Brewpub Visit: Elm City Brewing Company

Elm City Brewing Company has a small brewpub located in downtown Keene, New Hampshire, within a renovated mill surrounded by a small army of little shops, including a toy store. The outside/inside is brick decor with a warm antique aethestic.

My venture to Elm City was with a rather large party of 7 (3 kids, 4 adults) and there wasn't a wait - which was great. However the service was pretty slow which surprised all of us since it was not overly busy at the time. When the waitress did arrive she was very attentive but it’s still hard to overlook taking 20 minutes to first greet a party in a half empty restaurant.

Lets get to the beer and food, of which Elm City has about 8 beers on tap. I ordered the ‘NoName IPA’ which I paired with a Philly cheese steak. The peppery spices on the steak brought out the aromatics in the IPA. The cheese also complimented the beer with a slightly salty feel on the palate to balance the sweetness in the onions and the maltiness of the IPA. The food is what I would call a notch above standard pub grub; you have a lot of great choices from chicken and cheese tortellini to a pesto burger to the Knock dog which is knockwurst served on a grinder roll with sauerkraut, delicious with one of the wheat or marzen beers.

The complete beer menu explains what’s on tap clearly and they had some solid guest beers (Unibroue, Shipyard) to compliment their own offerings. Guest beers aside, Elm City’s beer is certainly good and you can always find something of interest depending on which season you hit them up.

After completing lunch I wanted dessert but nothing heavy like a cake or pie. I ultimately decided to have a beer for dessert: the ‘Peachy Keene Kolsch.’ It has a sweet malty fresh peach flavor that satisfied my sweet tooth and was perfect for a warm day.

The hidden gem at Elm City may be the little kitchen store with some nice “beer ware;” imperial pint glasses, pilsner glasses, etc. for $2-3/glass. Anyway you cut it, that’s not bad at all.

Overall, my jaunt to Elm City was a great experience. The beer and food hit the spot and the people I was with enjoyed their beer and food as well. The only bad note was I wanted to take home a growler of their beer and they were out.

You can read my full reviews for the beers I sampled at Elm City through the links below.

Frank Bennett