EDIT: BrewDog in Franklinton has discontinued their brunch menu for now.
BrewDog Franklinton | Facebook | T: @BrewDogFTON | IG: @brewdogfranklinton
463 W. Town St. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43215
Open Mon-Thurs, 11a-12a; Fri & Sat, 11a-2a; Sunday, 11a-11p (brunch served Sat & Sun, 11a-3p)
You’d have to be hiding under a rock if you didn’t know BrewDog had landed in central Ohio. In addition to their massive brewery + brewpub + hotel (which yours truly visited!) in Canal Winchester, the Scotland-based brewery has pubs in Short North and Franklinton, and recently announced their first in Cincinnati.
The folks at BrewDog kindly invited us to visit the Franklinton branch to try their weekend brunch. We’ve had beers, snacks, and dinners at the various BrewDogs, but never brunch. Given our familiarity with Chef Will Johnston, who’s at the helm of Franklinton’s kitchen, we were excited to see what he’s cooked up.
There’s a common feel to BrewDog’s properties, a blend of industrial metal plus heavy wood accents. Despite the different shapes and sizes of the bars around town, they’re easily identified as BrewDog, from the colorful murals, the bright blue signage, and those signature red neon lights.
You’re obviously at BrewDog to drink some beer, so you’d be remiss to skip out on pints or samples. We split a four-piece sampler, which comes in generous pours, of their Clockwork Tangerine (session IPA), 5AM Saint (red ale), Alice Porter (Baltic porter), and Juggernaut (imperial IPA). You’ll usually find at least one high-ABV beer on tap, too.
In general, BrewDog doesn’t have a lot of destination beers for me – meaning beers that I deliberately seek out – but I’ve found their beers to fun, very drinkable, and pretty true to style. In other words, they’re the type of beers you just really enjoy sitting and drinking along with a good meal or in the company of friends.
Will had teased this new Scottish breakfast on Instagram, so naturally I was most excited for this. I often lament the lack of good English/Irish/Scottish breakfasts in Columbus, so I was happy to see this one.
This plate combines the highlights of a Scottish breakfast with a couple American touches: an egg cooked to order, toast, bacon, a couple sausage patties, baked beans, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, and of course: black pudding.
I recognize that breakfast fans might be split on the pudding. Personally, I’m a fan. It’s a form of blood pudding, a sausage with finely ground pork mixed with oats and/or barley, and, yes, pork blood. The texture is a little dry, but otherwise it’s savory and very lightly salty. Again, not for everyone, but I like it.
Next up is a buttermilk biscuit sliced in half, then topped with fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese spread, and triangular slices of country ham.
I appreciated the construction, and how the ham adds a bit of saltiness to it. The fried green tomatoes were a little tough to cut, but otherwise I think the dish worked well.
The Elvis Juice pancakes pick up on their namesake by doubling down on peanut butter and bananas: they’re made with BrewDog’s grapefruit IPA and crunchy peanut butter in the batter, then topped with whipped banana butter and a caramelized banana. The sweet is off-set by the nuttiness and the deep, roasty flavors of the caramelized elements.
I’m always a sucker for chicken and waffles, so we had to order that.
BrewDog’s version layers chicken thighs with slices of waffle on a peppercorn butter that’s drizzled with maple syrup and dusted with a little powdered sugar. The sweet aspects were all lined up; I would just love a little more salty and peppery breading on the chicken.
The Franklinton brewpub features a surprising amount of seating, around the bar, across the dining room…
…and something to look forward to in the warmer months: a rooftop patio complete with a second bar and nice views of downtown.
BrewDog’s brunch menu is available 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends.
I think a visit to the brewpub is good any time of day, whether it’s for dinner or rooftop beers. But I suggest giving brunch a try, especially to enjoy one of the rare appearances of a Scottish breakfast in Columbus.
