Inside The Hills Market

This Week in the Chef's Case

All of the offerings from our 2009 Thanksgiving Menu will be available in the Chef's Case this week, staring Tuesday morning. You'll be able to pick up gravy, sides and pies every day, including Thanksgiving. The store is open this Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for your convenience. And just in case your need something from our Liquor Agency, you can count on us for all of your high proof needs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Kris' Picks: Beer Tasting | June 9 | 5.30 - 7.30 p.m. | $10 (IPA's & Pale Ales)

Our favorite Beer Chick (who happens to be one of the top 35 Women Beer Raters in the World), Kristine, will be presenting a selection of her favorite seasonal beers all summer long. Join us on The Veranda on June 9 for six pours, witty banter and a grand old time as you explore the world of beer with Kristine. No reservations required.

Future Tastings:

July 14

August 11

September 8

October 13

Hills For The Holidays - Helpful Hints for Holiday Spirits

Need some help figuring out just how to select a wine or beer as a gift? Here are some tips from Wine Director Constance Begue.

• Try to think back to the last time you dined or were at a party with the recipient; did they relish that Cabernet Sauvignon, or was a sweet Riesling more their style? Or did they admire the craft beer above all?

• If you can narrow their preference down to red or white but aren’t sure of which variety of grape, go with a blend. This is an easy way to have success with many palates as the blends often contain several grape varieties and typically result in a smooth, easy drinking wine.

Beer Tasting Tonight!

Enjoy the beautiful weather tonight on The Veranda at The Hills Market. Beer expert Kristine Eley will be pouring six beers at this informal tasting.

West Coast IPA from Green Flash Brewing
Imperial IPA from Green Flash Brewing
Great Lakes Burning River
Sierra Nevada Harvest
Buckeye Hippie IPA
Hazed & Infused

The tasting starts at 5.30 p.m. and is $10 per person. No reservations are required.

Liquor Agency Now Open!

It took almost a year, but we're pleased to announce the opening of our State Liquor Agency. The shelves are stocked and we're open for business, ready to provide the same level of customer service for liquor customers as we do the rest of the store. Below are a few details about the agency.

Who do I contact for special orders?

The department is run by Jay Stiffler. You may also contact Wine Director, Constance Begue. Both can be reached at 614846.3220.

What are the hours of operation?

Agency hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.

Is there State Minimum Pricing?

Our new State Liquor Agency features State Prices as set by the Division of Liquor Control.

Did the Wine Department get smaller?

We've rearranged our wine racks to conserve space, but have actually been able to provide more wine and beer labels.

Do I have to use cash?

We accept cash and credit cards.

Hop Head Week 2

 

Kristine Eley will be pouring beers again on The Veranda on August 29th at 5.30 p.m. for another Hop Head Week. Below are a listing of the types of beers (with help from beeradvocate.com) and the specific beers that she'll be pouring. Mark your calendars and bring friends!

American Double IPA

Description: Take an India Pale Ale and feed it steroids, ergo the term Double IPA. Although open to the same interpretation as its sister styles, you should expect something robust, malty, alcoholic and with a hop profile that might rip your tongue out. The Imperial usage comes from Russian Imperial stout, a style of strong stout originally brewed in England for the Russian Imperial Court of the late 1700s. Its application to an unrelated style makes little sense to many, so Double IPA is quickly becoming the preferred name.   You can thank west coast American brewers for this somewhat reactionary style. "Thanks!"

We'll be tasting: Stone Ruination & Great Divide Hercules Double IPA

American Pale Ale (APA)

Description: Of British origin, this style is now popular worldwide and the use of local ingredients, or imported, produces variances in character from region to region. Generally, expect a good balance of malt and hops. Fruity esters and diacetyl can vary from none to moderate, and bitterness can range from lightly floral to pungent.       American versions tend to be cleaner and hoppier, while British tend to be more malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced.

We'll be tasting: Three Floyds Alpha King & Otter Creek Pale Ale

American IPA

Description: The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt back bone.

We'll be tasting: Bell’s Two-hearted, New Holland Mad Hatter & Boulder Mojo India Pale Ale

Rye Beer

Description: Not to be confused with a German Roggenbier, a beers that fall into this category contain a notable amount of rye grain in the grist bill. Bitterness tends to be moderate, to allow the often spicy and sour-like rye characteristics to pull through.

We'll be tasting: Two Brothers Cane & Ebel

         

Wheat Beers & Hefe Weizens

Wheat beers and summer go hand in hand, and we're happy to combine the two tonight for another beer tasting on The Veranda with Kristine Eley. Paired with fresh fruit, you'll find these beers refreshing and the evening entertaining. The tasting is from 7 to 9 tonight, and is $15 per person. (Including eight selections and fruit.)

American Pale Wheat Ale

An Americanized version of a Hefe Weizen, these beers range within the pale to golden range in color. Reminiscent of a Hefe Weizen in appearance, unless filtered. Long-lasting head with a light to medium body, higher carbonation is proper. German Weizen flavors and aromas of banana esters and clove-like phenols will not be found. Most use a substantial percentage of wheat malt. Hop character will be low to high but most are moderate in bitterness. There may be some fruitiness from ale fermentation though most examples use of a fairly neutral ale yeast, resulting in a clean fermentation with little to no diacetyl.

Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

Tonight's American Pale Wheat Ales:

Bells Oberon
Hoppin’ Frog Hefeweizen
Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen
Flying Dog In Heat Wheat
Pyramid Hefeweizen

Witbier

A Belgian Style ale that's very pale and cloudy in appearance due it being unfiltered and the high level of wheat, and sometimes oats, that's used in the mash. Always spiced, generally with coriander, orange peel and other odd ball spices or herbs in the back ground. The crispness and slight twang comes from the wheat and the lively level of carbonation. This is one style that many brewers in the US have taken a liking to and have done a very good job of staying to style. Sometimes served with a lemon, but if you truly want to enjoy the untainted subtleties of this style you'll ask for yours without one. Often referred to as "white beers" (witbieren) due to the cloudiness / yeast in suspension.

Tonight's Witbier:

Blue Moon White Ale

Hefe Weizen

A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance. Poured into a traditional Weizen glass, the Hefeweizen can be one sexy looking beer.

Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

Tonight's Hefe Weizen:

Barrelhouse Hocking Hills Hefeweizen

Light Lager

The Light Lager is generally a lighter version of a breweries premium lager, some are lower in alcohol but all are lower in calories and carbohydrates compared to other beers. Typically a high amount of cereal adjuncts like rice or corn are used to help lighten the beer as much as possible. Very low in malt flavor with a light and dry body. The hop character is low and should only balance with no signs of flavor or aroma. European versions are about half the alcohol (2.5-3.5% abv) as their regular beer yet show more flavor (some use 100% malt) then the American counterparts. For the most part this style has the least amount of flavor than any other style of beer.

Tonight's Light Lagers include:

Michelob Ultra Selections

All descriptions courtesy of www.beeradvocate.com

Hop Head Week: IPA Beer Tasting

Beer lovers, get ready for another night of beer tasting with the lovely and talented Kristine Eley out on The Veranda. This Wednesday, May 23rd, from 7 to 9 p.m., she'll be pouring eight different IPA's for your tasting pleasure. This tasting is only $10 and now includes pretzels for palate-cleansing! Below is a guide to the selections we'll be trying, with descriptions from beeradvocate.com.

American Double IPA

Description:

Take an India Pale Ale and feed it steroids, ergo the term Double IPA. Although open to the same interpretation as its sister styles, you should expect something robust, malty, alcoholic and with a hop profile that might rip your tongue out. The Imperial usage comes from Russian Imperial stout, a style of strong stout originally brewed in England for the Russian Imperial Court of the late 1700s. Its application to an unrelated style makes little sense to many, so Double IPA is quickly becoming the preferred name.

You can thank west coast American brewers for this somewhat reactionary style. "Thanks!"

American Pale Ale (APA)

Description:

Of British origin, this style is now popular worldwide and the use of local ingredients, or imported, produces variances in character from region to region. Generally, expect a good balance of malt and hops. Fruity esters and diacetyl can vary from none to moderate, and bitterness can range from lightly floral to pungent.

American versions tend to be cleaner and hoppier, while British tend to be more malty, buttery, aromatic and balanced.

American IPA

Description:

The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt back bone.

Rye Beer

Description:

Not to be confused with a German Roggenbier, a beers that fall into this category contain a notable amount of rye grain in the grist bill. Bitterness tends to be moderate, to allow the often spicy and sour-like rye characteristics to pull through.

And the specific beers:

Stone Ruination
Great Divide Hercules Double IPA
Three Floyds Alpha King
Otter Creek Pale Ale
Bell’s Two-hearted
New Holland Mad Hatter
Boulder Mojo India Pale Ale
Two Brothers Cane & Ebel

First Beer Tasting Tonight!

We're bringing in four new beers for the premiere beer tasting tonight, the Ohio Tour of Beers.

Below is a sneak preview of those four beers, with descriptions by our lovely hostess Kristine Eley (with the help of beeradvocate.com). Our tastings don't require reservations, but they do start on time. She'll be pouring seven Ohio beers from 7 until 9 p.m. tonight on The Veranda. The tasting is $10, and doesn't include food. However, the grill on The Veranda will be fired up for your eating needs. I suggest the Grilled Portobello Sandwich.

*BarrelHouse Hocking Hills Hefeweizen, Cincinnati, OH

Hefe weizen

A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance. Poured into a traditional Weizen glass, the Hefeweizen can be one sexy looking beer.

Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 4.0-7.0%

*Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Akron, OH

Russian Imperial Stout

Inspired by brewers back in the 1800’s to win over the Russian Czar, this is the king of stouts, boasting high alcohol by volumes and plenty of malt character. Low to moderate levels of carbonation with huge roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavours. Often dry. Suggestions of dark fruit and flavors of higher alcohols are quite evident. Hop character can vary from none, to balanced to aggressive.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 8.0-12.00%

*Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale, Cleveland, OH

Witbier

A Belgian Style ale that's very pale and cloudy in appearance due it being unfiltered and the high level of wheat, and sometimes oats, that's used in the mash. Always spiced, generally with coriander, orange peel and other odd ball spices or herbs in the back ground. The crispness and slight twang comes from the wheat and the lively level of carbonation. This is one style that many brewers in the US have taken a liking to and have done a very good job of staying to style. Sometimes served with a lemon, but if you truly want to enjoy the untainted subtleties of this style you'll ask for yours without one.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 4.0-7.0%

*Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA, Cleveland, OH
*Buckeye Hippie IPA, Bedford Heights, OH

American IPA

The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt back bone.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.5-7.5% 

Beer Tastings Scheduled

We already have quite a reputation for our wine department, which features over 2000 labels of wines from around the world. But I don't know that many people know about our wide beer selection. I didn't know how vast our beer selection was until this afternoon. Those of us in the Idea Factory at Hills have been talking about having regular beer tastings for about a year now, and we're finally putting together a schedule. Today, I compiled a list of all of our beers for Miss Kristine Eley, the host of our upcoming Beer Tasting Series. And, well. Wow. We offer a lot of beer.

After several meetings with Kristine Eley, a former resident of the Worthington Hills, we knew that she was the one that we wanted to host our Beer Tasting Series. She has been a craft brew fan for nearly 5 years, has  completed two of the Winking Lizard "Beers of the World" tours.  She has worked promotions for Killian's brand and for Anheuser-Busch and has visited their breweries. As far as specialty beers are concerned, she's cornered that market as well. Kristine worked the 2005 Portland International Beer Festival and flew out to Portland, Oregon to drive to Newport, Oregon just to visit the Rogue brewery. That's dedication. She has visited mass quantities of breweries and brewpubs all over the United States and is a regular at the Barley's mini Real-ale fests, as well as the beer tastings down at the North Market. Kristine spearheaded a local craft brew group called The Hopsnobbery Collective in which "we travel and bring back craft brews (with a theme) and take turns hosting beer tastings and conversation at our houses. " The members are all users of beeradvocate.com here in Columbus. So. We're excited to have her host our tastings. 

We're in the process of putting together the exact schedule, but it's pretty exciting. The tastings will be on The Veranda on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, from now (May 9th is the first one) until the end of the season. (Either September or October, depending on the weather and customer interest.) Each tasting will be priced separately, but they'll all be a value. Some of the tastings that she's organizing will include: Summer Beers, Belgian Beers, Microbrews, IPA's and Cooking with Beer. Sharpen your pencil for the perfect Beer Can Chicken Recipe!

The tastings won't require reservations. Instead, show up at 7 p.m. on the night of the tasting. You'll pay a small cover to receive pours of the seven to ten beers she's featuring that evening, and when you're done, you can purchase an extra bottle or two to enjoy on The Veranda. We'll be open for dinner during that time, so you can pair your stout or porter or wheat beer with grilled options from our menu.

Stay tuned for prices and an exact listing of the tastings throughout the summer.