Moat Mountain Smoke House & Brewing Co.

mvanaskie13

Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Second stop on the New England beer tour of 2011. Drove by on our way to the hotel after being the last one's off Mt. Washington.

One of the more unique settings for a brew pub, stand alone inn, restaurant and brewery (in the basement). Entrance is on the side splitting dining and bar areas. We had to wait for dinner so we sat at the bar and ordered the sampler and an appetizer. Decent vibe, mostly traveling families (saturday night, mid summer) with some other locals. Surprised to see many BMC options available, along side the house beers and guest taps. Either way, sampler was good (though they were out of the Maibock!), I really liked the stout and the brown ale, the pale ale is decent as well.

Quality is solid, all food was prepared timely and very good and the beers were served appropriately and were solid interpretations from my recollection.

Service was great at the table, very helpful with suggestions and was able to gather up some bottled and canned brews to go.

Selection was pretty good, had about 5-6 of their own on draft, with a few regional guest taps (smuttynose and allagash, I think). Again was surprised to see some BMC options, but makes sense as North Conway is a touristy stop.

Food was excellent, I was really craving some BBQ so couldn't go wrong with brew there as well. I orderd the BBQ sampler, huge portions of each selection, and each were great. My wife orderd the ribs and they were great as well.

Value is reasonable, pretty standard pricing for brews and food.

Overall, a great stop on a New England brew tour. Our seats were great as we got to see the sun go down behind Mt. Washington. Service, food and brews were all very good.

07-25-2011 00:04:01 | More by mvanaskie13

FightingEntropy

Minnesota

3.4/5  rDev -14.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

Finding a hotel in a brewpub is too good to resist, so we didn't. Took a while (a lot of phone call tag), but eventually reserved a room in the upstairs above the bar. When the reservation was made, we were told to talk to the bartender when we arrived. Paid the bartender like a tab, and we had a room, which was cozy, clean, nice and a great location.

After settling in, we headed to the bar for the night. Started really strong. Hoffman Weiss was good and my wife liked it right away, and the appetizers were fantastic. Vegetarian chili with Thai peanut sauce--unusual, but really fun. And the NE Hushpuppies with maple syrup were the best of the entire trip. Very cool.

And then we ordered more. Sampler of the remaining beers were all good but nothing really stood out, even the barleywine. Not many places will have a barleywine this time of year, so we were excited at first. It seemed under attenuated or something similar. Just a bit off. Decided to try a local brewery Tuckerman's Headwall Alt and couldn't finish the beer because it was so bad--switch to Smuttynose IPA to finish the night. Not sure if the Tuckerman's was the beer itself, or if the line had gone bad--not good at all even though the beer has slightly better reviews online. Nachos looked really good from a far, but were only mediocre up close and personal.

So, overall, a good stop but very mixed. In part, the start seemed very strong and above expectations that the tail off was disappointing. Not a place I would go out of my way to repeat coming from Minnesota, but if your heading up to the White Mountains from a NE locale, it's a reasonable room in a good place. Also, since we're vegetarians, we might not have taken advantage of the "smoke house" enough to rate the food. Staff was friendly was friendly and gave a great recom for the Peaches restaurant down the street for breakfast.

07-08-2011 16:00:36 | More by FightingEntropy

arizcards

Arizona

4.2/5  rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Da Boss and I stopped here during our tour of the White Mountains earlier today.

Atmoshphere was good, the restaurant is laid out on the 1st floor of an old inn. It was cool in that the dining area (which seats 100+) was segmented out in different rooms giving it a less generic feel. Old signs adorned the one wall giving the place a classic feel.

Quality of the beer was solid. I had the Brown and the Stout which were very enjoyable - some lighter alcohol beers but with great viscocity. Da Boss enjoyed her Pale - it had a nice nose.

Service was good, it was semi-busy for a early Wednesday afternoon. Server was timely coming around to attend to us.

Selection of brew was good, 6 or 7 house brews were available in addition to a guest Allagash and 2 other taps. Also, a number of macro bottles were available.

Food was good. Da Boss had the pulled pork and i had the brisket, definitely smackable!

Overall is was pretty reasonably priced, basically just over $50 with tip for 2 entrees and 3 pints.

Nice place, solid beers. Make it a point to stop here if in the area.

06-22-2011 23:14:05 | More by arizcards

Chowdahead

Maine

4.18/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

The wife and I traveled over from Maine to North Conway for a couple of days of XC skiing with our dogs at Bear Notch. The bonus for me was a stop in at Moat Mountain for beers and dinner on Saturday night. Showed up at 8:00 hoping to miss the crowd a bit but with it being the final weekend of February vacation week it was still pretty crowded which was fine since it gave us time to go enjoy a few beers.

The whole restaurant takes up the bottom floor of an old, large inn which gives is a homey feel as the bar and dining room(s) are all in different "rooms" of the inn. The bar area is large with the concrete topped bar in the middle of the room. Tables lined the bar area and were first come first serve seating. There were 7 Moat Mtn beers on tap along with a selection of non Moat bottles. Despite the great and reasonably priced Moat beers I noticed lots of people drinking BMC bottles. I always find it strange when people go to a brewpub and drink BMC. It's like flying to Italy and only eating at McDonalds. Live a little people! I am chalking that up to the fact that it was Feb vacation week with lots of out of towners lurking about.

Overall I thought the beer was quite good. I started with a pint of stout and then moved on to the sampler with dinner. I thought the darker the beers were, the better they were. The stout and porter were excellent however some of the lighter beers I would only rate as average. Prices for the beers were very reasonable and if I didn't have to drive I could have stayed there and sipped on pints of stout all night. I also purchased a bomber of the RIS which I am looking forward to enoying at a future date.

Once we were seated for dinner we were not disappointed with the food. Very nice menu with a little bit of a Southern flair. The food was great and also reasonably priced. Our service was also top notch all night. Even though it was packed and I'm sure had been packed every night for a week every employee was friendly and attentive. Our server couldn't have been better.

Overall I would say Moat Mtn is the best brewpub I have been to in NH. The beer here is most certainly better then at Woodstock, the food is great, the prices right and the service exceptional. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the White Mtn region.

03-03-2011 02:09:56 | More by Chowdahead

603BeerMe

New Hampshire

4.83/5  rDev +21.4%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in after the first ski day of my season, at Cranmore. Friday afternoon, towards the end of the lunch rush. Plenty of tables in both bar, and dining room...

I was already liking the place before I walked in - the "ashtray/butt can" out front is hilarious! 55 gallon wooden barrel, with a purple toilet seat on top that reads: Put your butt here!

We sat in the bar. Jimmy G, our waiter, was prompt, attentive, knowledgeable & friendly.

Beers - I had an Iron Mike IPA(good, fresh & hoppy and soon will be in cans!), & a limited Double Bock(again, fresh & tasty). My friend had the limited Imp Stout, and said it was great as well.

Food was great & came out promptly. Potstickers, chicken Ceasar pizza & Cajun fries(AMAZING!)

Overall, great Brew Pub experience! Atmosphere, food, service, everything - it was all great! It is now my go to stop after skiing at Cranmore!

01-11-2011 16:38:45 | More by 603BeerMe

tigg924

Massachusetts

3.73/5  rDev -6.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 5 | $$

Moat Mountain is a a very big restaurant in an inn. It has a very homey and relaxed feel to it. I went this past weekend and it seemed filled with tourists like myself. They had seven home made brews on tap--standards like browns, pales, and stouts...as well as a double bock and hefe. The beer was hit and miss. The hefe was really good, but the porter left a bit to be desired. The service was excellent. We went a couple of times and the wait staff knew the beer and food. Their descriptions generally matched what was served. The best part about Moat Mountain was the food. I had a baked chicken dish which was amazing. Their squash was superbly cooked. They have brisket nachos which were very satisfying after a long day of snowshoeing. Overall, stop for the food and atmosphere. Order a specialty beer and if it is good, it will add to the experience. Just do not be surprised if it does not.

01-04-2011 16:03:47 | More by tigg924

wesleyhighley

Massachusetts

3.03/5  rDev -23.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

If this were just a restaurant and not a brewpub I'd drive by. I really like the beer, but I prefer the Woodstock Station Inn for a White Mountain brewpub experience. The concrete bar is cool with ceramic mugs hanging from the ceiling - I have had plenty of time to look at them while waiting for service, even when the bar is slow. The food and beer is reasonably priced, but noting to write home about.

If you're on the eastern side of the Whites and you've just come out of the Forest or off of the slopes and you want a beer to reward yourself, this will fit the bill. Aim for off-peak hours if you want a seat at the bar.

One thing that is nice - they have a huge parking lot. Unfortunately, the ample parking is the only thing that really stands out in my mind about Moat Mountain.

12-30-2010 04:42:24 | More by wesleyhighley

Burt

Rhode Island

4.78/5  rDev +20.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

A. Sat at the bar which had a view of the brewery.

Q. Had the Hoffman Weiss, Iron Mike Pale and Octobefest. All were fresh and very well made.

S. The two bartenders were attentive and helpful.

S. They had 6 of their brews on tap as well as 5 or 6 from other breweries.

F. Had there Texas Style Brisket that was awesome.

V. 2 Dinners, 3 beer pints, a sample rack of 6 and a growler for $84. Very reasonable.

I have been to the Moat half dozen times and have not been disappointed with the food and beer. Highly recommended to anyone looking for good food and drink.

09-23-2010 21:24:49 | More by Burt

lou50rp

Maine

4.15/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped into the pub a few weeks ago and forgot to review it. So here goes.
The atmosphere was pretty much standard for a pub. A view of brewing tanks as you walk in. It was clean, not very large but comfortable.
Sat at the bar and the service was very good. the bartender quickly took my order for beer and food and promptly returned with my brew-a Moat Mountain Brown. the selection was limited to mostly Moat Mountain products, but that is what I expected; and the reason I went there.
The food was excellent. Being a vegetarian, my selection was limited but they had more items vegetarian friendly than I have found in other places.
Prices were in line with other pubs and the quality made them more acceptable.
Worth a repeat visit for food and brew.

08-08-2010 14:58:50 | More by lou50rp

far333

Connecticut

3.45/5  rDev -13.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in on a Friday night on the way to a NH ski weekend. Big roomy place in an old converted house. Service mishaps began with a crowded waiting area and no hostess in sight for over 15 minutes. We were able to get two seats in the bar and got a few beers quickly.

Tried quite a few styles, good selection available - brown ale, pale ale, porter, stout, red, export lager - but I must say that none of the beers were anything special. None had much aroma or body, and flavors were muted. The pale ale was billed as hoppy by the server but it was nearly an extra pale. The red was billed as robust and aggressive, but it was timid at best. I couldn't tell if the stout was dry or imperial. The porter was tasty but could have used more roasty flavor. A request for a taster glass was met with a confused look and a finger point to the 8-glass sampler plank hanging on the wall. A taste of the export lager indicated that it might be a tasty selection, so we ordered it, but the server brought the red instead. We chose to drink it and remain silent about the mistake rather than waste a fresh beer.

The saving grace was the food, which was very good. The chili nachos were huge and loaded with chunks of delicious smoked pork. The meatloaf dinner was better than homemade, and the steak frites arrived perfectly cooked and dressed.

Had to wait a while to pay and leave since the server disappeared for ten minutes and then had to be signalled with a flare gun to come back to our area. Consider it a good place to stop for a tasty bite with some fresh local beer as an accompaniment, but not a beer destination.

03-14-2010 17:07:20 | More by far333