Craft beers, nice decor, good food, great staff, good for a group…read more
About 12 of us wanted a meal all together in McHenry MD, and we all like craft beer and pizza, so the Mountain State Brewing Co. restaurant was an easy choice. (Jun 2026). It's a large brew pub with a cabin-like décor, out Sang Run Road just north of Deep Creek Lake. There's a little carved bear by the front door, and a kid-size huggable bear at the host stand. Photo ops! And fun for the kids!
They seated us quickly and our server was quick in taking beer orders. They have plenty of soft drinks, and we got Lemonade and Apple Juice, Orange Fanta (a favorite), and a pitcher of Mountain State's own creamy MSBC Root Beer - made here!
Beer-wise, there were 16 draft crafts plus a couple of old standards to choose from on a paper menu or by looking at their website or QR-code. Most were around 5% ABV. We had Pennsylvania's full-flavored grassy citrusy mildly-bitter Victory Summer Love golden ale. We raided MSBC's just-west-of-here West Virginia brewery of their creamy malty lightly-bitter Miner's Daughter oatmeal stout, and a lightly-bitter caramel Almost Heaven amber ale. New York's Hudson North brewed us some summery sweet Salted Watermelon cider. And we had some from home: Columbia MD's Black Flag Snozzberry Haze: a fruity piney hazy IPA, standing up at 7% ABV. Baltimore's Mobtown Fever Dream, a creamy flavorful somewhat fruity IPA, punching at 7.4% ABV. And Baltimore's Wico Street Yeah Brah, a strongly-bitter double IPA, clobbering us with an 8.5% ABV! A wonderful fermented tour of the northeast!
Get ready to say "yum" out loud... From their wide range of bar foods and appetizers, we had fresh crisp tortilla chips with their medium-spicy cream cheese and homemade-ranch baked Buffalo Chicken Dip, elevated with blue cheese on top and an add-on side of chipotle! They made their own fresh-Spinach & Artichoke Dip with fresh basil, roasted red peppers, and an extravagant blend of cream cheese, feta, mozzarella, asiago, parmesan, and cheddar jack. The giant soft crust Pretzels & homemade Beer Cheese were notably popular with the kids.
Salads? Yep. Tasty Lemon Herb Chicken Salad, crisp and crunchy Caesar salad, house salad with requested black olives, and cole slaw. And sides of orange segments and raisin-like cranberries for the little ones.
And on to the main feast :-). Simple fried chicken nuggets and off-the-menu Pepperoni Pizza to be sure the younger crowd was satisfied. The Boars Nest sandwich was overnight-tender pulled pork with tangy Carolina BBQ sauce and fresh crunchy cole slaw on a lightly-toasted brioche bun. The spicier "wilder" Wild Boar sandwich had that low-and-slow pulled-pork awakened with bright jalapeños and spicy Chipotle BBQ sauce, topped with provolone on that toasted yet pillowy brioche. The fresh Caprese sandwich had firm ripe Roma tomatoes, tender baby spinach, and fresh mozzarella with requested added chicken. It was all dressed with bright basil dressing, drizzled with tangy sweet balsamic glaze, on crisp and soft toasted Italian bread. A well-made classic caprese re-invented by MSBC as a bright crunchy sandwich!
Everyone liked those classic crisp pepperoni pies. From their world-class pizza recipes, we had the Supreme: pepperoni, sausage, onions, green peppers, their cheese blend, and black olives, drizzled with fragrant fresh olive oil. And the vegetarian so-tasty-you-wouldn't-guess it-was-gluten-free Yard Sale pizza: marinated artichokes, prosciutto, mozzarella, with an olive oil & garlic base, sprinkled with fresh basil and a dash of freshly-cracked black pepper.
Mountain State Brewing Co. gave us a memorable spread of great beers and delicious creative foods. You know we enjoyed leftovers the next day :-) Our terrific server Claire was ever-attentive, and between you and me, made it seem effortless to host our full table of hungry adults and kids. We'll be back, especially for their wide-ranging ever-changing draft list and those amazing pizzas!
