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Try some of these Pretentious Barrel House beers to get a feel for what the Columbus brewery is doing with sours.

Pretentious Barrel House, Columbus

The first thing people notice when they enter Pretentious Barrel House is the smell, and that’s a good thing. This brewery on the east side of Columbus is filled with over 250 oak barrels for aging beer, and the scent of the wood and fermentation permeates the large space.

“People always say it smells so good in here,” says brewery founder Joshua Martinez.

The barrels are doing more than storing beer — they’re providing a breeding ground for various microorganisms to acidify and further ferment the brewery’s beers, adding funky complexity and sourness. Pretentious Barrel House is an all-sour brewery, and if its self-aware name isn’t fun enough, its cheeky motto is: “Making sour beers on purpose.”

And the brewery is good at it. Magnanimous, a dark sour aged in wine barrels, won best in show at the 2019 Ohio Craft Brewers Cup. Beers like Sybarite and the brewery’s anniversary beer, Cuvee de Josh, have medaled the last two years.

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