A Night at Fairhope Brewery, Fairhope, AL

The Trip

Less than half an hour from our RV resort in Foley is the quaint little town of Fairhope, AL. There are multiple routes you can take from Blue Heron Escape. You can head up to downtown Foley and cut across on 98 or you can turn left out of the resort an go through Bon Secor and a few other variations on the route.

As we drove over we spotted a few more places we would like to try out and share with you all. Yes, that’s how we talk down south. So look for some post about the Lucky Horseshoe Saloon and the Blue Marlin Family Restaurant. Most of the ride is through the countryside, flat, lots of new subdivisions, fields and RV parks. Depending on the course you chose. This time we went through Bon Secor.

Fairhope itself is a great little town and I’m sure Cathy or I will drop some thoughts and knowledge on the town soon. Today though is all about the Fairhope Brewing Company.

The Venue

Like a lot of breweries across the country, this one is located in an older industrial building. Actually, it looks like it might be two buildings that are very close together. There’s a sidewalk in front. Some parking spaces right in front. The rest of the parking is in a gravel lot and the far end of the building. On the other end of the building there is a nice sized grotto with outdoor seating and corn hole. In front of the building they have a nice outdoor, covered seating area built like a deck with treated lumber.

The interior is fairly large for this size brewery. It has a big bar with more seating at the bar than usual. The rest of the space has assorted, slightly raised table seating. I could be wrong but the tables and stools did not seem to be standard bar height. But they were definitely raised.

O the back wall you will find shelves full of branded merchandise. You will find the usual merch and some uncommon branded items. The hat prices seemed high to me so I passed on a red, white and blue trucker hat that I really liked.

The location is just off the main drag, Hwy 98, but far enough off to not be bothered by the sound of traffic. If there’s a drawback to the location it’s that it’s not in the “downtown” area where the trendy bars and restaurants are. So you can’t say, eat at Local’s and walk to the brewery. But in fairness it is only a 3 minute drive. I’m sure some would view this as a positive.

Events

While the brewery was on my list things to do here. What actually prompted this particular trip was that a band we have made friends with was playing. We were both hungry so I perused the website to see if the brewery had food. While they don’t have their own food they do have food trucks. Just check the website’s hoppenings link to see when food trucks will be there, bands will be playing or when trivia night is.

In my short perusal of the event’s calendar Thursday-Saturday seem to be when the hoppenings take place.

The beer

I would have liked to sample everything on the menu but I did have drive home. Luckily, Fairhope’s flights are five beers instead of the usual four. As I’ve mentioned before if half the beers you try at a brewery are good, you’re doing alright. I’m a little unusual in that I like most styles of beer where most people only like a couple. Don’t get me wrong. I have swings where I prefer a particular style for a bit. but when exploring a new brewery. I’ll try as many as I can and different styles. The nice thing about a flight is that you can have variety.

When your sampling styles in a flight you should absolutely drink them in a certain order and a palate cleanser like chips or pretzels is nice too. It’s usually a good idea to start with lagers or sours, schwarzbier, then ales, pale ales, IPA’s, porters and finish up with stouts, barrel aged and boozy high ABV (10% +) beers. If you are being adventurous and you’re not sure, just ask your beer-tender.

As of the writing of this post the table below contains Fairhope’s current selection that was on tap. You can see it is a broad mix of styles and flavors. The beers in Bold below I’ve tried. My flight last night consisted of Rescue Dog Red Ale, (Take the) Causeway IPA, Painted Black IPA, Two Face and Judge Roy Bean. The others I had at restaurants and may have been in a can.

I’m partial to the Rescue Dog Red Ale and they donate to charity for this beer and the Soldiers to Sidelines.

Beer	Style	ABV
(TAKE THE) CAUSEWAY IPA	American IPA	8.2
Apple Pie	Spiced Ale	5.5
Banana Nut Muffin	American Brown Ale	6.0
Blue Steel	Sour Ale	5.4
Cheap Sunglasses	Kolsch	4.4
Fifty One	American Pale Ale	5.8
German Chocolate Cake	Imperial Stout	10.0
I Drink Therefore I Amber	American Amber	5.4
Judge Roy Bean	American Stout	5.0
Orange Creamsicle Seltzer	Hard Seltzer	5.2
Painted Black IPA	Black IPA	7.0
Rescue Dog Red Ale	Imperial American Red	7.0
Soldiers to Sidelines	American Lager	4.6
Thanos	IPA	7.0
Two Face	Smoked Porter	6.0

If you drink much craft beer you can tell which breweries have good sanitation and water programs. We will not be here long enough to comment on consistency. I can say that Fairhope makes good solid beer and I will go back. There were a couple that I didn’t feel were true to the style, taste wise, but that’s a small complaint.

Summary

It takes more than just good beer today to make a successful brewery. The fact is craft beer exploded and there are plenty of options. It’s the whole package, beer, food, events, location. It takes it all these days. Fairhope Brewery is above average and a place I would recommend if you are in the area.

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