All posts by John Fortunato
MOGOLLON BREWERY
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
Through backyard alley from Flagstaff Brewing, reached ‘98-opened MOGOLLON BREWERY, January ‘05 (closed a few years hence). Entered backroom music lounge, went around front to rustic wood bar, and met bar manager Mike D’Amico, who proudly showed off new vodka-whiskey distillery tanks and mezzanine game room.
On tap, tried hop-spiced cereal-sweetened citric-spruced Wapiti Amber Ale, tangy orange-apricot-fruited pear-browned Vienna-malted Octoberfest, Headless Horseman Lager and creamy chocolate-milked coffee-stained Donnybrook Irish Stout.
Reviews of bottled Mogollon Heffevenom, Apache Trout Stout, and Superstition Pale Ale in Beer Index.
FLAGSTAFF BREWING
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
Hit snowy streets after leaving Beaver Street Brewery, crossed over railroad, and landed at ‘94-opened FLAGSTAFF BREWING on Route 66, January ‘05. Homey brick-walled bar with shelves of 100 single malt Scotches, ancient beer cans, and sundry memorabilia at entrance contained brewer Gordon Kier’s delightful tapped beers.
Buttery grapefruit-ensconced spice-hopped Bitterroot ESB, earthen whiskey-bound cherry-ripened chocolate-sugared Sasquatch Stout and soft maple-sapped nutmeg-allspice-seasoned The Grinch Christmas Ale were approachable.
For dessert, silky chocolate nougat-fronted, Fuggle hop-spiced, nut-backed Blackbird Porter sufficed.
BEAVER STREET BREWERY
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA
Sojourned to rustic ski-bound mountainous town, January ’05. Within walking distance were three valiant brewpubs. Inside old Foodtown Supermarket lies spacious BEAVER STREET BREWERY. Upon entering cozy couch-imbued waiting area, wafts of mash tun hit the nose. Left side open grill served wood-fired pizza, fondues, and sandwiches.
Mien bar with glass-encased brew tanks offered stone-fruited caramel-spiced local fave Railhead Ale, sedate hop-frisked raspberry-centered Bramble Berry Ale, piney hop-embittered red-fruited India Pale Ale, chalky mocha-soothed Nut Brown Ale, wispy chocolate malted Vienna Lager and dry ‘gelatanized’ oatmeal-sugared chocolate-roasted R & R Oatmeal Stout.
VINTAGE 50
FALLS POINT / LEESBURG, VIRGINIA
Ex-Capitol City brewer Bill Madden provided upscale restaurant-brewery, VINTAGE 50 (becoming Beer Joint Brewing 2014), with a humble beer selection nearly as variegated as its exquisite menu, July ‘07. The veteran brewer was replaced by Kristi Mathews Griner (formerly of nearby Alexandria's Hops Grill) in 2012, after he took head brewing ownership of Falls Church's Mad Fox.
Formerly known as Thoroughbred’s, Vintage 50 opened November ’06. Located in a pristine professional office building on the outskirts of Leesburg’s historic downtown, its quaint patio with water-resistant couches and outdoor grill greet customers.
Side entrance leads to a redwood sportsbar with couch-backed seating and widescreen TV’s, several rear silver brew tanks, back dining space, and upper deck banquet area. A primo cocktail selection complemented excellent dishes such as crab medusa and California panini (smoked salmon).
On tap, light butter-salted lemony-hopped grapefruit-embittered flatbread-backed Catoctin Kolsch, lemon-wedged banana-cloved cornbread-bottomed Hefeweizen and smoke-spiced lemondrop-candied caramel-malted fruit-dried ESB were moderate-bodied openers.
Headknocker Blonde Barley English Pilsner layered barley-honeyed wheat biscuit nicety above orange-bruised apricot-pear fruiting.
Approachable coffee bean-embittered, espresso-milked, molasses-chocolate-walnut-blanched, cherry puree-finishing Porter was equally mild.
Best bet: floral hop-spiced Hoptail Double IPA, a bold step up with barleywine-doused red-orange fruited cornucopia (apple-grapefruit-tangerine-melon-pear) subduing spruce-sweetened pine comb sapping and tree bark parch.
When my wife and I return to Vintage 50, March ’12, premier brewer Bill Madden has left and gone to start his own brewery-restaurant, Mad Fox, thirteen miles east at Falls Church. Happily, his replacement, Kristi Mathews, learned how to craft a few equally splendid brews to go alongside Madden’s successful fare. After spending four years at Alexandria’s Hops Grill & Brewery, Mathews developed a well-rounded taste for crisp, clean brews that go beyond stylistic conformity.
Packed on a Friday night at 8 PM, we grab a table across the bar and order the copious Catoctin Fish & Chips (Atlantic battered cod with malt vinegar) and hummus with pita. Also worthwhile was the Jumbo Sourdough Pretzel (with a selection of grain mustard, honey mustard and spicy cheese sauce).
As the Eagles’ liberating breakup stomp "Already Gone" plays loudly in the background, I dip into Mathews’ strawberry blonde ale, Ginger Kids, a creamy cinnamon-toasted gingerbread-like honey-malted medium body with mild orange peel and mandarin orange nipping at the white wheat base.
Nearly as good, Irish Style Dry Stout retained a smooth watering to pacify the dark-roasted chocolate malting, hop-charred walnut roast and espresso-bound black coffee bittering.
Then it was time for the strong 9% alcohol elixirs. First up, Meditator Doppelbock brought peppery-hopped briskness to up-front banana-bruised sweetness, surging fig-date affability and honeyed caramel malts. Next, creamy Devil’s Due Belgian-style Pale Ale had a similarly fruit-seasoned profile, delivering a white-peppered banana-clove-vanilla punch to dried cherry tartness and red licorice traces.
www.vintage50.com
Along Route 7 at the Potomac Run Plaza, Sterling, Virginia’s Total Wines & More had a magnificent beer selection. Despite already reviewing over 6,000 bottled or canned beers, I came up with 25 more from local mid-Atlantic brewers such as Devils Backbone, Duck-Rabbit, DuClaw, Flying Dog, Lost Rhino, Starr Hill and Williamsburg Alewerks. Also bought were several previously untried beers by West Coast breweries such as San Jose’s Knee Deep, Everett’s Scuttlebutt, Mukilteo’s Diamond Knot, San Jose’s Ass Kisser and San Diego’s Green Flash. (reviewed in the Beer Index). SWEETWATER TAVERN – MERRIFIELD
FALLS POINT / LEESBURG, VIRGINIA
Done up in Southwestern motif, SWEETWATER TAVERN in Falls Church (one of three in northern Virginia) featured peach-toned stone castle design, purple-blue window trim, huge grain silo (near entrance), up-front copper kettles, and convenient side deck.
Located ten miles west of Washington D.C. at the Gatehouse Plaza, this upscale restaurant-bar offered beef-ribs-chops plus sandwiches-salads to go with revolving line of 36 brews. "Nick’s Handcrafted Beers" during July ’06 trip included three crisply dependable standards and three decent cyclical brews.
Regularly brewed libations were bright lemony-soft grain-spined clean-finishing Naked River Light, piney-hopped grapefruit-embittered caramel-sugared Great American Restaurant’s Pale Ale and wispy yellow-fruited straw-grassed maize-dried Silverado Cream Ale.
Recurrent fare comprised brisk mandarin orange-embittered, tart banana-greened, coriander-spiced, wheat-chaffed Wit’s End (Belgian-styled) Ale, dry chili pepper-spiced, black chocolate-lined, licorice-blotched, tobacco-stained, English-styled Chipotle Porter and dry-bodied Pale Ale/ Chipotle Porter mix, Snakebite Black & Tan (with its raw chocolate nibs, bitter espresso, dark spice, and earthen wood illusions).
ELLICOTTVILLE BREWING
ELLICOTTVILLE, NEW YORK
Open since ’95 and visited July ’05 on the way home from Niagara Falls, ELLICOTTVILLE BREWING resides at a tiny prairie village 40 miles south of Buffalo. This violet-lavender-fronted colonial-styled Victorian brewery features right side brew tanks, gorgeous wood bar with marble columns, beautiful backside beer garden (with water fountain and tucked-in serving bar), tile floor, and second floor deck. Fine menu included seafood appetizers, soup, salad, and healthy-sized sandwiches.
Authentic Blues music played during lunch as I sucked down honey-sweet, curacao orange-soured, coriander-dabbed Ms. Wit Belgian Style Wit and dryly smoked pepper-spiced yellow-fruited almond-wisped Golden Hill Toasted Lager.
Diacetyl chocolate-roasted nut-dried 9303 German Red, mouth-puckered fig-grape-soured honey-tinged Allegany Alers German Stein Beer, mildly hop-embittered, tangy orange-tangerine-doused Prince Of Pales and fig-raisin-soured Scotch-licked celebrator True Bocka 10th Anniversary followed.
Unexpectedly, mildest tap brew was clearly Black Jack Dry Stout, a dry-bodied espresso alternative with pine tar, burnt wood, and chocolate bean illusions.
Best bet: lively citric-bitter quince-ripe Cascade-hopped Two Brothers Pale Ale. Note: head brewers’ initial recipes were maintained despite his move to fine Southern Tier microbrewery.
During 2005, Ellicottville Brewing opened a second location in nearby Fredonia. There are at least a dozen more beers that have donned the menu since then.
ELLICOTT MILLS BREWING
ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND
Rustic bohemian village, Elliott City, an old milling and manufacturing community, featured Old World charm, unrefined antiquity, and the B&O Railroad Museum. Along steep hillside in gray-stone green-trimmed building, ELLICOTT MILLS BREWING (opened 1997) was originally visited November ’06.
Interior featured windowed brew tanks, exposed ducts, and copper-top wooden tables. Left bar featured huge wood-column mantle and twin TV's. Catacomb-like lower-level Batskellar offered single malt Scotch, cigars, and bar specials while loft dining space served family-office parties.
Appetizers, salads, pasta, seafood, and wild game went well with wort-nosed sour-fruited mineral-grained vegetal-oiled rye-finishing Alpenhof Kolsch, dry-hopped fruit-soured cereal-biscuit-y Illchester Ale, earthen rye-breaded fig-dipped caramel-nutty Redrum Ale and phenol chocolate-malted date-dried Semper Fi Strong Ale.
Best bet: Scotch whiskey-fronted raisin-fig-dried toffee-lingered Bock Of The Bat.
Upon January 2011 revisit, sat at copper-topped stainless-steeled left side bar to sample a few goodies while the lunchtime crowd rolled in. It seemed as if each brew’s flavor profile led nicely right into the next.
Best-selling hop-spiced sugar-malted Marzen attained buttery walnut resolve above orange-soured finish.
Australian-styled lager, Boomerang, brought sour butterscotch-malted orange-rotted candi-sugared fig-cherry spurt to musty fungi yeast.
Buttery fig-date-soured caramel-toffee-malted hazelnut-pecan-backed Dunkel gained murky fungi funk and cellar mustiness.
Even better was nut-roasted crystal-sugared Brown Ale, with its careening honeyed walnut, pecan, chestnut, macadamia, and butternut illusions.
Not far behind, soft coffee-burnt toffee-malted German-styled Dopplebock gained apple-bruised pear-browned fig spicing.
www.ellicottmillsbrewing.com HARPER’S RESTAURANT & BREWPUB
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN
Michigan State University’s farm-hemmed ‘Moo-U’ campus boasts decent HARPER’S RESTAURANT & BREWPUB, with its red-bricked green-trimmed exterior, twin patios, centralized bar, and six-screen TV.
On September ’04 trip, tap beers included Bavarian-styled football team salutation Spartan Wheat (a lemon slice usurps citric pale malts), wheat-soured English mild ale Harper’s Light, banana-clove piquancy Burning Couch Hefe-Weizen, tart berry-melon-tangerine-aided Raspberry Wheat, sharply bitter perfume-hopped, orange peel-soured Grove St. Pale Ale, and milk chocolate-y, marshmallow-sweetened, ice coffee-backed Imperial Porter.
www.harpersbrewpub.com BRICK TOWN BREWERY
DUBUQUE, IOWA
Saddled in a small industrial port along the Mississippi River amongst old red brick warehouse buildings, Dubuque boasts the fittingly blue collar BRICK TOWN BREWERY (defunct as of 2020). A small deck area fronts the Main Street saloon better known as the Back Water Grill, which served burgers, wood-fired steaks, ribs, and chops to go with on-site beers from glass-encased copper kettles, August ‘06.
L-shaped bar offered candelabra sampler tray of mildly grassy-hopped, maize-rice-oats-smoked, hay-barnyard-wafted sedation Crown Pilsner, honeyed tea-soaked, creamy caramel-burnished, agave-tinged The Mexican and moderate mainstay, Laughing Ass (with its sour bruised fruit tartness upstaging fig-pear jot).
Though light-bodied Buckeye Stout scored lower with its masked coffee dirge, sour fig wisp and meager hop-roasted chocolate malting, perfectly descriptive Orange uniquely mimicked the pulpy bittersweet tang of an orange-tangerine-clementine above a quenching lemony hop prickle.
Also admirable were the refreshingly tart raspberry-blueberry-kissed gummy bear-like approximation Gorilla Vanilla and the citrus-spoiled prune-dried fig-soured white-wined Bulldog Double Bock.
CAPITOL CITY BREWPUB – D.C.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA / SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA
In town for surprise birthday party to celebrate my Uncle Ed’s 60th birthday May ‘02, found godsend Total Wine & More in Springfield. The store’s wide selection forced me to fill up trunk with much-needed Weeping Radish, Blue Ridge, and De Groen’s brews (all brewed in Maryland), Dominion Octoberfest and Octoberfest Special (Virginia) along with North Carolina middleweights from Rock Creek and Wild Goose.
The only D.C. bottled beer I scored was Olde Heurich Maerzen, though JOHN HARVARD’S BREWHOUSE on Pennsylvania Avenue (closed since '07) and CAPITOL CITY BREWPUB on Massachusetts Avenue were worth the trip for pints of stout and draft samplers.
In July ’07, had Fortunato family reunion at Uncle Ed’s new Fredericksburg estate, buying Williamsburg Washington’s Porter, Legend King James Ale, Speakeasy Old Godfather Barleywine and five Blue & Gray beers at local Total Wines.
www.capcitybrew.com BACKCOUNTRY BREWERY
DILLON / FRISCO, COLORADO
On Frisco’s tranquil grain silo-marked Main Street corner, tan stucco brown-timbered BACKCOUNTRY BREWERY (opened 1996, sold to Broken Compass Brewing 2017) looks out at splendid mountainous terrain and Lake Dillon atop an ice cream shop, drawing families and vacationing outdoorsmen. Perused August ’07, its second floor dining space and outdoor covered deck were serviced by small central bar while first floor space was unfinished.
Pizza, calzone, and burgers went well with delicate lemony grapefruit-spiced, floral-perfumed, wet-grassed, piney-hopped Ptarmigan Pilsner, bark-dried, tea-honeyed, pumpernickel-chipotle-teased Switchback Amber,and hop-roasted, cola-nutty, toffee-tinged Peak One Porter.
Better were orange peel-embittered, coriander-spiced, peppery-hopped, lemon-candied, lavender-tweaked Wheeler Wheat, soft-watered, wood-embittered, grassy-hopped, citrus-quince-dabbed Telemark IPA and banana-chipped, apple-baked, tangerine-apricot-zipped, cereal oats-nipped Maibock Lager.
As strong as a Turkish coffee, astounding Breakfast Stout regaled extreme coffee bean bittering to oats-flaked, milk-creamed, hazelnut-roasted, tobacco-chewed, black chocolate rift.