HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA
Hidden away in Virginia’s vast westerly Shenandoah Valley, the rustic town of Harrisonburg is home to CALLY’S RESTAURANT & BREWERY (formerly Calhoun’s), visited July ’09. In the small downtown district across the courthouse and in the same pristine yellow-bricked building as a fine wine store, Callie’s side entrance leads to a wood bar with glass-enclosed brew tanks.
Light-stained oak furnishings adorn the bar and surrounding dining space where exposed ducts highlight the high ceiling. A side patio and upstairs banquet add depth to the exquisite green awning-fronted brewpub. Upscale American cuisine filled a varied menu.
Mid-afternoon, I quaffed mild popcorn-like honey-grained floral-hopped grapefruit-currant-embittered German Pilsner, orange-yellow-fruited caramel-malted green-hopped Downtown Amber Ale, and earthen coffee-burnt hazelnut-walnut-influenced Nut Brown Ale.
Mossy resin-hopped grain-toasted grapefruit-soured pineapple-sweetened Smokin’ Scottish Ale and IPA-like Switzer Pale Ale, with its wood-dried floral-hopped apple-apricot-tangerine tang and grapefruit rind/ orange peel bittering, proved to be better choices.