Work had been particularly hellacious one week last summer. When my boss suggested we go get a beer, I enthusiastically agreed. I knew that the local RockBottom was only seven or eight blocks away, so suggested that instead of the usual Mexican place my co-workers seem to like.
Any excuse to go to a brewpub, right?
We were there pretty early, so the crowd was light, although there were plenty of people there. Like a lot of chain restaurants, the place had a cookie-cutter kind of feel to it. Not enough to really make one feel ill at ease, but it certainly didn’t have much of a personality. It had your generic American bistro large screen televisions (tuned to baseball and the World Cup) and classic American rock on the sound system.
I availed myself of their beer sampler, which includes their five usual offerings plus a brewmaster’s choice, which today was a rye beer. Pretty good, although if you are the sort of person who doesn’t like rye bread, you certainly wouldn’t like this.
My impressions of the rest, from lightest to darkest:
Lumpy Dog Light Lager – Light is right. It’s the color of pale straw and what little flavor there was was here and gone as soon as it passed over my tongue. Still, certainly to be refreshing on a hot, summer day.
Rock Creek Pale Ale – Now this was nice. A good bit of citrus from the hops as well as a nice hop bite. Very refreshing and my favorite of the bunch.
Raccoon Red Ale – Nice color, although I thought the hops were a little too understated. Still, rather nice and my second favorite.
Brown Bear Brown – Awfully light in color for a brown ale; I’m used to them being nearly as dark as porter. It has a malty finish but, oddly, seemed to want to be “maltier”.
Stillwater Stout – Nice and creamy, though I thought it could be creamier. Has a nice roasted flavor, but not overly so. I think I’ll need to try this one again.
As for the food, we only had the nacho appetizer, which was big enough for four and pretty tasty. Not enough to judge the kitchen, though.
All in all, it was good. Not great, but certainly not terrible. There are much worse places to wile away an afternoon than a brewpub.
