Reviews for Koontz Lake Brewing Co.

09/10/2021 - MenuPix User
My husband is an award winning brewer. He has gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mentions and is a certified beer judge. So, it's safe to say he knows beer.

Koontz Lake Brewing Co, unfortunately, does not know how to brew beer.

We went the first time right after they opened, and the beer had significant fermentation issues. Phenolic or full of esters. We figured they were still sorting out their process and it would improve as they settled in.

We visited again today. We had a Pils, a hefe, and the Irish Red. The Irish Red was straight up undrinkable. Seriously gross. It left a strong metallic taste in my mouth and the phenols were off the charts. It's the worst beer I have literally ever had and that taste won't be forgotten soon.. We tried the Ale and it tasted like a banana Runt from the esters. Head retention was non existent on all 3.

Even the root beer was flat and uninspired.

The fried mushrooms had no seasoning and a meager portion.

We were hungry, though, so we asked ourselves what can they not screw up. So we split a chili cheese dog and a Chicago dog. Because all they have to do is open cans and jars and assemble, the hotdogs and fries were decent - not great, but decent - though the Chicago dog did not have a poppyseed bun.

My husband has spent the evening with a sour stomach, and we think it's from the beer being bad because I'm fine and only tasted the beers. He drank two (the hefe and Pils were poorly done but drinkable) and sent the Red back because it was undrinkable.

Because choice is non existent in Koontz Lake, the brewery literally doesn't have any competition so they don't have to worry about learning how to brew beer properly (I'm sure most of Koontz Lake has no idea what beer styles even are, much less what they should really taste like) but we aren't going back again. That's too bad because when they were first opening, we were looking forward to having a nice place in walking distance from our cabin.

05/03/2021 - Dave P
Friendly atmosphere, good food and very good beer!