Forest & Main Brewing Company

slander

New York

4.33/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Had been meaning to get out here for a while now. Just went one night without Ed, ‘cause I’d been waiting on him forever and he’s all about the maybe tomorrow, and I am of the now; or the then, anyway. Ran 73 down, left at the Axe, train tracks, left, park post meter and look for the what am I looking for? Oh, a little house on the corner of (duh)...

Pushed past the porch and in, swing to the left, a small room with a straight bar to the rear. Wide 3 plank wood topped bar from wall to wall, with a framed dinged copper panel base, a foot box, and seating for 5 on non-backed cushiony leather squared stools.

Entranceway to the next room closed off is the barback wall of fat beam framing. Center board listing tap selections, and a row of 5 taps below on another dinged copper panel piece. Vertical mirrors to both sides of center over jarred somethings and other pieces of, um, stuff. Down below, something cupboardy fronted dinged as such and glassware shelved on the ends. Twin candleholders mounted to both sides of the tap board, and tulip glassware dangling over the bar area. A single flatscreen in the corner shows the Phillies already losing. 3 handpumps on the bar, some pint glasses with tea candles fronting.

Wood plank floors, lime painted wall, and a white ceiling. Bar counter space for 3 on the near inside wall, with a tap board mounted above, and a smaller counter piece on the opposite wall below an arched framed mirrored piece. A corner table for 2 with a dartboard over it (danger!), a barrel in the other corner, framed pics, fishing nets, mounted lamps and chandeliers. Small, but comfortable enough, with tunes piped in from somewhere. Owner Daniel popped out for a bit to chat while I was there.

Around the bend, the other front room, equally as tight with a ½ dozen tables. Wandered upstairs, there are 2 small front rooms; 1 with a single table, the other with 4 shorty 2-seaters on a shared bench, and a roundie in the corner. And out front, porchside, 4 little 2-seaters to 1 side, and a large table to the other. Hanging plants about, it’s really comfortable.

They do flights of pick 4 shorty 4oz glasses for $6.50, the sampler served on a slot wood board with your choices chalk written upon it. I must have done 2 of them because all 7 beers were somehow sampled. 3 of British inspiration on cask (Queen Anne, 3.5%, Dry Irish Stout, a baby stout, really, roasty, dry, chocolatey, sooo smooth; Tiny Tim, 4%, Ordinary Bitter, lovely, caramel, nutty, excellent bitterness; Kinch, 7%, IPA, slight slight hop bite, piny, grassy, won 6th in the new beer sixpack in the brewvitational), and 4 of Belgian inspiration on draft (St Mary, 7%, Saison, peppery, dry, very nice, smells bubblegummy; Lunaire, 5%, amber from Chardonnay barrels, oh, winery overtaken, some good sourness; Cosette, 5.5%, light Farmhouse with malted spelt, pleasant spiciness; Saison Bonne, 5%, orange hued Saison, honey sweetness follows, nice Saison). Tiny Tim Ordinary Bitter, St Mary Saison & Cosette Farmhouse were the best of ‘em, but there were no slouches in the mix. And then wound down with a pint of the Tiny Tim (there can be only one). They’ve also got a handful of wines if that’s your thing.

And necessary food decisions. It’s a small tight menu; 2 kinds of popcorn, a salad, a soup, a cheese plate, mussels, pierogies, 4 entrees, and a few desserts. Started with the bacon popcorn. It was just as awesome as you would think that would be. And then, I was toying with the pan roasted chicken, and she made it sound very awesome, but also told me I needed the burger, which apparently I did, so I did. The Forest & Main burger (medium, please), with aged cheddar & bacon, mayonnaise (is that even legal?), and served with house pickles and chips (Coulda shoulda traded up the chips for fries. Grrr!). It was a killer burger, it’s all gone now, so sad.

A revisit with Ed 3 weeks later found 2 new beers up (Plowman’s Bitter, 4.5%, an Ordinary Bitter, a little warmer than I would have liked, but nicely bready, & good floral, grassy hoppiness, and Ablution, 9.5%, a Belgian Tripel, lovely, fruity, peppery, boozy, love).

And we took in dinner seated on the porch, both starting with the Summer corn soup, and then I had the pan roasted chicken, served with Swiss chard, while Ed had the fried oyster sandwich. He did enjoy it, but said it was difficult to maneuver. Food was tasty and unusually flavored with things I cannot easily put the identification on. Now, I’m kind of wanting on the fish & chips. Next time. Oh yes, they will be mine.

I like what they do here. English sessionable & Belgian Farmhouse, oh hell, yes. And solid food, too. It’s a good house, literally.

10-26-2012 05:26:44 | More by slander

sackboy

New York

4.85/5  rDev +12.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 5 | selection: 4.75 | $$

My buddy and I really enjoyed this place, in the middle of our North Philly craft beer hopping trip I planned out. Cool old house re-purposed into a brew house and eatery. When I'm back in the area, I will visit again, next time I'll grab some grub.

05-13-2013 19:41:41 | More by sackboy

zekeman17

Pennsylvania

4.38/5  rDev +1.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Over due review, been to F & M a number of times now, starting with opening week and as recently as yesterday.

I could just say bacon popcorn and leave at that, but I will go a little more in depth.

Most places this size would be "small", but "cozy" is a much better description. Seats for 5 or 6 at the bar, plus a table or two and ledge or shelf along the wall to set you beers on. The front porch has seating in the nicer weather as well.

The menu is not extensive, but it changes every so often, and everything that I have tried has been excellent.

If you are planning a visit, make sure to check the hours. Closed Mondays, and open from 4:00 on with food starting at 5:00 the rest of the days. I'd really like to see them open earlier on Saturdays and Sundays, even if it is with a limited bar menu.

Beers are either Belgium or British, served at cellar temp with 8 or 9 on all the time including 3 on hand pumps. Every one so far has been very good.

I really like the atmosphere they have created here, and wish them success.
Forest and Main is well worth a visit if you're in the area, and worth the trip if you're not.

12-14-2012 17:55:45 | More by zekeman17

orangesol

Pennsylvania

4.4/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.75 | $$

I have been wanting to check this place out for a few months now. Convinced foofaa to take me here on black friday, altho it didn't take much conniving on my part.

An interesting, albeit small, space. We arrived shortly after they opened and started in the bar area and it quickly became packed with people. We ordered a beer to pass the time as we waited for our table to become available. It didn't take very long and we were seated in the slightly larger dining room. Our servers were awesome. They helped us pick a few cheeses and we talked about where we had been that day and where we were from, they were very nice.

The quality of the food and beer was top notch. The selection of beer was pretty good. I was really looking forward to trying their blended BA saison but it was all gone, however they put a new limited belgian stout on and I got that instead. I enjoyed most of my beers but only one was really memorable, the dubbel which was very good. The real star of the show is the food. I would say that this place has some of the best food at any brewpub I have been to. The cheese plate we got was a little on the small side for what we paid for it but it was really good. I decided to go with their burger, at $15 it was the most expensive thing on the menu! I am not sure if it was worth that much but it tasted amazing so I guess it was.

Overall a VERY nice brewpub that I will definitely return to in the future. The sooner the better IMO.

12-06-2012 18:12:49 | More by orangesol

LI2CDave

4.5/5  rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Great neighborhood brew pub with terrific beers brewed on the premises. F&M is housed in an old Victorian house that was lovingly converted into what makes for a homey and friendly place to gather with friends over a pint or two. They are currently pouring their new Kinch the Knifeblade double IPA and that alone is worth the price of admission. Menu is limited but everything I've tried so far has been flavorful and well presented. If you are in the area you owe it to yourself to stop in. You won't be sorry.

11-25-2012 03:30:37 | More by LI2CDave

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

3.66/5  rDev -15.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Went here after some time waiting to go here.

It's a big house, guessing the brew equipment in the basement. Walk up the path to an outdoor seating area patio area that has tables to the left and right. Walk through the door and the bar is toward the left, it is a square room that seats about 6 or 7 or so at the bar and some standing area around. The room is small and white, The bar area is nice and dark wooden with 8 or so taps, 2 cask offerings, and some nibbles, I did not get a good look at the food menu

I had the two pale ales and some saison and a wine barrel aged offering, I really dug the bee bu the cask offerings were kinda booty. One of the pales was very well executed and a joy to drink. All of the beers were on the low end of the ABV spectrum.

I really dug the upstairs portion of the house. There were two separate rooms for larger parties that I would love to bring a group to a maybe a shingdig with a bunch of heads. Sitting at the bar though, I felt like I was 50 miles from the nearest town in the middle of Kansas.

10-11-2012 04:52:07 | More by onix1agr

TheFightfan1

Pennsylvania

4.34/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

The wife and I have been wanting to come here since it opened a few months ago. Very nice transformation from an old victorian home into an awesome little watering hole. Nice patio seating outside as you walk up the steps and into the front door. Host or hostess desk as soon as you walk in, and a staircase leading to extra seating upstairs. Nice comfortable bar area to the left with a smaller sitting area. As for the food I haven't had any but it did smell terrific. And now on to the beer. 8 beers to try 4 from the English inspired side and 4 from the Belgian side. We got a sampling of all eight and all of them were enjoyable. I ended up getting the Solaire and for the wife St. Mary. I would say the most unique thing about our experience here was the fact all of the beer is cellared temp. And naturally carbonated. It really complements what they are trying to do here not just going with the flow and selling over carbonated, frozen fizz water to the locals. Anyway very nice place I will definetly be back.

10-01-2012 13:33:46 | More by TheFightfan1

GnomeKing

Pennsylvania

4.55/5  rDev +5.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

The type of place that makes you want to stay for hours and hours then come back and do it all again soon--it not only looks like a house, but feels like a warm, cozy one.

My wife and I tried almost everything on tap. The English style beers were very traditional but, even to my Americanized palate, which tends to prefer beers colder and bolder, interesting and very drinkable. The Belgian style beers were right on target and, I think less traditional, with a slightly de-funkified tuning to the American palate. As executed, this is a very good thing. I particularly liked the sour, which had just the right amount of pucker.

The menu was small but all of the food was comforting and well made, an eclectic home-style mix (with room for both pierogies and fish-and-chips) that nicely complemented the beer.

07-01-2012 18:19:15 | More by GnomeKing

joeebbs

Pennsylvania

4.26/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in here for a sample on 5/27/2012.

The bar is literally right at the corner of Forest and Main streets in Ambler. You'll probably have to park a block or so away from the brewery but parking is free so that's good. When I got there a few people were dining on the porch. I went straight for the bar area which is immediately on your left as you go in. The bar is rather small (probably seats 6) with a TV suspended on the right. (which wasn't on) The decor is has a very cozy feel as if you're right at home. They serve their house beers and PA Wine so no mixed drinks. There a 8 beers available on draught with three beers always on the handpumps. This is probably the closest to having a British beer experience in PA.

Had the Kinch, Queen Anne, Pigeontown and Tiny Tim. Samples all tasted good but I can't give a full review on them all as most of them are hand-pumped and should probably be drank in pint form.

I brought my own growler and had that filled with Solaire. The bartender said they will be getting their own growlers in at some point. They'll do fills when they open and later in the evening but when it gets busy they probably won't fill them that often.

06-01-2012 13:54:54 | More by joeebbs

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

3.93/5  rDev -9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

I got a chance to visit before the official grand opening, so things were really on the laid-back side, but I still got a good glimpse of the potential of the place. From the street you'd never think this place was a bar. Apart from the small sign outside, which I almost missed, it appears like a typical albeit rather large old-fashioned house.

Walking in doesn't change that much...it's essentially a refurbished Victorian house (just as they promised), simple decor, candles, lots of wood. To the right is a seating area, upstairs is a large table for accommodating a party, and to the left are more seats, and a very simple, 5-seat bar. The atmosphere is very nice (minus the TV - always a buzz kill for me, mainly because it means annoying Philly fans could pop out of the woodwork at any time), and hopefully the layout of the place keeps it from being obnoxiously overcrowded--though I obviously wish them a successful business.

The service was good (especially since I was one of two people there). I got to chat with one of the owners for a bit, and the bartender was nice. She seemed anxious to learn more about the beer scene, and more importantly, she was educated about the house beers. Speaking of which, 8 house beers on tap, including a British flight and a Belgian flight, and it looks like they have a capacity for 4 hand-pump casks as well, which makes sense for the styles of beer they make (heavy leaning towards saisons and milds). And supposedly they will be bottling soon as well. Additionally, they do ship out kegs, so it's not out of the question to see their beers on tap elsewhere in the Philly area, and perhaps beyond. The kitchen wasn't in service yet, and they only had little snacks available, so I can't make a judgement on the food yet.

Like I said, this is definitely a place with potential, and I'll be keeping an eye on them.

04-13-2012 12:03:25 | More by Rifugium