STROUDSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
A multifarious winery-distillery with a mountain chalet-styled brewpub operating on a 100-acre farm, MOUNTAIN VIEW BREWING COMPANY features an earth-toned stone frontage with wraparound tile-floored patio, Arandell Bar kiosk (with slushees, fusions, craft cocktails), meat-grilling station, large fire-pitted umbrella-clad deck area and slate top cabana bar.
Inside, the wood-beamed pavilion pub’s rounded wood-paneled serving station centers several metal-chaired plank wood tables. There are 20-plus tap handles and wood-fired pizzas are made in the back.
Co-owners Randy and Linda Rice first became interested in wine making during a trip to the Finger Lakes, a fertile winery destination. In 2009, the grapevines flourished and the winery was opened. Four years hence came the distillery and then by 2017, the brewery opened for biz.
Randy tested a few homemade brews on friends before buying a bigger brew system and coming up with initial recipes for Mountain View’s Linda’s Amber Lager, Galaxy IPA and Randy’s Shandy. Nowadays, the couple also experiments with wheat beer infused by real juice (Berry Manilow, Peach Boys, Blue Berrymore and Halle Berry).
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in June ’24, my wife and I devoured pizza while exploring seven proprietary beers.
Interestingly offbeat dry moderation, Linda’s Amber Lager, sunk raw-honeyed graining into desiccated orange, musky perfumed spicing and leafy hop astringency.
Sturdily stylistically enigmatic, Slightly Sideways Pale Ale braced its dry orange-peeled grapefruit tang with floral perfumed cologne and hard wood siding.
In spite of its laidback banana-clove sweetness and ‘kiss of strawberry’ promise, cloudy beige yellowed Mountain Goat Wheat recalled Fruity Pebbles or Corn Pops cereal more often.
Dry bronze-cleared West Coast India Pale Ale, Bite Me Billy, placed Citra-hopped lemony grapefruit and pineapple bittering next to peachy tangerine tanginess and limey Ekuanot-hopped dryness above a stylishly maltier caramel backbone.
Limited edition tropical IPA, Jeep Juice, a golden sunshiny Citra-Mosaic-Cascade-hopped medium body, let grapefruit-pitted bittering, peachy pineapple-mango tanginess and lemon custard tartness combine alongside light pine tones above its sugared oats base.
Sourly fruited Peach Cream Ale let orange-candied tartness and mildly acidic lemon bittering border its white peach adjunct in a lightly creamed oated wheat setting.
Luxurious nightcap, Randy’s Brandy Barrel Aged Porter, merged chocolate-caked vanilla bean richness with whiskeyed cherry, rum raisin and pureed blueberry sidestep, dessert-wined Armagnac-cognac whir and cinnamon-toasted Apple Jacks reminder. As it warmed, dry burgundy, sweet sherry, Calvados apple brandy and Muscat wine remnants picked up grape-stemmed cellar musk.