Rustic Road Brewing Company

 

The taproom is small and kind of dim but comfortable and clean. There is a small bar and table seating. They also have outdoor seating on the sidewalk. The quality of the beer was average to above average. The service was friendly and helpful. There were 14 beers on tap.

 

They moved to new location near the old in Kenosha proper, street parking and long narrow brick building, a little dark inside on a bright day. Staff was nice, beers were average. Selection was lacking in any dark beers.

I enjoyed my time at Rustic Road. The decor is very fitting and the beer was great! If you don't like craft beers, this is definitely not the place for you. I think their own brews are delicious, and they have plenty others from around the state to choose from as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bartender was not friendly at all. Didn't care to be there.

Beer fell flat

 

 

Great place to relax and have amazing beer.

 

 

 

I went there for the first time last night and tried a sampler of all five of their beers.

The first beer I tried was St. George's Pride, an English ale, and what I found to be far and away their best brew. It was dry and had a lot of character. This is the beer I'd order again there.

The second beer is Portside Pumpkin, a porter. I was excited about trying this one, but was disappointed. The pumpkin flavor is almost syrupy, and far too sweet for me. The porter lingering in the background provides a nice base though, so if they do experiment with more porters, I'll try them.

The third beer is the Kenosha Pale Ale. This is a very nice, clean pale ale. It reminds me a lot of beers brewed by Half Acre in Chicago. It has a similar hop taste to it, and a nice refreshing beer to have on tap.

The fourth beer is the Simmons Island Imperial Blonde. They told me that this is their strongest beer, at 8.4%, but it didn't taste strong. In fact, it, like a couple of their others, was very sweet. Too much so for my liking. The sweetness masked any characteristics I might have found enjoyable.

The fifth and final beer was Hazlenut Harvest. This beer tastes like cream soda and, again, is just too sweet. It was like drinking frosting, and a little went a long way. My least favorite of the five.

I'm not trying to pick on them for leaning towards having such sweet beers, but I hope they tone that down a little bit. This place has promise and I really hope it stays around.

The place itself is small, dark and inviting. The music was pretty bad, unless you like mid nineties frat faves, but that wouldn't keep me out if the beer they pour gets a little bit better.

I don't think they serve food, though they might offer frozen pizzas.

I wish them luck, and I will be back to try any brews they come up with.

Despite impending storms, we braved the weather to check out Rustic Road today. Located in the slowly revitalizing downtown district, next to Linnea Bakery, a cool little Scandinavian bakery serving cardamom coffee and unique pastries. (2017: Unfortunately the bakery has closed, and Rustic Road moved around the corner.) The space is long and narrow, with brewing equipment up front in the windows, and a small bar for 15 or so on the left side. On a saturday afternoon there was a good sized crowd, I think some guys from Lakefront were at one end of the bar. Two bartenders, service was good, can't complain at all. Decor was fairly minimal, with the work of local artists here and there, and a jukebox and popcorn machine in the back. The brewing operation was fairly tiny. Found it funny they claim to be "Kenosha's Oldest Brewery" when they have been open only a month or so.

5 taps running, three regulars and two seasonals (KPA: Kenosha Pale Ale and a Farmhouse ale). Had the sampler and everything seemed to be of good quality, though nothing really stood out as a clear winner. Enjoyed the Amber enough to have a pint later. Glad to see they do some seasonals, hope to try some new ones next time. Noticed they use clear glass for their growlers, which was unfortunate.

Food: limited to frozen pizza and popcorn. Not sure if they have a kitchen here.

Hope these guys do stick around, Kenosha could use a local brewery.

Stopped in here with the wife to tick another brewery off our list. Super clean space. Has the "new car" smell if you will. Nice little bar area and a handful of tables. Brewing equipment right up front for your viewing pleasure.

We sat at the bar and ordered the sampler. 6 beers on tap since they still had July's beer of the month as well as August's. All the beers were pretty solid. I especially liked the amber. It had a roasty character that was really nice.

Only one other person was in there so the service was fairly focused on us. Curious what it's like when busy.

I wish them well. Lord knows it's getting awfully crowded in the sea of brewery start ups.

Went there today. They were brewing a batch of beer while I was there.

It is a small place but nice, the brewing set up is right in front. I got the sampler for 5$, it had all 4 of the beers. Tbh they suprised me, they weren't too shabby. The imperial blonde wasn't th ebest but the Amber, which was more like a brown ale, was unique and tasty. The "hefeweizen" was a straight up banana tart lemon bomb. The saison was pretty good.

Overall it was average to slightly above. Nothing special, but still quality stuff. The bar was nice, it had a good atmosphere. Hopeflly this place has bigger and better things in store in the future.