
FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
Tucked away on the eastern slope of the Piedmont Mountains, Fayetteville is a culturally diverse small town bolstered by Fort Bragg’s military base. Visited on the way to Sunset Beach, July ’09, there were two brewpubs situated within Fayetteville’s rural confines.
First and foremost,
MASH HOUSE BREWERY & CHOPHOUSE had a burgundy and gold sign welcoming customers to its mall-sidled freestanding red brick building (with tan soffit, green roof, painted grain silo, and aluminum-roofed side patio). Exposed steel beams, cement columns, and canopied windows bedecked the wood-furnished interior, where the left side bar had cornered TV’s and the right dining area fronted an open kitchen.
I ate dinner with family in small glass-enclosed area betwixt bar and dinner space. Brewer Zach Hart, who began the local Blues & Brews Festival a few years back, crafted a wide variety of libations in the brass brew kettles behind the bar.
White-breaded sourdough-breaded pepper-spiced lemony grapefruit light-body
Natural Blonde, bubble-gummy banana-clove-fronted coriander-teased white-peppered moderate-body
Hefeweizen and red-orange-fruited hop-toasted malt-sweetened medium-body
Ravishing Irish Red went well with Greek and 4-meat pizzas.
Afterwards, enjoyed candi-sugared banana-bruised clove-spiced citric-soured
Kristalweizen, similarly styled banana-breaded pear-ripened
Belgian Dubbel and coffee-burnt raisin-pureed
Brown Porter.
Busier fare included woody Cascade-hopped black-peppered oats-charred peach-pear-apricot-fruited grapefruit-juniper-embittered
Hoppy Hour IPA, creamy mocha-malted, fuzzy raspberry-pureed, orange blossom-honeyed
Raspberry Porter and Jack Daniels whiskey-aged
Jack’d Up Stout (a friskier version of black chocolate-y cappuccino-centered licorice-accented barley-roasted
Stout).
www.themashhouse.com