I am a long time patron of Ohio’s Own Winking Lizard Tavern. They have fantastic burgers, tasty wings, and oddly enough a pretty durn tasty “gyro”. But if you’ve never been here before, all you need to know is that they have an AMAZING beer list. Those who want to try as many as possible can take The World Tour. Basically, if you drink 100 different beers in one year, you get a special Winking Lizard jacket.
But you have to drink beers that are on the list, which include beers from all over the world, including traditional beers, craft beers, seasonals…wheats, ales, pislners, lagers…pumpkin, apricot, raspberry…
A dear friend of mine finished the World Tour more than once, and I was honored to witness his last beer once, as he happily performed his traditional “Waggle Dance” atop a bar stool at the Coventry Road location.
This year is apparently the 25th anniversary of The Tour. Back in the day, you had to drink all of your beers at one location as it was the bar tender who kept your score. Your waiter brought you your card, and checked them off for you as you completed each beer. You MAY NOT let your friends drink your beers for you. (Although my friend has an allergy to wheat beer and the waiter graciously looked the other way as we helped him knock them off the list)
NOW, they have a magnetic swipe card. You must drink your first and last card at your home-base Lizard, but because it is all now computerized, you can drink your others at their other fine locations. You still get a little wallet-sized fold out sheet with all of the beers so you can keep yourself, AND since this is the 25th anniversary, they produced a beautiful spiral bound, full-color booklet! It includes, among other things, a tasting grading list so you can remember which were your favorites, descriptions of each of the beers you have to choose from, and a calendar of availability of all of the seasonal beers, sorted by store location.
Someone awesome organized this. I want their job. (I’m weird like that)
I began my tour with the Left Hand Jr. Black Belt Mild. This is the beer of the month in January, which means at Winking Lizard that for a few extra dollars you get the take-home special glass. This glass has the Left Hand Brewing logo on one side, and a special Winking Lizard 25th Anniversary logo on the other. Brewed specifically for the Anniversary, I have to say it was best with food. It’s mild…so mild that at the start I thought it was a little bland. But after a couple of sips, the flavor on its own began to develop, and with food it really blossomed. A good food beer neither over powers, nor gets lost in the food. This filled the bill.
My second was the Ommegang Hennepin Draft. From the description, I expected it to be like a sparkling pilsner. But instead, it was citrus, creamy and fruity like a hefeweisen. George suggested “Pear Hefeweisen” and I think he was right on the mark. But I’m still trying to decide if I would order it again. The hops simply fought with the soft pear to the degree that the pair and whatever citrus was in there (tasted like orange) tasted astringent. However, like with the Left Hand, it grew on me as I drank it. I wasn’t eating any more at the time, so I’m wondering if temperature of the glass had anything to do with it?
I think that means that I need to wait until I’m about half way through a beer before I do any grading 🙂
Well, I’ll be sure to provide occasional updates should I come across a beer that YOU CAN’T MISS.
xo
en