Wandering the New Wine Trail
Following in the footsteps of the very successful Columbus Ale Trail, a group of 22 Central Ohio wineries has launched the Central Ohio Wine Country Passport Trail to encourage people to explore their operations. You can pick up a passport at any participating winery and collect stamps along the trail. Visiting at least half of the wineries gets you a prize, and those who fill up their passports by the May 2022 deadline will be entered in a grand prize drawing.
Several of the wineries have food service in their tasting rooms, and some have special events from live music to yoga. You can even stay overnight at Wishmaker House winery in Bellville, which also operates a bed and breakfast. You also will find meads, hard ciders and local beers at various stops on the trail.
The trail has stops from Newark on the east to Urbana on the west and from near Mansfield on the north to Circleville on the south. All are within about a one-hour drive from Columbus. The passport includes suggested day trips that group together several of the wineries in any direction. Find a map of the wineries and details about the program at centralohiowine.com.
‘TOP CHEF’ UPDATE
When we last met Avishar Barua in the Spring 2021 issue, the Service Bar chef was set to compete on the latest season of Bravo’s “Top Chef” show, set in Portland, Oregon. He finished that competition in the middle of the pack as the seventh chef eliminated among the 15 who started. He was cheered by fellow chefs as he did a cartwheel for his exit. But he also departed with $10,000 after winning a dessert challenge with his frozen Buckeye Bonbon, a tribute to his home state incorporating peanut butter, graham cracker, brown butter and chocolate flavors.
Back in Columbus, Service Bar has remained closed for dining and ended its carryout service on June 30. The restaurant, located in the Middle West Spirits distillery, is currently undergoing renovation, with no opening date announced yet.
Meanwhile, fans have been entertained by Barua’s postings on Instagram—follow @avishar—where the chef has been posting recipes, videos and photos from his adventure. In one post, he described his process: “My recipe usually consists of ½ part something personal, one part inspiration, two parts nostalgia and smiles, three parts deliciousness, and four times the amount of work that is deemed necessary.”
THE BAR AT ECHO SPIRITS
A lot has changed since we introduced you to Echo Spirts Distilling in our Spring 2020 issue. Founders Joe Bidinger and Nikhil Sharoff had taken over the old Four String Brewing space in Grandview, released a white rum as their first product and were ready to open an on-site cocktail bar. Then the pandemic threw up a roadblock, and they had to pivot to making hand sanitizer and running “Stay Home Club” online cocktail classes.
As restrictions eased, however, they got back on track with their plan. They opened The Bar at Echo Spirits in December, added a patio, brought in food trucks, started hosting live music in the summer and partnered with Natalie’s Grandview for pizza nights. The bar has become a destination for those in search of good times and interesting cocktails.
The distillery side of the business also has been busy, launching a rye whiskey and then its genever, a malt whiskey. Most recently, they released a pineapple rum, relying on the folks at Simple Times Mixers who provide the flesh and bark of pineapples left over from their juicing process. Bidinger and Sharoff have pledged that $1 from every bottle sold will go to charities that support service industry workers.
