Tootle's Pumpkin Inn

The best way I can describe The Pumpkin Inn is... what ELSE would you expect from a bar in Circleville, Ohio? Seriously? A swanky untralounge, leather chairs and craft brews on tap? C'mon now. Uh, no offense, Circleville.

My BFF lives in Circleville, so he and a friend of ours stopped in here a couple months ago on a Friday. It was dead until after 10, when a decent local band started playing - according to the chart on the wall, they have local bands playing several nights a week. The stage is kind of partitioned off from the bar, which is nice for people who just want to drink!

Fitting to the name, they have a pretty wide away of pumpkin-flavored drinks and shots - we each had several different ones while we were there, all of which were pretty good (check my interests - "pumpkin-flavored anything is on there, so I might be biased.) The rest of their shots had raunchy names - but they had nothing on the shots at Garage Bar!

They have a pretty wide bottled beer selection too - far more than I expected. At least 30 different beers, with a few hand-crafted brews snuck in there, too.

Completely ridiculous name (alluding to the Circleville Pumpkin Festival): check.
Cheesy liquor shots named after sexual acts and/or naughty things to call women: check
Amazing locals wearing overalls and drinking tall boys of all sorts: check.

A bunch of us Columbusites went down to Roundtown last night to see Wayne "The Train" Hancock (with Whitey Morgan and the Old 78's) at Tootles. It's a pretty nice bar/music venue, with ample standing room and plenty of local flavor. I wouldn't say rush down to Circleville when nothing is going on there, but if there's a show you want to see, this is a comfy and friendly venue.

I do think it's hilarious that the Circleville Pumpkin Festival is such a big deal - ze boy and I were slightly weirded out by it (and the general lack of pumpkin-ness!) when we went on its last day a couple weeks ago, but I won't knock the only major thing Circleville, OH is known for. I will say, though, that the legacy lives on at Tootle's, which uses the pumpkin as a theme on its tshirts, for its drinks, etc etc. (I wasn't drinking, so I can't tell you about that part, except that my friends were downing tall boys of beers I didn't know came in tall boys - Miller High Life, for example)...

Anyway, I like the space, as its large, open, and friendly. I enjoyed watching hipsters mingle with rockabillies mingle with townies mingle with my metalhead/Columbus freak friends. Everyone seemed to get along, and everyone knew all the words to Wayne the Train's songs, which made it even more fun.

Like I said, this is a good local venue/pub. If you're in town, and looking for a good place to go, I'd say go here. But you can find the same in Columbus without driving 45 minutes, so just keep that in mind. Tootles does seem to have a lot of quality country/southern rock shows going on, so if you like that kind of music, definitely take a look at their schedule. I definitely recommend Wayne Hancock and Whitey Morgan. And of course, Tootles, should you be in Circleville!