Mad Fox Brewing Company located in Falls Church, Virginia may be off the beaten path for some, but it is entirely worth the journey for beer lovers and for food lovers alike. If you enjoy beer, you probably already know that in the DC metro area you can find a lot of craft beer – some of it local, much of it fairly delicious. You are also probably aware of the disappointment you face when an otherwise good American craft brewery fails at a foreign beer style. At Mad Fox, that won’t happen and your taste buds will thank you – and what more can you expect from an award-winning brewmaster that graduated from the Master Brewers Program at UC Davis? But wait, there’s more! Mad Fox is an English-style gastro brewpub, and the food is a sophisticated step up from your average bar food. Executive Chef Andrew Dixon hails from the Four Diamond Award-winning Semiahmoo Resort in Blain, Washington with a farm-to-table organic focus in food art tailored to complement the beer offerings – in both quality and taste! What more could you ask for, really? (Besides more beer)
Mad Fox makes an outstanding Saison. It is a typical honey golden color with just the right amount of earthy funk, peppery honey and clove spice on the roof of the mouth with a balancing lemon and orange citrus and a dry finish. The carbonation is on the milder side of moderate, and is not quite as big as the Saison Dupont (which happens to be the inspiration behind it all.) Madden used a yeast strain from Northern France for the Mad Fox Saison that he says “gets better every time we use it”. To me the Mad Fox Saison is on par with the Bruery Saison de Lente. For discerning Saison / Belgian beer lovers, Mad Fox is worth the pilgrimage.
Along with the aforementioned Saison, Executive Chef Andrew Dixon paired a mushroom strudel. Yum! A few layers of phyllo dough wrapped around a strong and aromatic mushroom duxelle with goat cheese and portabello chips (taken from the gills of the mushroom) and a Saison reduction was a slow and complex evolution of taste. I thoroughly appreciated that the flavorful mushroom crept up on me mid-palate. The best part? This dish opened up the floral note in the Saison, admittedly my favorite aspect.
The dish I kept coming back to was the Ahi Carpaccio – a slice of Tataki tuna with a delectable buttery texture, balanced by crispy shiitake, and exciting flavors like basil and orange-ginger. This dish was accompanied by an award-winning unfiltered Kölsch beer. This beer took home the gold at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2011. Made with 18% wheat malt and Hersbrucker Hops, it’s a highly drinkable “brewers beer” at 4.4% ABV. It’s a hazy yellow golden color, with a pleasant spring meadow aroma and a light dry finish that cleared the palate for the lovely Ahi Carpaccio. The pairing is the perfect summer combo – light, crisp, and refreshing with a dry complexity. If you don’t make it out for the Saison (or even if you do!) these are a must-try.
Honorable mentions include the Mad Fox English Summer Ale, also a 2011 GABF award-winning beer. This is a beer style that evolved in the UK in order to give younger beer drinkers there a slightly hoppier lager. It’s almost clear golden in color with a light malt character from the English pale and German Pilsner malts, and is lightly hopped with American Citra hops which gives it a nice tropical fruit note. Also, the flame grilled oysters and the bacon jam burger will blow your mind.
Stay tuned for special events at Mad Fox for delicious beer and food pairings.
-Meagan (MLC)
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