Brown’s Malt Room

1 Reviews on “Brown’s Malt Room”

• Roger K

  Whats the most important thing they tell you when you have to take antibiotics? DONT DRINK ALCOHOL! So what do you do once you are off the antibiotics? CELEBRATE with an alcoholic drink of course.I was given the responsibility of identifying where we would go to implement this celebration and the category that came to mind was a Speakeasy. Never having been to one, I decided the closest one to home, The Malt Room, was probably the best bet. Arriving about 30 minutes after their opening at 5 pm on a Saturday after Xmas, I felt like we were actually in one of those old flicks as we searched in the dark for a parking place between this old warehouse and the river. There was a single incandescent light above a doorway leading into a basement area. The only deviation from the imagined prohibition era seemed to be the lack of needing a secret knock and password to enter.The dcor inside was everything I expected based upon the images I had formed from the outside. The lighting from the hanging shaded light bulbs was just right, neither too dark nor too bright. A long bar covered in copper was to the right and small high-tops lined the brick wall to the left. Way in back was an area with some couches and low tables. The bar had beer engines built right into it, and a tray full of various bitters on the bar sat alongside a slab of stone where the bartender torched some wood chips which were then used to smoke a cocktail glass. The back-bar was filled with various shaped bottles filled with many different kinds of liquor, some of them distilled locally.Of the three bartenders on duty, I think we may have been approached by a relatively new chap. After having perused the Winter Cocktail menu, my wife mentioned that she was tossed between two different cocktails on the menu. He didnt offer any suggestions to differentiate the two, or suggest one over the other. Similarly, I indicated that Id never had a beer cocktail before and was interested in trying one. While none were included on the cocktail menu, he said he could make me one but didnt offer any suggestions as to what my options might be. Instead, he inquired what my preference might be to have added to the beer. I explained that I had no idea since I typically just drink beer, preferably dark beers.In the end, all worked out well as my wife chose the Caf Tequiliano ($13) and I was served a beer cocktail ($10) consisting of their Uncommon Porter, a brandy, and some bitters. My wifes drink was more like dessert, she said, with its cacao nib infused Peliogroso silver tequila, Fernet Branca, Nocello, Galliano, espresso, cinnamon simple, and chocolate bitters. For my part, while I enjoyed my first beer cocktail, I think it would have been more interesting, and possibly more informative, if I had the opportunity to sample each ingredient separately and identify its flavor profile before mixing them all together.The Malt Room boasts relaxed music, never louder than the murmur of conversing guests. That was just fine with us as we entered the cool, sixty-seven degree speakeasy. But two separate groups of four to six guests each chose to not murmur as they apparently decided to begin their pub crawl here at The Malt Room. We thought the low, open-beam ceiling may have contributed to the high noise level of their voices, but they were just as annoying outside, as we walked to our car, since they coincidentally also left right after us.As others have said, this is not a place where you go for dinner. But the limited food menu looked very inviting. Id like to return and have something to absorb some of that post-antibiotic alcohol in the future, and maybe a second cocktail or three if Eliot Ness doesnt get here first.

  March 28, 2016, 9:02 pm

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