Top Shelf Brewing Company

 

The location was nice - lots of space, some indoor games, etc. The staff was friendly, but they only had three beers on tap: an extremely cloudy (almost looked like a skim milk) but reasonably tasty farmhouse ale, a stout, and a porter. Would definitely like to see more selection on tap and more diversity of styles. Not a great first impression, but the beer and the ambiance was decent. I'll give them another chance.

 

 

I've been several times, and enthusiastically support the idea of a brewery in Manchester. As others have said, there's a great staff, and a good vibe to the place in spite of its small size.

HOWEVER, they need to refine their beer making! I've had Marathon IPA several times and it's a different beer each time (ranging from awesome to 'meh'). Definitely some inconsistencies there. Also, many of their beers have a flat middle when tasting it. Reminds me of homebrew from someone who's taking a couple shortcuts on the recipe.

Stopped by for the first time and got Overtime TIPA. Grad I did.

 

 

Nice, small operation in a cool location, fairly easy to find. Very friendly and helpful staff. Good selection of beer. Certainly worth stopping in to check!

Very friendly. Nice selection. Cool location in an old mill building.

 

 

 

Very small location in an industrial park kind of area, but fun to visit of you get a chance. Brewers/staff are very friendly. Best beers so far have been their six packs of session ipas. Went to one of their beer release events and it was a lot of fun with lots of free food from local restaurants and generous pours. Very much a startup brewery right now but they have a lot of enthusiasm and potential.

I really want to like this place. The owners are very cool guys. Real nice. But the beer..it all his this very off taste. The quality control seems to suffer as well. I've had bottles where the cap literally just falls off. Some taste very soapy, carbonation differences, but mainly that weird taste. After drinking hundreds of beers, Top Shelf was my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th drain pour. I think it taste better in their tasting room because the pours are small enough and you don't get a chance to dive deeper into exploring the flavors. I don't know..
They are new. There will be hiccups no doubt. Ill go back at some point to see how things have changed. There is A LOT of competition. The weak will not make it. Good luck to these guys.