyed the dark chocolate covered peanut brittle. Wittich’s is overflowing with character, charm and history – I felt good walking through the door and those feelings just continued to get better.

What really caught my eye was the 1930’s era soda fountain/counter. Some people know that I am an ice cream lover. One or two people know my first job was at Knight’s Ice Cream in Columbus and because of that I am a big fan of ice cream lore. There are just a handful operating of soda fountains in the country and I had accidently stumbled upon one.

 

As I sat there on one of the twirling counter seats, I was thinking of memories of a soda fountain in the the part of Columbus I grew up in. At about that moment, a small sign caught my eye. It explained the soda fountain I was sitting at was purchased from the former Beechwold Pharmacy in 1997. Guess where I used to go as a child….. yep!

Posted in chocolate, culinary knowledge, ice cream, Ohio | Tagged: Wittich's Confectionary | 7 Comments »

CMH in SYD and MEL; Support your local Food Blogs in the meantime

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 30, 2008

I am going on a long overdue holiday to my happy place – Australia. I look forward to a couple weeks of wine (Hunter and Yarra Valleys), beer (Carlton and Cascade), dining, pumpkin soup slurping, great cheeses, train riding and most importantly friends. I should be back online by the end of April.

In the meantime – if you do not already do so – check out the Columbus Food Blogs I have listed on this site (to the left) and listen to Columbus Foodcast (episode 7 goes live on April 4th) to tide you over. The Columbus Beer Wench is the special guest star for our 7th installment. We should have some award winning bloopers as a trailer for episode 7.

There will be two entries in a day or two about my run to Circleville as my parting Bon Voyage posts.

Thanks to everyone for supporting CMH Gourmand. I have had great feedback on the blog over the last six months. I look forward to crafting more of the same when I get back.

Posted in food | 1 Comment »

Beer and Cheese – The New Peanut Butter and Chocolate!

Posted by CMH Gourmand on March 26, 2008

Pace Hi Carry Out in Clintonville closed in February. The signs of demise were there for a long time – they just never seemed to be able to keep things in stock..so I stopped going long ago. Having the wine displayed in the window made me wary as well – you could not do anything worse to a bottle of vino.

UPDATE: Pace Hi reopened August 2008 with new ownership and a lot of work invested in new coolers, stock, etc. This is a great rebound for this part of Clintinville.

I often wonder if a new business concept called Hops and Curd – a high end beer and cheese store might work in Clintonville.

OK – the concept of wine and cheese is well sold.

But beer and cheese…. not so much. I believe beer and cheese is the undiscovered peanut butter and chocolate of the 21st century. So that is why I am posting this post…to build a groundswelling of support for this advanced idea.

And as it just happens – Constance and Kent at Hills Market will be offering a Beer and Cheese Tasting on April 17th – check out the Hills Market web site and get on the mailing list for more details. I have attended two Hills Market wine and cheese tastings – both were wonderful so I expect the beer and cheese pairing to be just as good. The format for the wine tastings has been 6 pairing of wine and cheese with a appetizer for each. The Beer and Cheese tasting will probably have the same format. The cost would be no more than $35. As a bonus, you typically get 10% off anything you buy at that store following the tasting. It a great deal. See my post about the December tasting for more information.

To further sell pairing beer with cheese check out the site below:

A link with all you need to know about beer and cheese

So what do you think – is it time to open Hops and Curd during a recession?

Posted in beverages, cheese, culinary knowledge, food | 6 Comments »

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