Westfield River Brewing Company — Restaurant in Southwick

I came here for an event a couple weeks ago, and was actually excited for anything that involves spending time at a brewery. I don't think I'm a connoisseur by any means, but I have a little background in brewing, and a lot of background in drinking.

I can't comment on the food, as the event was catered by an outside company, but the beer was absolutely atrocious. We drank from their outdoor Truck Tap thing at first and every beer had that nice sour lactobacillus twinge to it. I tried their NE IPA option and returned it for a Gin and Tonic, which was leaps and bounds better. I tasted their stout and bam - same horrible soured flavor. The bartending staff didn't seem at all surprised that the beer was less than desirable, but was quick to exchange the beer for something else upon request. They were friendly and pleasant to interact with.

We went inside after, and the facility was nice enough. There was a decent crowd downstairs on a Saturday night but by no means a packed house. Again, my date and I tried the beers for $7 a piece, and same deal as before - sour and awful. Their session was a little bit more tolerable, but not without the same contaminated flavor we had experienced outside. Even the pumpkin beer they had on tap was awful. Usually a cinnamon sugar rim and a few G&T's can mask a bad beer, but not this one. The next morning I woke up extremely nauseous after drinking far less than I might have somewhere else. I can't explicitly blame the beer for this obviously, but I can't deny a correlation. I've known others to experience similar illnesses after drinking at this brewery. (Garden Grove Festival, 2018)

I'm not usually the person to badly review a business (especially a brewery) but there is something seriously contaminated with the beverages at this place. There are dozens of better breweries in Western Massachusetts to go to, your money will go further elsewhere and get you a much better product. I cannot recommend this place any...

Tried here recently. Staff was warm, friendly. Brews were hit or miss. A Raspberry Sour, Belgian White, and a Sweet & Salty Stout all fell flat (pun not intended, but fitting). Big Red Barn, Snowy Silo, One, and the Pear Cider were all pretty good with a lot of flavor packed in. The 9.5% in the Big Red Barn is well disguised in its sweet maltiness. The pear cider seemed a bit plain at first taste but carried its flavors on the back end, I enjoyed it. Got wings and nachos, would not order either again. Wings seemed a bit tough/old, marinated in Buffalo sauce but no extra sauce and not much taste to what was there, no heat to it either. When you think Old Bay I feel like most people think crab, not wings, just doesn't belong. Menu says wings are ale brined but doesn't seem like much point to that as any taste that might add was hidden by the other ingredients. Nachos were a decent portion but still, pretty plain. Their own stout cheese sauce is lost in there, kind of pointless to use. Wasn't crazy about the sloppy joe meat, seemed a bit school lunch to me. I'd stop back for the brews and atmosphere for sure but would not expect much if I decided to...

I went to a private birthday party yesterday (100) guests during the brewery’s beer festival. I had 4 fireball shots in my purse to do a toast with the birthday boy and his wife.. A young man at the entrance asked if he could look inside my purse and I said yes. Next thing I know he’s rummaging as hard as he can and pulls out the four shots. I told them they were a gift for the birthday boy but he said he had to confiscate them. I said I’ll just put them in my car but he wouldn’t give them back to me. 15 minutes later another guest of the same birthday party came with a bottle of wine. The guy at the entrance told him it was not allowed.The guy told him it was a gift for the birthday boy and guess what? he let the man bring ithe wine back to his car. Something very wrong about that. I wonder if he got to enjoy his confiscated goods that night. It’s not like I was trying to bring in a cooler full of beer or wine to not buy theirs. I spent over $100 yesterday. POS enjoyed taking something from as if I were a criminal. Just put a cloud over the...