Ale Industries Tap Room

Last Friday, my friend Dave and I tackled our first local brewery, Ale Industries,  in Concord. I should specify that I've lived down the street from this brewery for the 3 years it has been open and I have never heard it mentioned by name, but more in a hushed tone reserved for rumors. Typical mention "Dude, have you heard there is a local place that fills beer growlers (64 oz glass containers) for cheap?" Everyone that has mentioned this place to me could not come up with its name and location until recently i googled "concord brewery" and presto. I knew the other local (larger) brewery so through the process of elimination, i found myself on Ale Industries' Yelp Page. 26 reviews, all of them 5 stars. Perhaps this place is not that bad.

I dug up two growlers I had in the attic, patiently waited for 3 pm to roll around so the tap room would be open. Their tap room is inside a small warehouse that looks sort of like a loading dock. It turns out that it is the same place they brew their beers, which accounts for the tap room's odd hours and it being closed 4 out of 7 days, since they cannot brew while people are tasting due to limited space and the loud noises/powerful scents associated with the brewing process. I mentioned that this was my first time visiting and Maureen, the wonderfully friendly tap room manager, promptly offered to sample all their beers. The four that were available were Uncle Jesse's Ale (a west coast session ale), R'yed Piper (a rye-based ale), Orange Sush (a Belgian-style unfiltered wheat beer), and East Bay IPA (a classic IPA with 7.5% alcohol). As I was tasting them, Maureen gave me a little more background on each of the beers, the styles and a few tasting notes. They all tasted great, with Uncle Jesse and East Bay IPA being my favorites. I found all the beers to be full-bodied and flavorful without being over-hopped, a common complaint I have about American Microbrews. I promptly filled both growlers, each of them with my two favorite varieties, then asked if I could purchase and bring in a couple of tacos from the Taqueria across the street to enjoy with my beer. I was told that was fine, so after bringing the food in, I ordered a pint of the R'yed Piper, sat down and slowly sipped my beer, noticing that its flavor went pretty well with the spiciness of the tacos. No, my palate is not sophisticated enough to point out why they tasted so good together, so the most I can say in terms of food pairing is tacos + ale industries = delicious. Stay tuned for my next entry when I will be brewing my own beer or making my own wine. As of yet, i haven't decided which to start on first.

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