Jeremy Holmes

Review of Caboose Brewing Company

Caboose is a lovely stop along the W&OD trail with...

Caboose is a lovely stop along the W&OD trail with ample bicycle and rather limited vehicular parking. Between a third and a half of their evening clientele were on bicycles when I went in, the rest mostly in sharp business casual. I felt more out of place in motorcycle gear than I expected to at a brewery/tasting room. The aesthetic was a sort of rustic industrial; most surfaces were finished wood with dark, flat metal pipes for adornment. The atmosphere seemed geared for people too old to call themselves hipsters but too young to be yuppies. It was not what I was expecting to find at back end of Vienna's light industrial district.

When I walked in alone, the hostess smiled and waved me toward the bar, where I waited a few minutes for a bartender to be free. The standing area was rather busy and the small downstairs seating area was completely full, but the upstairs seating was roped off. I ordered a "hoppy" flight of beers and grabbed a sticker before moving to one of the standing bar-like surfaces adorning the bar half of the restaurant. Two of the beers were lackluster, one was good, and the imperial double was the best 9-ish% beer I've had in recent memory. It was akin to DFH90Minute, slightly less syrupy, with a very smooth finish.

A saw a few charcuterie boards in the bar area, which people seemed to be enjoying. The food that came out to the seated areas smelled delicious, and a hooked board along one wall told the (very local) source of each individual ingredient, down to the city/farm in Virginia. I will definitely be returning to try a meal.