Brewery Review, Browning's Restaurant & Brewery

On Friday, July 25, Kriddy and I headed to Asheville, NC for Bele Chere. About 200 miles into the trip is Louisville Kentucky. Last time we went, we stopped at Bluegrass Brewing Company on the way back for lunch (see Beer B-Ashe-ville) . This time we stopped at Browning's Restaurant & Brewery on the way there.

Brownings is in an awesome location. As first timer's driving through downtown Louisville, it was really easy to find. It's right next to Louisville Slugger Field.

The place was bright, clean and well lit. It appeared to be well cared for. All the bar seats were set at an angle, inviting you to sit. So we did. If you sit at the bar, directly above you to your front is the brew house on the second and third floor. There's a lot of copper up there.

There were 8 house beers on tap and a guest tap. I ordered the sampler and Kriddy went with the Bourbon Barrel Stout (claimed to be aged in Pappy Van Winkle).

The beers were St. Hildegard Helles (which may have been my favorite at the pub); Louis XVI Guillotine ESB; She-Devil Double IPA; Blacksmith Porter; Bourbon Barrel Stout; Belgium Wit; Oatmeal Stout; and the guest tap Great Lakes Eliot Ness.

The beers were all good. The Helles was very bright and crisp; very tasty. The ESB seemed hoppier than the dIPA. The dIPA did have good balance, and a strong hop flavor, but also a large malt presence.

To eat, I went with the D. B. Fish Sandwich. Kriddy had the Pub Club. I don't know what it is about Louisville breweries, but they get some huge friggin fish for their sammiches. It looks like it may have been browned a little too much, but the crust was outstanding. The fish was just massive and very flavorful, cooked perfectly. On the rye bread it was great. The chips are homemade and very fresh. Neither of us were willing to try the coleslaw, Kriddy isn't normally a fan, and I was wary due to raisins in it. It didn't really matter, as I was stuffed from the sandwich anyway.

Kriddy also ordered the Pretzel Sticks and Beer Cheese, hoping it would be hot pretzels, but it wasn't. The cheese was good, but wasn't quite what we had hoped for. Had we known it was the large pretzel sticks with a softer cheese for dipping/scooping, it may have been a better "appetizer experience".

Louisville is lucky to have both Browning's and Bluegrass in it's arsenal of restaurants. I would have trouble picking between them. Bluegrass had more beer on their menu, but both places made good beer. As to who makes a better fish sandwich, that'd be hard to compare. Both were huge and done great, but today, I'll take Browning's fish sandwich. If I could have that with the Raspberry Meade from Bluegrass, I'd be in Louisville heaven.