Northern Virginia should be proud to claim home to such a great brew pub and represent at SAVOR. The food is as creative as the brewing and seasonally paired with the variety of great craft beer. I highly recommend making the short trip out to Mad Fox and eating and drinking till fat and happy.
Bill Madden once told me, “The city of Falls Church is a thirsty town.” He must be right because I can’t recall ever being at Mad Fox Brewing and there not being a crowd. Even a year after their opening, Mad Fox continues to quickly sell barrel after barrel of craft-brewed awesomeness. Mad Fox is a great balance of traditional and new school brewing techniques. In fact, in the early days of brewing, Bill recognized the demand for hops and quickly adapted by creating the alpha acid heavy Molotov HopTail and Orange Whip IPA. Mad Fox brewing has quickly proven its ability to create well-crafted beers paired with fresh and creative foods. For me, a trip to Falls Church is planned around growler fills and pizza. After that, the rest is trivial.
Location: Falls Church, VA
Type: Brewpub
Available in DC Market: Yes (At location only)
Beer #1: Kölsch (4.4 % ABV)
Beer Advocate: B+ (11 Reviews)
Rate Beer: 68 Overall, 96 Style
Notes: I have to credit Bill Madden for my love affair with this style. Kolsch is a highly underrated style and a bit of a pain to brew. Mad Fox Kolsch is light but delicate and perfect for a summer day. I urge you to seek this beer out often and enjoy the subtleties of this style, which are perfectly conveyed in Mad Fox’s interpretation. Clean, crisp, and essential.
Beer #2: Wee Heavy (Scotch Ale / 9% ABV)
Beer Advocate: B (9 Reviews)
Rate Beer: 78 Overall, 45 Style
Notes: This is kind of a sweet and sticky mess but a fairly good representation of the style. Expect malt forward, full bodied ale with notes of toffee and caramel. The high ABV is masked nicely with the sweetness and caramel flavor, but at 9%, this is a still a sipper.
Northern Virginia should be proud to claim having such a great brew pub to represent it at SAVOR. The food is as creative as the brewing, and it is seasonally paired with a variety of great craft beer. I highly recommend making the short trip out to Mad Fox and eating and drinking until you’re fat and happy.
This profile is a part of the DCBEER.COM SAVOR Brewery Profile series. For more information, follow the link to see profiles of all 2011 SAVOR participants.
Beer Review Disclaimer: The beer reviews found on Beer Advocate and Rate Beer do not represent the opinions of this site. We provide these in the hope that they will serve as a resource showing what some craft beer fans have thought of the beers. These reviews can be a helpful guideline, but are not the be-all end-all about a beer’s strengths or weaknesses.
