Malt River Brewing Company

Malt River Brewing CompanyMalt River Brewing Company
Malt River Brewing CompanyMalt River Brewing Company
Bar, Eatery

800 New Loudon Rd #697
Latham, New York, 12110
United States

// CLOSED //

No longer brewing beer.
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.49
Reviews:
4
Ratings:
4
pDev:
6.02%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of BrewMan13
Reviewed by BrewMan13 from New York

3.5/5  rDev +0.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4
Been to this place twice (ok, 3 times, but I dont count the 1st as I had no idea what to expect and it was a loooong time ago), so time to write a review. 1st time I went there I had their porter and pale ale on cask. Both decent but nothign amazing. I had the Jumbalaya for dinner and it was pretty awesome. Very spicy for me and trust me, I like spice. Not the best compliment to the beers but I couldnt resist.
This most recent time I had their oatmeal stout (wrote a review) with a 'soup special of the day': andouille sausage and green onion soup and a tuna steak sandwich for dinner. The stout was, as their other beers, good but nothign special. The soup was damn good I must say, but I dont think its a regular item. It was quite spicy and right up my alley. The tuna was a little on the well done side, but still pretty good.
Other beers include a fruity beer called "razmatazz", a red ale that looked good, an IPA, along with a couple of lighter beers liek a blonde ale, golden ale, pilsner and an even lighter version of the razmatazz. They seem to have only 1 'dark' beer on tap at any given time, and nothing overly creative. I cringed when some dude near me wanted the lightest beer they had, but was unconvinced any of them were actually light enough for him, so he got a coors light. The fact that they even have to stock crap like that is disgraceful, IMO.
I think the best way to describe this place is that nothing that stands out, but its still a place I wouldnt hesitate to visit again.
Jul 09, 2005
Photo of TheJudge
Reviewed by TheJudge from New York

3.16/5  rDev -9.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 2.5
This place is located in a mall. Not in a separate building with the same parking lot, but actually in the mall. I know this going in, so my expectations were pretty low. It is a large place, lots of seating, smallish bar area. I'm here at 2 on a friday afternoon, and there is no one else in the bar. Despite this, service was pretty mediocre at first. Improved as I had a few. Was that them, or the beer in me (it wasn't my first stop). The cute bartender ended up spending enough time with me to raise the score. The decor is nice enough, even fancy for a brewpub. But lotto heavy, a drawback.

Want to evaluate the place? the happy hour special was on Heini, amstel, and Coors Light. NOT their own beer. That tells you the story. There is a mug club that has an embarrasing lack of members.

The beer. The beer was acceptable. I had a pilser that was OK, somewhat flavorless. Followed with a golden that was passable. Only 5 beers on tap. Got 2 growlers to go. Can't swear by them yet.

All in all, OK. I will say it is the best bar in a Mall that I have ever been in. But there are much better places to drink in the capital region. Absent my wife insisting on shopping in the Latham Circle Mall, I doubt I will return to this place.
Oct 12, 2004
Photo of ecoboy
Reviewed by ecoboy from Rhode Island

3.73/5  rDev +6.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5
Big TV's creep me out. Drive-in size in scale, the TV at Malt River makes close-ups of the offensive line's posteriors during a football game a little unnerving. The football is about the size of an Austin Mini fer chrissakes.

So while the beer is fine enough, judging by several best bitters and several pales over two visits, at this big (somewhere between Boston Beer Works at Fenway and Colorado in Danbury in size) brewpub, the dedication to what's on TV is a touch disappointing. The bar area is my favorite place to sit; the servers are actually classily dressed, the mahogany wood and glass and bar set-up feel more posh and focussed than the huge dining area just to the right of the entrance. Check out the vibrant murals that lend a more homespun, folky touch to the joint. I've been midweek evening and Sunday afternoon, and both times the places was certainly underoccupied. Anybody know when it get busy?

Certainly, one would have a right to assume that Malt River might be much worse when considering the vast lake of asphalt one must cross to get there. But this would be the parking lot that just makes you more pleased when you wrap your mits around that first carefully crafted pale ale.
Jul 31, 2003
Photo of sponberg
Reviewed by sponberg from New York

3.58/5  rDev +2.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3
Located in the Latham Circle Mall next to Old Country Buffet (rattle, rattle, here come the cattle...) - park on the east side of the mall (by Rte 9). Look for the grain silo.

An absolutely huge space that tries its best to disguise the fact it's in a mall. Two large dining rooms flank either side of the bar, kitchen, and serving portion of the brewery, while the rest of the brewery is visible at the mall end of the pub. Usually eight beers on tap, plus one (usually a stout) on nitro and a (usually dry-hopped) cask beer served either through a beer engine or, on Firkin Fridays, from a firkin atop the bar. Brewer Goose Gosselin (formerly of Buzzards Bay and a confirmed beer fan) brews their standard offerings (pale, red, blonde, raspberry, porter) as well as several stouts (the oatmeal on nitro is exceptional) and seasonals (Old Grumpy barleywine can be great when aged, pretty hot when young). Several of their brews tasted VERY similar to the Buzzards Bay lineup in 10/03; definite positive changes a year later. They have a 100" TV screen for sporting events, etc. and live music a couple of nights a week. Pool table and darts in a separate area. Sundays they have the ubiquitous NFL Ticket with $2 pints.

The food ranges from OK (pizzas are apparently pre-portioned) to very good (Thai wings, nachos, and the signature burger). The crab & lobter bisque the people next to me were raving about smelled of real crab, not surimi. Kids are easily accomodated.

10/04 edit: Had both the IPA and Ofest - both showed a marked improvement over my last visit. I think the Goose is hitting his stride. More experimentation to follow - I hope to confirm that this is a solid trend and not an abberation.
Jul 08, 2002
Malt River Brewing Company in Latham, NY
Place rating: 3.49 out of 5 with 4 ratings