Fox Farm Brewery

My friends and I love meeting here. It’s quintessentially New England, set on a farm with a barn and silo. Gorgeous property! The beers are always delicious. I had the Rubis, which was a raspberry beer which had perfect sour flavor! My absolute fav! Many women in our party, who don’t drink beer, loved this beer! The atmosphere is always a great time and vibe. We had reserved a table for a birthday party and all the guests appeared comfortable as the tree outside provided much shade for the event. As for parking, there is plenty. Despite the high number of guests, the line moved quickly and the bartenders were super friendly! The merch is excellent too. I purchased the red hat and love being able to advertise one of my favorite breweries here in South County, Rhode Island. 5 stars! We’ll be back!

I finally got the chance to head out to this brewery. It's a little over an hour drive for me, but it's worth every bit. With a friendly and knowledgeable staff and an excellent tap list that is top-notch, this is a must stop if you are in Connecticut. Nestled back in the winding roads of the Connecticut woods, you'll come to this brewery. A warm and inviting landscape draws you into the peaceful surroundings of this farm. With both indoor and outdoor seating that brings you back to a true New England feel, I felt very at home here. There is an easy to access drive-through for pick-up with a great selection of beers as well. Make it a point to get to this place you will not be disappointed. UPDATE I do visit this place from time to time and it's still fantastic.

Whether or not their beer is to your liking depends a great deal on your tastes (or lack thereof). I have pretty much written off American Craft beer as mostly undrinkable, over-hopped wastewater. And I used to be a big fan of IPAs, with Sierra Nevada Torpedo a regular staple. But I suppose after having my taste buds assaulted for years by overdoses of bittering hops and beer that tastes more like grapefruit juice than beer I had enough. American Craft Beer: A Bucketful of Hops in Every Sip. My current favorites are mostly German lagers and pilsners, a few Belgian Abbey Ales, and Guinness Extra Stout. Spaten Premium Lager is perhaps the best beer currently made, IMO. So that provides you with a frame of reference for what follows. I have no problem with people reading this taking my contempt for American Craft Beer into consideration. Any critical comments about the beer might best be served with a big grain of salt. Let me start with the Best Bitter. I was pleasantly surprised. It pressed all the right buttons. I was mostly concerned that this was going to be over powered with bittering hops, and that is not what English bitter is about. I lived in the UK for a couple years a long time ago and Bitter was the drink of choice. But I haven't had a pint of Bitter in 30 years. Welly was a close enough approximation that it reminded me a lot of the real thing. While I may not have had a pint of real British Bitter in a long time, it hasn't completely slipped my mind. A very worthy effort by Fox Farm Brewery. I was much less impressed with Little Brook, the American Blonde Ale. I found it to be undrinkable. Carbonated grapefruit juice. I knew I was taking a chance on this one going in as it did say hop forward on the can. Clearly my concept of hop forward and what the brewery calls hop forward are not aligned. Just be advised that when Fox Farm Brewery says hop forward what they really mean is a truckload of hops in every can. So my suggestion is if they have "hop forward" beers that might be of interest then go to the brewery and try them on tap before buying cans to take home. I also gave their so-called German-style Pilsner (Gather) a try and was very disappointed. This is a style of beer that I know very, very well and have a lot of experience drinking the real thing in Germany. If you are going to tout your brew as made in a particular style then you owe it to your customers to be true to that style. If you want to make a "Pilsner" like beer and then hop the bejeezus out of it then please do us all a favor and call it something else. This beer shares a lot of flavor traits with extra hoppy IPAs and that is not what Pilsners are about. This brew was quite unpleasant to drink. Using German Pilsen malt in the grain bill and then dumping a truckload of hops into it doesn't make it a German-style Pilsner. The brewer should know better. I tried six different beers from this brewery and was only favorably impressed with a few of them. Overall I give the brewery 2 out of 5 stars and will not be going back again. They have a penchant for relying on hopping their beers in the extreme in order to carry the day instead of brewing craft and talent, and they lack a certain knowledge of and respect for the styles that some of their beers claim to emulate. So, if you happen to enjoy munching on hops by the handful then you will probably dig what Fox Farm Brewery is doing. But for everyone else I strongly recommend you try from their draft list before you buy cans to take home. Of the several brews I bought only the Best Bitter and Nitro Coffee Stout were worthwhile. The rest of it was obscenely hopped, unpalatable swill that ended up in the trash. A fitting end for what it was, but a complete waste of money and time.

Very friendly knowledgeable staff and a nice selection of tasty beers from which to choose. Outdoor seating was somewhat limited. Indoors, the music at times bordered on obnoxious heavy metal but improved as the crowd increased. I would have given a 5 star review if not for the bathrooms. The bathroom sinks only dispense water when you push the button which is a hassle. Also, they don’t have paper towels with which to dry one’s hands.