Altstadt Brewery — Restaurant in Fredericksburg

The place is huge. I mean castle like huge. Overwhelmingly huge. Wow! If anything, you should go just to see it.

And for my taste, that's where I stopped being impressed. It was a very weird setup once you walked in the front door. Having never been there we talked to the "front desk" and said we were there to try some beers. They directed us around to the back where there was a bar and they also said there was a bar downstairs.

We get to the bar and there's a group of about 6 people and they're taking up both bartenders. Trying this and trying that. Hey, nothing wrong with that, but the bartenders should have realized they're all together and split up and had the other bartender help other guests while the other gives them the samples they want.

Ok finally the group is finished, so it's our turn. Oh wait minute....nope, the female bartender decides that talking to her coworker about whatever she did last night is more important than taking our order. Surely she's going to stop.......wait.......here we go......nope. She just keeps right on talking. So I just start talking over her..." we will have a flight with the schwartzbier, german session ipa,.......... " The reply I got was "what was that?". Yeah, that's what I thought. So I repeat myself, give them my card and tell them, not to leave it open, I want to close it. Honestly if they would have had more beers and more that were our style, I would have left it open to try more. I think there were maybe 6 beers on tap and we tried 4 of them.

The beers were just ok. It could have been that they just weren't our style. I like more ipa, pale ale, sours, porter, stout, etc. The one beer that I thought I could actually drink a pint of was the schwartzbier. It was fairly decent. The rest, like I said were just ok. And it's disappointing because it is a really nice place.

Unfortunately, we probably wont be back unless we just happen to have guests in town that insist on going, even after we let them know that the beer is just ok and the bartender needs a good long lesson in customer service....

I would have probably given this 3 stars if it weren't for the...

We've been to Alstadt before and enjoyed the experience, however, today we had an issue with the service and left after asking for and receiving a refund. We sat on the patio and were told by the front desk to use the table QR code to order our food and drink and it would be brought out to us. We ordered 2 drinks and 2 German pretzels. We received a text message that our drinks were ready shortly after ordering, so we assumed they would be out shortly as drinks and food were being brought to other customers all around us. After 10 minutes of waiting though I decided to check at the bar inside, however there was a sign at the door that said all food and drinks would be brought out to us. A server came by and he confirmed that both the food and drink would be brought to our table, so I sat back down. After 10 more minutes of waiting, I went inside and saw my drinks sitting by themselves at the bar. When I asked the bartender she got very defensive and said they weren't staffed to deliver drinks outside and that the server was actually a runner who didn't speak English well even though he seemed to speak and understand English from my encounter. I explained the front desk instructions and the sign and she said it doesn't work that way when they don't have the staff. I'm not sure how I was supposed to know they were understaffed, but I felt I was clearly being blamed for not knowing I needed to pick up my drinks myself. I calmly asked for a refund and texted my wife to come inside. A manger came and refunded our money but only after also getting defensive and vaguely saying something about needing to speak to his general manager. I give 2 stars and not 1 only because we did get a refund (the pretzels never showed up even after 20 minutes) even though I still felt we were being blamed for the mishap. Anyway, I'm disappointed in the outcome as I was really looking forward to relaxing on the patio with a Radler and...

This amazing venue is so much more than just a brewery! You can expect a wine cellar, a large production brewery (that does fun tours!), a tractor museum, a beer hall, a full-service restaurant, a beer garden and even a speak easy! All this on one property! This place is absolutely epic and you will need to come back multiple times to fully embrace it and enjoy it all.

Altstadt truly celebrates German heritage and as someone who grew up in the Czech Republic and spent lots of time in Germany, I felt like being back home! I learned that not only all the brewing equipment came from Germany but the brewery also gets everything delivered from there (except water, of course!) to follow German brewing purity law and you can tell when you start sipping on their brews. Their beers are absolutely amazing and Altstadt hefeweizen is the best hefe brewed by American brewery I have ever tried! This comes from a huge craft beer fan and also person working in the industry, so really, kudos to the Brewer!

Food is another level, too, especially considering the affordable pricing for this great food quality. My salmon tasted as it was caught this morning and I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it was?! I learned that this region specializes in growing peaches, so I couldn't resist their delicious peach cheesecake, so soft and creamy! I would highly recommend it if you're a sweet tooth. They also have a fantastic house made icecream.

I really appreciate seeing that everything at Altstadt is made from scratch as that's less and less common to see around the US businesses unfortunately. It's much appreciated to be back at "German restaurant" that does NOT just buy frozen pretzels like many other restaurants and taprooms do. From sauces, dressings to their michelada mix or sangria, Altstadt makes everything right in their kitchen. Can't wait to be...