COLUMBUS, OHIO Near the campus of Ohio State University, North High Street’s downtown BARLEY'S SMOKEHOUSE & BREWING bettered local competitor Columbus Brewing but not Elevator Brewery, June '04. Beginning in '92, Barley's Smokehouse is Columbus, Ohio's first brewpub. Since I met Britt Daniel that afternoon at a small High Street pool club, I also got to attend the Spoon show that evening for perfect beer-and-music nightcap. Over two-hour late afternoon period, I quaffed summery yellow-fruited barley-toasted Saaz-hopped Pilsner; lively dry-hopped whiskey-malted red apple dabbler Mac Lenny’s Scottish Ale; frisky fruited prickly-hopped Pale Ale; cherry-toned whiskey-malted J. Scott Francis ESB; and light pale-bodied American-styled grassy-hopped Wheat. Best bets: creamy caramel-malted Grand Marnier-liqueured orange-bruised fervency Glenlenny’s Scotch Ale (and its tremendous cask conditioned version) and alcohol-induced, overripe red-black cherry-sweetened, coffee-caffeine-daubed Anastasia’s Russian Stout. www.barleysbrewing.com