Our travels lead us up north in the DF-dub, and we found ourselves out by Sanger. We decided to pop in to Uptown Rail Brewery, and found a nice little place.
Uptown Rail is located right in the middle of historic downtown Sanger in a strip of shops, so parking can be scarce if it’s busy. Directly to the right and connected to the brewery is a pizzeria and ice cream shop by the same name. You walk in to a huge, open space with a large bar to the right, and a ton of tables right in front of you. They have something I’ve hardly seen, as theres 2 pool tables to the left. Further down across from the bar is a small stage. Something I don’t really love is they have a full bar with liquor and cocktails, and we did start to get the vibe that they’re more concerned about being a bar than a brewery. They do have some other breweries beer on tap if you want to sample some other options, which is a nice way to promote drinking local. There’s a little merch hanging on the wall, and a tiny to-go fridge behind the bar with not enough of a selection. Further back are the very nice bathrooms, and to the right sits a side area where the brewing equipment is on display. They have a garage door in the back that opens to a seating area with picnic tables, and it’s surrounded by short grain silos where they store their ingredients. There’s a ton of light coming into the entire area, and they have a wood and brick style of decor on the inside. There’s a train theme to the brewery as well, but there isn’t really an explanation other than it’s very close to some railroad tracks. Overall it’s a really cool space with some unique ideas that not many breweries have tried. It had a very relaxed vibe, though we were there in the afternoon, so it could get busy at night.
One style we usually love is an amber, however that wasn’t the case today. The Urban Amber is a 5% ABV American amber lager. Amber’s have a toasty and caramel character with a little bit of sweetness and a medium body. Maybe it’s because it was an American style amber, but this had a good amount of hop bitterness. We may just be used to European style ambers, but the hoppiness was unexpected and not pleasant for this type of beer. The malty sweetness wasn’t as present as I’d prefer in an amber either. This wasn’t a hit for us.
My wife’s favorite of the day was the 5% ABV Vanilla Porter. We love porters because of the chocolate and caramel notes, but they’re not as heavy as other dark beers. Vanilla is a very common addition to porters, but we’ve found it’s difficult to get the right amount blended in. They nailed it with this one. It’s got a nice, sweet vanilla taste, not too strong, and it still drinks like a beer. A really refreshing and nice brew.
My favorite of the day was the Peanut Butter Stout, a 6% ABV American style stout. I love peanut butter as an addition to stouts because it blends well with the chocolate and coffee notes and the boldness of the stout. This was no exception, it had just the right amount of peanut butter so that you taste it, but it doesn’t overtake the stout. This is a really great brew, especially during the cold weather.
Uptown Rail Brewery is a really cool brewery, with a huge space inside, and a really good theme and decor selection. It’s nice to see they chose to put pool tables and dart boards inside to give people options of activities to do while they drink. Having their own food is such a bonus, and there’s a ton of TV’s to catch a game. The parking is sparse, but that’s normal with any breweries in a downtown area. Some of the brews were really good, but not all of them were up to par. And the to-go fridge was severely lacking. It’s honestly one of the nicer spaces, inside and out, we’ve ever seen. But we can’t get beyond some of the beers just not being good. So we’re giving Uptown Rail Brewery 7 🍺. Still a really nice spot to check out, and Always Drink Local!
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