Women Of Influence

Forbidden Root won’t open at Easton Town Center for a few more months, but its beer already is here.

For this week’s News & Brews, we cracked open a fresh four-pack of the Chicago brewery’s flagship beer, its Strawberry Basil Hefeweizen. That is one of four Forbidden Root beers that are now being sold around Central Ohio in cans. The brand is opening its second-ever brewpub as part of Easton’s $500 million expansion and expects to be open in November where it’ll offer a wider array of its botanical inspired and influenced beers. But those first sips can be had now.

Tune in to get our panel’s first impressions.

Stick around for a little longer for a recap of a busy news and restaurant week. We discuss Wolf’s Ridge Brewing Co.’s expansion plans, which will up its production capabilities and facilitate a move into cans. Though what it won’t have, at least at first, is a taproom.

The always active folks down at BrewDog in Canal Winchester have plenty of new projects on tap too including a bringing a distillery online over the next year and expanding its already popular DogHouse hotel, which last month was named as one of the World’s 100 Greatest Places for 2019 by Time magazine. Plans call for the addition of four “kennels” which will be suites made inside shipping containers that’ll be deposited out on the brewery property.

Speaking of always expanding, we also have a speculative chat about Easton Town Center. Last week we reported that New York-based Ark Restaurants Corp. and the developers of Easton were in discussions to bring as many as 20 to 25 new restaurants to the Columbus development over the next five years. Why are eateries in such high demand these days and what might this mean for Easton?

Give us a listen.

We also talk about polka.