Scoping Out the Beer List at Foundry on Elm

There's whiskey in my beer! I'm betting The Captain's behind this ...

Foundry on Elm has been around for a little while now, but it’s still new by Davis Square standards. It’s got a hip, upscale vibe that makes it a bit of an oddity in Davis. But it’s still comfortable enough and the prices reasonable enough that it won’t break the bank. It’s also got on-street, open-air seating, which is tough to come by in the square unless you feel like grabbing some Indian food, or, like Fredo, you like hanging at The Joshua Tree.

But what really sets Foundry apart is its beer list. When I stopped in, they had 21 beers on draft, plus 11 more rotating specialties. That’s right: 32 beers on tap. Not too shabby. And while there are a couple of the more familiar brews like Sam and Harpoon Summer, most of those 32 are a bit more exotic.

I tried two beers when I was there. First up was Lexington Brewing Co.’s Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. It was 8.2 percent alcohol, and it tasted pretty much like you’d expect — like someone took a beer and dropped a shot of bourbon in it. It was interesting, but a little too boozy for my taste.

Next up was Avery Brewing Co.’s Maharaja Imperial IPA, which had 10.3 percent alcohol. This one was pretty damn good and much more my style.

Foundry also had a beer you could order with Raspberry sorbet in it, but I wasn’t touching that with a 10-foot pole. Why ruin a perfectly good beer by dropping a scoop of ice cream in it?

I wanted to try more, but I also wanted to be able to stand under my own power the next day, so I stopped there. Among those I wanted to sample were Geary’s London Porter (Portland!), Clown Shoes Brown Angel, and Wolaver’s Brown Ale.

What I’m Drinking

I’m actually without any beer in my beer fridge right now — which makes me very sad — but I did just polish off a 12-pack of Harpoon Summer cans. As I’ve mentioned before, I love drinking craft beer out of a can. In fact, I’m in the process of planning a trip to a canned brewery right now. Well, Harpoon makes some of my favorite canned beer. Both their IPA and their Summer tastes fantastic in an ice-cold can.

Mr. X is a contributor to the Beer Drinking Report. He likes drinking beer in cans, in bottles, in a funnel — he’s not picky. Just don’t feed him shots, or it’ll get like that scene in “Gremlins” where they let the critters eat after midnight.