Aggressive pale ale stays smooth, clean and sessionable while maintaining bold citric bittering reminiscent of an India Pale Ale. Zesty grapefruit-peeled lemon rind bite stays above resinous earthen-grained dampness and mild piney prickle. Toasted caramel malting sweetens the moldy breaded backend.
(FLYING DOG) UNDERDOG ATLANTIC LAGER
Perky light-bodied lager brings resinous floral-hopped citric spicing to sourdough breading. Musk-y lemon rot and orange compote pleat mild dry-wooded astringency. Biscuit-y malts bring salty pretzel and toasted baguette illusions to the fore. Serve to Euro pilsner fans.
(THORNBRIDGE) SAINT PETERSBURG IMPERIAL RUSSIAN STOUT
Convincing lactic-soured cocoa malt entry pushed aside for chewy brown chocolate creaminess and soy-milked coffee splash. Sturdy mocha theme reinforced by molasses-draped oats, peanut-shelled walnut and mossy peat as well as tertiary dark-fruited raisin, fig and black cherry nuances.
MAD FOX BREWING COMPANY
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
In the bustling downtown area of Falls Church on Route 7 at Spectrum Mall’s corner lot lies MAD FOX BREWING, an upscale casual English-styled gastropub opened in 2009 (and closed June ’19) by seasoned mid-Atlantic brewer Bill Madden. Just a few miles down from Alexandria and the nation’s Capitol, this spacious restaurant-brewery is Madden’s latest creative venture and first as an owner.
A gold-lettered black awning (with several Mad Fox insignias) and outdoor patio welcome patrons to the maple-wooded space with green-walled left side dining countering the beige-walled saloon room. Across from the entrance are several copper kettle brew tanks. The centralized tin-tiled ceiling offers Neo-Classical splendor while the lantern-like pendant lighting (suspended by chains) and polished concrete floor recalls Olde Americana.
My wife and I sit at the commodious 63 foot bar (with two TV’s and prominent clock) to try an astonishing fourteen different brews in five-ounce tulip glasses on a Saturday in March ’12. Though it’s not yet lunchtime, the fine Americana pub fare includes brick-fired pizza, burgers, sandwiches and salads while the dinner menu offers steaks and salmon. Breads, pickles, and condiments are made in house.
The left side of the menu reflects Madden’s Long Island roots – pizza and sandwiches – while the right side is chef-inspired.
Emerson Lake & Palmer’s sensitive acoustical retreat “From The Beginning” plays in the backdrop as the lighter samples get tried.
Approachable moderate-bodied bohemian Czech beer, Braha Pilsner, placed citric zest across mild dry-wooded Saaz hop bittering and twiggy bark acridity.
Dry-hopped American Pale Ale spread grapefruit-peeled orange tang across resinous floral earthiness and mineral-grained breading.
An ‘English ordinary session ale,’ Fennec scattered light-bodied sugar caned crystal malting atop waxy fruit dollops and grassy clay hops.
Easygoing soft-watered Kolsch retained a citric-rotted souring that pleasingly scoured minor herbage, finishing with a grapefruit-juiced lemon spritz. Arguably better, the unfiltered version, Kellerbier Kolsch, had a more pronounced grapefruit bittering to combat its grout-y cellar-like musk and dankly dewy pilsner malting.
Cereal-grained Rock Star Irish Red Ale dispensed bread-crusted barley toasted crisping, caramel roasted sweetness and citric-sugared crystal malting in a straightforward manner.
Then it was on to Vienna-malted Defender American Pale Ale, a briskly tropical fruited medium body with dry Columbus hops and wildflower-honeyed candy tartness complementing grapefruit-peeled orange compote, white peach and pear nuances. The special cask version muted the pale-malted hop bitterness for wood-toned lemon rind, grapefruit, papaya, guava and pineapple juicing plus herbaceous raw-honeyed ginger rooting.
Mellow St. James Irish Dry Stout pleated oats-toasted pale, black and chocolate malts onto soft coffee-roasted walnut dryness. Its smoother cask version retained a dark chocolate nuttiness above espresso coffee beans.
The Who’s rapid fire anthem “Going Mobile” blazes forth as Mad Fox fills up for Saturday lunch. And that’s when I investigate the experimentally hopped Tinnerhill IPA, a clear-toned dry-wooded pleasantry culling lemonade, apple cider and grapefruit subtleties.
In collaboration with Bob and Ellie Tupper (creators of the fabulous Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale), Madden designed the rewarding India Ink Black Ale, where chalky chocolate malting gets back-ended by dried cherry, pineapple and grapefruit.
Traditional English-styled medium body, Geordie Brown Ale, stayed soft-toned as filmy mocha malting caressed minimal chestnut, praline and pecan notes.
Perhaps most worthy, Belgian-styled farmhouse ale, Saison, entwined bruised lemon bittering and leathery white-peppered hops with cotton-candied yellow fruiting for a sumptuous dessert treat.
As we finish up our samples, celebrated brewer-owner Madden stops by to say hi and share a bit of history.
“I started as a homebrewer while living in San Francisco with a buddy,” the Huntington, New York native recalls. “We’d checked out a newly opened homebrew shop, spent $100 each on credit cards and began brewing in a Mission District flat.”
Over the course of a few years, friends claimed his beers were “pretty good.” So Madden took out a personal loan and got accepted to University of California Davis’ famed brew school.
“I got into the Masters Brewers Program after applying in ’94. It was almost affordable back then,” he says with a laugh. “There’s a brewers conference we’re going to in a month. But that year it was in Austin, Texas. While you’re in the program, Davis puts together a bunch of resumes for distribution. Capitol City sought me because their contract brewer at Frederick Brewery was also a UC-Davis grad. I got about thirty offers. The industry was kicking. But I didn’t want to brew in Utah, Maine and a bunch of other places.”
Downtown DC was most attractive to Madden at the time. Plus, Capitol City was expanding. So he started at the first location on 11th and H during ’95. He also designed the Shirlington pub and now-defunct Bethesda and Baltimore pubs.
“When I was at Capitol City in the final years as executive brewer, we’d let each brewer do their own beers, but we had a core of four standards. So the brewers would express themselves and do whatever they wanted. But that was in the heyday with five locations. Now there’s two. And the downtown location doesn’t brew. It’s all done at Shirlington.”
After decommissioning the original brewery in 2001, Madden took it apart, hauled it out and sold it to Leesburg Brewery, which became Thoroughbred’s before changing over to Vintage 50. Madden worked at Vintage 50 for three years while developing and designing Mad Fox.
“We got lucky here,” he says before ducking out to eat a shrimp burger. “There was another tenant in here that never even got to construction. When things got interesting on Wall Street, financing was lost. The landlord remembered us and we worked on a letter of intent and by 2009 opened for business.”
PUB DOG RASPBERRY DOG
Blandly watered-down raspberry tartness reaches acrid Seltzer-fizzed solvency, neutralizing light 4% alcohol volume. Minor acidity slips into auxiliary cranberry wisp, dismissive cider souring, washed-out lemon-drop snip and teasing floral whim. White wheat spine can’t hold water. Barely betters fruitier low-alcohol beers from myopic mainstream macrobrew mavens. Serve with woodruff syrup to increase raspberry flavor.
PUB DOG BROWN DOG
Easygoing English-styled brown ale placating lactic-soured coffee oiling with creamy brown chocolate froth, distant vanilla sweetness and faded hazelnut-walnut-cola conflux. Mild cocoa nibs finish muddled by interfering carbolic fluff.
HINTERLAND DOOR COUNTY CHERRY WHEAT
Serpentine summertime golden ale doused with wheat-honeyed Montmorency cherry tartness wavers from fizzy cherry soda to sweet Maraschino cherry to tangy rhubarb pie. Musty cherry pucker picks up tannic grape souring, acidic cranberry twang and muted orange trifle. May better Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.
HINTERLAND LUNA COFFEE STOUT – NITRO
On tap, velvety dark-roasted coffee bittering and smooth hop-charred espresso backup define nitro-infused sedation. Ancillary black chocolate bittering and Cocoa Puff reminder deepen malleable mocha base of stylistically mild java stout.
DISTRICT CHOPHOUSE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Right along the historical downtown Washington DC area next to the Verizon Center in Penn Quarters, DISTRICT CHOPHOUSE opened May ’95 (closed March 2024) and grew to have affiliate brewpub-restaurants in Denver, Boulder and Cleveland. Though my wife and I only stopped in for a few mid-afternoon beers on our March ’12 Maryland-Virginia three-day journey, this upscale chain takes great pride in its seafood, steaks and sandwiches.
Since Bruce Springsteen’s in town tonight, parking’s at a minimum. But we find a free spot along the National Gallery of Art. Within minutes we’re at District Chophouse, a capacious 7th Street beer hall sporting a maroon awning, historic marble columns, exquisite mahogany interior, and basement banquet room. A right side dining area (with moonlit chandeliers), lofty mezzanine area and open kitchen (with hearth) complete the score.
We sit at a table next to the left side bar watching the Penguins and Flyers fight throughout a late-season hockey game while consuming some of the finest mid-Atlantic suds I’d come across. Brewer Barrett Lauer’s wide-ranging ales, crafted at the mezzanine brew kettles and listed on two blackboards, are all on the mark and usually one step beyond stylistic design.
Though the astringent Light Lager’s strictly for amateurs, its corn-oiled popcorn pungency and dried citrus snip bettered Bud-Coors-Miller ‘lite’ beer. And even if Amber Ale suited lighter thirsts, its bolder stylistic approach allowed styptic wood-toned Cascade-hopped spicing to deepen caramelized apple, lemony peach and marmalade undertones.
As smooth as its name, Velvet, defined as a ‘slow pour nut brown,’ pleated wispy charred nuttiness with dainty dark chocolate. Better was the similarly styled Nut Brown, a mildly creamed medium body receiving a sweet toffee, caramel, and chocolate boost above peanut-shelled hazelnut vestiges.
Moderate juniper hop bittering saddled lacquer-fruited IPA, leaving tangy pineapple, mango, peach, pear and apple notions all over its dried fig backend.
Breaking stylistic confines, Oatmeal Stout grazed its expectant milky dark chocolate repertoire with abrupt wood-burnt molasses flickers.
Saving the most exceptional fare for a mesmerized closing trifecta, I drifted off into three ‘big beers.’ Cherry Blossom Fest, an adventurous wheat ale boasting dark sweet cherries tucked candied stone fruits, tart cranberry and leafy dry hops inside whiskey-soaked malts.
Reaching complete euphoria, I sipped remarkable Belgian-styled pale ale hybrid, Brewers Marker, where aromatic French-roast coffee grounds seep into mild wood-singed dried fruits and contrast candied yeast spicing.
Best bet: Bourbon Stout aged in Woodford Reserve Barrels. This resolute oatmeal stout gained luscious bourbon tonicity above dark chocolate frothing, oaken vanilla mellowness and roasted caramel creaminess, finishing with a soothingly warm feel.
PUB DOG PIZZA & DRAFTHOUSE
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND
Since the original PUB DOG PIZZA & DRAFTHOUSE in Baltimore’s historic Federal Hill section (shown above) didn’t open ‘til 5 PM as of this March 2012 sojourn through Maryland-Virginia, my wife and I headed a few miles southwest to the industrial-bound Columbia-based franchise an hour earlier on the Sunday trip back to Jersey.
Situated at the right corner of the white-topped, red brick-bottomed Lakeside Retail Mall in quaint suburbia, Pub Dog may be considered a pizza joint by foremost designation, but one step inside proves it more closely resembles a commodious public house. Hundreds of Grand Marnier bottles decorate the walls alongside maps and charts of dogs, verifying the assumption.
Opened in September ’07, six years after the initial Baltimore location began operations (but didn’t sell ‘house’ beers until ’07), Pub Dog’s clean black interior leads directly to the right side sportsbar, where three TV’s show different basketball games and a shuffleboard table keeps kids entertained. A small outside deck allows dogs to roam while their owners ironically quaff a few canine-designated ales.
Sitting at one of the twelve booths in the elevated left side dining area watching hockey and downing suds, I chomped on the Big Dog Salad, a red-peppered romaine lettuce with grilled chicken, smoked gouda and gorgonzola vinaigrette. My wife enjoyed Mr. Green Jean’s Pizza (with olive-oiled mozzerella, feta, spinach, tomato, mushroom and basil) while downing Peach Dog, a tart peach ale with blanched peach lacquering, washed-out stone fruiting, astringent hop bittering and tannic grape souring.
I countered with Blueberry Dog, an easygoing lacquered blueberry tonic with subsidiary cranberry, mulberry and quince hints over white wheat.
More interesting was Belgian Blue Corn, a one-off hybrid tripel gathering lemony banana-clove tartness above sweet corn malts.
Before escaping the doghouse, velvety Irish Stout, Black Dog, hit the spot (along with a courtesy shot of Grand Marnier). The soft-toned dark ale brought mellow coffee-roasted bittering to espresso-milked dark chocolate and toasted walnut.
On February ’24 revisit while staying at nearby Columbia hotel, enjoyed creamily mocha-bound Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, combining toffee-sugared brown chocolate with nutty cocoa powdered bittering above casual molasses oats.
Reviews of the bottled versions of Raspberry Dog, Brown Dog and Hoppy Dog are listed in the Beer Index.
PORT CITY BREWING COMPANY
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
Off the beaten track in the Industrial section of Alexandria, PORT CITY BREWING COMPANY resides at a tan-bricked professional building. Opened January 2011 and visited in March 2012, this increasingly popular microbrewery’s tasting room was absolutely packed at 3 PM this Saturday. Hourly brew tours kept patrons busy when they weren’t sampling the four year-round ales (and one specialty beer).
Owner Bill Butcher and head brewer Jonathan Reeves craft amazingly consistent fare. Though tapped versions were sampled and reviewed herein, check the Beer Index for larger reviews of each bottled brew.
Fine Belgian-styled Port City Optimal Wit had a laid-back banana-clove serenity spread across subtle orange-peeled mildness and lemony Seltzer spritz to its honeyed wheat spine.
Essential Pale Ale layered citra-hopped briskness atop vodka-tinged mandarin orange, lemon, lime and peach illusions.
Despite its mighty moniker, Monumental IPA was stylistically easygoing and approachable. Its floral-hopped pine resin cloaked apple-skinned apricot, nectar, pear and grapefruit dalliances.
Coffee-roasted Porter settled into a fine medium-bodied dark ale, seeping brown chocolate-y vanilla sweetness into dark-fruited dried fig, stewed prune and date nut breading.
Also available at the tasting station was the cyclical Tartan 80 Shilling Scottish Ale, a dewy midrange libation gathering brown chocolate, vanilla and caramel sweetness atop spice-hopped fig sugaring.
Each beer was more than up to snuff and deserved recommendation.
PORT CITY PORTER
Fine coffee-roasted medium-bodied dark ale seeps mildly creamed brown chocolate-y vanilla sweetness into soothingly dark-fruited dried fig, stewed prune and date nut bread illusions as well as tobacco-roasted peanut shelling and molasses-lined cocoa nibs panoply.
