Brew Review

Downtown Joe’s is located in the heart of Napa on Main Street along side the Napa River.

Featuring Napa’s Downtown Joe’s

Downtown Joe’s is located in the heart of Napa on Main Street along side the Napa River. Their philosophy is to be unpretentious, friendly and fun, which I experienced firsthand, when I dropped by on a Friday afternoon during happy hour.

The crowd was gathered around the bar, all in good spirits, and I met several new people who were happy to start up a conversation with a stranger. The bartender, Big John Herkins was dazzling spectators with his charismatic wizardry that included magic and card tricks.

Brewmaster, Colin Kaminski and I sat down to sample a flight of the whopping nine craft beers that were currently on tap. For those whose tastes favor the lighter beer styles, the Lazy Summer American Wheat beer might be the best bet. It’s Downtown Joe’s best selling beer, and has a light, clean finish with little hops to offend anyone not used to the taste of craft beers.

For those more adventurous or experienced craft beer enthusiasts, I highly recommend the Tantric India Pale Ale. True to style, it’s a bold beer that is heavily hopped (with no less than seven different varieties of hops) and high in alcohol.

In the tradition of most brewpubs, Colin had a couple of seasonal beers that are not available year round. I found the Sweet Dreams Cream Ale to be very light and refreshing, and reminded me of Boddingtons Pub Ale. By far the most unique beer was the Double IPA, it’s more like a barley wine with its extremely high alcohol level (approaching 10 percent). This beer has been aged for 4-months, definitely worth the wait.

Downtown Joe’s offers a full menu featuring traditional American dishes. Patrons can enjoy them on the spacious patio during a warm summer day with one of Colin’s fine creations.