Davidson Brothers – Business must be Good

Bill Dowd reported that Davidson Brothers brewpub headed for a fixup. This tells me that business must be good, which is a great thing for them, the city of Glens Falls, and us. Davidson’s has always been a favorite of mine for the beer and atmosphere. The city has put a good deal of effort into beautifying the streets and last fall I enjoyed a great evening meal out on their street side dining. As great as it was, I did note that while the streets have been improved, little has been done to the restaurant itself over the years.

Co-owner Rick Davidson says the project is ready to begin, with a $450,000 budget, once approvals are received for the exterior and interior spruce-up of the 15-year-old business. The plans call for replacing the wood facade on the front and side of the building with brick, repairing and painting existing brickwork, new windows and signage. Inside, new heating/air-conditioning and basement prep kitchen, and various touchups.

I hope it works out and I can’t wait to see the improvements. (perhaps I’ll bring the entire Hop-Talk crew at Oktoberfest!)

Davidson Brothers

Davidson BrothersIt was a long time since I was last at Davidson Brothers (in Glens Falls, New York) and after finally re-visiting for the first time in probably 7 years I wonder why I don’t make the trip more often. Davidson’s offers real beer, great food, in a quaint pub atmosphere.

Monday afternoon was quiet as would be expected and service was friendly. We ordered the sampler and this is my one liner review of each: (in no particular order)

  • Brown Ale – Sweet and clean, text book Brown Ale in my opinion and my wife’s favorite Brown (at least this month)
  • Dacker – As in, AdironDacker, this beer (I am guessing) was designed for the gateway drinker. Light in body but it had more character, including hops, than I remembered from the bottled version I had many years ago. We liked this a lot.
  • Smoked Porter – Nice. Not thrilling, but nice (if you like smoked beers). This was our least favorite.
  • Oatmeal Stout – Very nice, on the sweeter side with a robust roast malt flavor and smooth. I would enjoy a full pint (or two) of this paired with the right food.
  • Double IPA (forgot the exact name) – Very good if a bit thin, and it could have been my favorite beer except for the nice surprise in the next beer…
  • Our favorite was their Alt style called CTRL-ALT-DEL. It had a much greater hop bite than I expected from an Alt, and was clean and simply delicious. We brought home a growler of that.

The sampler glasses were large enough that for a light lunch we never got around to ordering a pint of our favorite. At $10, it was well worth it. Next year when it is my turn to host Octoberfest I plan on heavily advocating the 40 minute ride up.