Tuesday 24th of August 2010 10:43:24 AM

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The Alehouse is a great place to visit for decent beer and awesome fries while in Moscow, ID. The Proper name of the establishment is "The Alehouse" though most of the decorations and the people who visit it call it "Coeru d'Alene Brewing". Google lists it as Cd'A as well.

The Beer:
In general the beer was very respectable. A surprise given most of the local beer drinking crowd are college students; not typically know for having discerning tastes in beer. They have a large variety of beers to choose from ranging from average to excellent. They provided no "vital statistics" on the beer. Here are some of the highlights, though there are several other beer choices available:
- Scottish Ale: this beer was excellent and was my favorite. Unlike most US made Scotch style ales this was neither too smokey or too hoppy. I believe this is a 90 or 120 schilling style.
- British Ale: Also very well done, an excellent example of an authentic English-style nut-brown ale.
- Huckleberry Wheat: a signature beer, this had much too much huckleberry presence for the light bodied wheat ale, in my opinion. But it may appeal to those that don't like "regular" beers.
- Porter: A bit on heavy on the malty (residual sweetness) end of the spectrum for the style, but still a very well done porter. I love malt so I loved this beer.
- Bourbon Vanilla Stour: Another signature beer of theirs. Unfortunately I think they put far too much vanilla flavoring in an otherwise excellent stout. All I could taste as soon as the beer was swallowed was vanilla (and it lingered for quite some time). However one in our party just loved this beer.

The Atmosphere:
Not much to speak of... it was not exactly trashed, but not anything particularly pleasant. I was not bad enough to detract from the experience, but I did feel like I was there in spite of the uninviting location. The outdoor seating is better than indoor, still not that good.

The Service:
With our one experiece, the service was under a lot of pressure. I don't know if they were down a person or if the night was unusually busy and they were in over their heads. But the servers were very good, knowledgeable of the beer and worked very hard. Because of the short staffed situation, though, it did take quite a bit longer than normal to get out the door after dinner.

The Food:
My one meal consitsted of the BBQ burger and fries. The burger was decent, slightly smaller than I'd expect for $10 and cooked beyond well done (be sure to ask for something else if you don't like dry burgers). But all in our party agreed the fries were amazing! Some of the best seasoned, battered fries we'd ever had. Though none of us tried these; the hot wings looksx like a staple food there. The looked well prepared and served in HUGE quantities.

I don't know what they charge for a pint, but the huge sample platted with 10 beers was only $7, hence the "inexpensive" rating. Perhaps "just below average" would be more accurate.

All in all I'd recommend this place. It's not perfect, but considering how hard it is to kind good microbrews in this area, it shouldn't be missed.