NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Food: 6.3 Ambiance: 6.8 Service: 6.6

Expertly marrying the growing universe of craft beers with home-style cuisine is no small feat.

Doing it extraordinarily well hundreds of times per week is what makes Capital Ale House the toast of the Fredericksburg dining scene.

This budding chainlet revels in its beer-born nature, pouring frothy pints for everyone from Harley guys to lambic-sipping coeds to pint-swiping businessmen (amassing hoards of commemorative glassware like so many penny stocks).

Meanwhile, the kitchen takes pleasure in sloshing plenty of beer around on the burners (crab cakes bathed in hefewiezen béarnaise, dry ribs finished with malted barley barbecue sauce, fish and chips with brown ale tartar sauce).

Oniony piergoies are blanketed in horseradish-havarti sauce (spicy kick tempered by aged silkiness) and coarsely chopped bacon (bravo!).

A soft pretzel roll plied with hearty kielbasa, tangy sauerkraut, creamy havarti and sweet whole-grain mustard yields a brew-friendly snack that’s plenty filling in its own right.

Coconut cream sauce and spiced sweet-potato mash (bolstered with cinnamon and nutmeg) play sugar to an herb-caked jerk chicken’s spice (rousingly zesty rather than raging hot).

By Warren Rojas

It’s fine and dandy to tempt beer lovers with the promise of dozens of rotating drafts and hundreds more bottles. The real question is: How do you keep all those delicious brews cold?

Capital Ale House simply ices down the bar.

Regulars at the always-packed brew haven have probably noticed the narrow, frost-covered rail that runs the length of the entire counter—a runway of refreshment that keeps any gourmet suds cool ad infinitum without watering down the end product (sheer genius).

Bartenders keep patrons posted on incoming brews (the Fredericksburg shop switches up its line up every Thursday) and personal favorites, pouring samples with absolute impunity while sharing knowledge about esoteric beer styles (from gluten-free Belgian dubbles to traditional Scottish gruits).

Meanwhile, the menu celebrates traditional pub fare, but with gourmet flair.

Chicken wings reverberate with flavor—their glistening skin glazed over with spices (chili powder) and beer (Rogue Chipotle ale), while a chunky blue cheese-dill sauce works to douse the flames. Cream-soaked mussels are rained upon with bacon and gouda, the former injecting a smoky saltiness to every bite while the latter captures each glossy shell in a creamy web.