One of the things I was really looking forward to on our family vacation to Portsmouth was the brew pubs. Honestly, I feel let down. Perhaps it was a family group, my “kids” range from 8 to 28. Maybe it was the size of our party. Or maybe families just are not the favorite customer demographic, a vibe a caught at several eateries in the area. Regardless of the reason our greeting, seating, and follow up service was not exactly red carpet. Of course, every server(s) can be having a bad day, so I was still anxious to sample both the food and a few of the very local beers.

Let’s start with the beers. I went straight to the Coffee Milk Stout without passing go or collecting a hundred dollars. I was on edge as many craft brewery stouts lean towards the over sweet chocolate profile. Not this one. This milk stout tastes like it has some Russian Imperial Ale in its linage somewhere. It was smooth, creamy on the pallet with a hint of sweetness. My daughter had Omission Pale Ale. She is a vegan with allergies to gluten, lactose, and meat proteins and the Brewery did not have any house gluten free beers at the time we visited. My wife had the Dirty Blonde Ale and was satisfied if not overly impressed.

Food. Honestly, we had great food and lousy food all in the same meal. Starting with the Appetizers. You may recall I mentioned I had an allergy laden vegan daughter. So, we ordered the Vegetarian Nachos with the BBQ King Oyster Mushrooms. We asked for the Cheese and sour cream on the side for obvious reasons. The Oyster mushrooms were missing when it was delivered, and it took two requests to get the sour cream. The mushrooms never showed up. They don’t put Guacamole on their nachos, so they were pretty basic. Oh well. We also ordered two of the Jumbo Pretzels. They were hot and delicious and really are jumbo, as in dinner plate size. The cheddar ale sauce was good but not mind blowing. Point to the brewery.

Main Course. The vegan had a stripped-down salad despite the fact the restaurant has a vegan vegetarian menu. If you work at the Portsmouth Brewery or know someone who does, this is the problem. Not all vegetarian and vegans eat that way because of lifestyle choices. Some have restricted diets and cross contamination is everything. In an age where you can’t open peanuts on a plane without being jumped by an Air Marshall, I would think a small separate grill and fryer should be standard equipment in a commercial kitchen. Just think, it would also make some of your more orthodox Jewish and Muslim customers happy. Just a thought.

My oldest daughter had the Vermont Burger which she claims is the BEST burger she has ever had in her 28 years of life. Enough Said. Son number 2 decided to turn two appetizers into an entrée and ordered the Grilled Flatbread which he said was tasteless and dried out and the Carnitas Street Fries which were “ok”. My wife had the Brewery Burger. In retrospect burgers are the way to go at the Portsmouth Brewery. Her order was hot, cooked perfectly and tasty. In fact, the other half of it was pretty good reheated the following day. I had the fried fish. Along with a good stout beer fish and chips is one of my default choices for lunch out and I have had versions all over the world. This one was fair. Heavy on the batter but a decent portion. I had asked for some malt vinegar and some of the restaurants signature garlic aioli on the side. I got the aioli, but the malt vinegar got lost with the mushrooms from the nachos. The two youngest had Mac and Cheese and chicken tenders, respectively. My youngest loved the mac and cheese the rest of us found it bland as bland can be. I do not recommend ordering it. The chicken tenders were, well, chicken tenders.

All in all, I found this restaurant to be right down the middle for price, service, and food.