Beard Wizard and Sarina Visit Elevator Brewery & Draught Haus

Our second, and final beer adventure during Origins weekend was to Elevator in downtown Columbus. It was one of the highlights of the trip, not only because we got to spend time at a beautiful old historical building, but a friend I hadn’t seen in something like 15 years drove in to have dinner with us.

Elevator is housed in a building that happens to be on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks, and as one of the staff explained, almost everything is original and what had to be replaced followed a very strict set of guidelines to make sure they kept the historical integrity of the place. The website is a plethora of information. Originally a billiard house built by the Bott family in 1897, it’s one of the oldest historical buildings still standing in the city. The beautiful bar itself was built a few years before the bar, won a ribbon at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893, and has been in the building since it was built. Needless to say, the place is beautiful, and well worth visiting.

They don’t do sample flights, but I did have a couple of their beers, which were quite enjoyable. The German Red Lager was rich and nutty, and a welcome reprieve from the heat we had to endure on the walk over from the convention. I followed that with their Dunkel, which was a dark, heavy German-style beer with a ton of flavor. Both were well-crafted brews, and they had a decent selection of their own beers and some other local and national brands.

Elevator describes their restaurant as “Chef Driven”, and while they had a lot of great options, it was fancier than I expected. I had the seafood linguine, which was great. Julie went with the club sandwich, which was huge. The good was good, the atmosphere was amazing, I just didn’t expect a brewery to serve food plated like we were on an episode of Top Chef. That said, it was exactly what they were going for and they did it well.

Overall, I would highly recommend a visit to Elevator in you’re in Columbus. Friendly, knowledgeable staff, good brew and delicious food in a beautiful setting. Like many downtown restaurants, the food is a little pricey, so check the menu to plan ahead. I’m glad Julie found the place and we decided to check it out.