Chris, Mad Fox and some locals

My friend Chris visited this past weekend and he brought two growlers from Mad Fox Brewing, a brew pub in Falls Church, Virginia.  He also brought me a six pack which I'll be drinking over the next two weeks or so.  Thanks Chris!

We started with the Mad Fox Slobberknocker, an American Barleywine.

Smelled lightly of hops with a lovely backing of caramel.  Initially caramel, followed by pine notes from the hops, and finishing sort of sugary sweet.  No lingering flavors or bitterness at all.  No hint of alcohol that I could find which considering it's 9% is really good.  Not hugely complex, but tasty.  Enjoyable way to start the night.

After that, we went out and hit up London Grill and Kite & Key.  At the London Grill, I had a glass of the Weyerbacher IPA project beer which was pretty good.  I had a few more at the Kite & Key, but the highlight was the Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball.  I didn't know what to expect, but what I got was basically an American Doppelbock (no surprise, it's an American Strong Ale which means it's hoppy and strong but that's it so I like my description better).  Tasty mix of caramel and hops and very enjoyable.  Kite & Key itself was really great too.  Their food was quite good and the crowd was big, but not unmanageable.  Glad I'll live a bit closer to it soon.

Once we got back from the bars, we had some of the other growler, the 80 Shilling.  It's a scottish ale, hence the name which is based on the historical cost of the beer in Scotland.

I'll admit I was a bit drunk at this point so my description will suffer a bit.  Smelled bready with some sweetness and caramel notes.  Caramel, bread, and a little hop bitterness follow.  Pretty much stays the same throughout.  Decent beer and enjoyable and something that you can drink a few glasses of at the brewpub.  Mad Fox has a scotch ale (sort of a stronger version of a scottish ale) on draft right now as well so it would be fun to try them side by side.

Always nice when friends visit and it's that much better if they bring beer.  Getting to spend some time at Kite & Key was fun and the Mad Fox stuff he brought was pretty tasty.  This place is close to Chris's apartment in Virginia so I'll definitely be visiting it when we head down there, hopefully some time this summer.  Their growler fills are apparently really cheap too so head over there if you live there and support them.