I've been to 3rd Act several times before, but not for a long time, so it is worth a review. 3rd Act would infer that there were two prior acts and it appears there were. The husband and wife duo that started 3rd Act Brewery are on their third career move, so that makes sense. Third time's the charm they say. The beer is good, the ambiance is good and the food, though on par with bar food, is good.
They have a great location, near a large high school with all the top notch sports facilities in the area. They draw lots of tournaments, etc, so if you have been part of kids sports and the travel that goes along with it, you know these parents that travel are dedicated and they drink like fish. Hockey and baseball parents especially, but soccer rats too. I know, I've been part of it, so immediately upon hearing this brewery was going in, I knew they were smart.
I have yet to have a bad beer there. Tonight's choices were a London IPA called, Elementary, my Beer and a Mai Bock named, I'll be Bock. The London IPA was great. I was a little apprehensive because of my lack of desire for IPA's, but intrigued because I'm a total rube for English Ales and their distinct flavor. This was so less of an IPA and more of an ale that I really liked it. Subtle English hops brewed in the old style from the 1800's makes this less hoppy than your traditional IPA and smooth to drink. I like the toffee flavor I get from English hops and I thought it was less bitter than it was. It came out at 78 IBU, according to the brewery, but it didn't drink like that. I thought really hard about having another one, but chose to try the Mai Bock. I liked this beer also. A traditional German lager that was crisp and refreshing. I thought it had a bit of bite to it at the finish, but it was flavorful and easy to drink. Mai Bock's usually have honey and caramel notes in them and I was unable to discern the honey, but caramel was evident. You can be influenced a little by what you were eating and I had just finished buffalo wings, so my pallet was scorched. The wings were really good, by the way.
Some of their other beers you might enjoy are, Blond, James Blond, which is a session ale. The one I was going for next, Ooh! That's a Bingo, which is a German dark wheat Dunkelweizen. The, There's no place like home, Cream ale and Brew it and they will come, American lager. They also have hard seltzer, root beer on tap and a nice selection of hard to find pop or if you're not from the midwest, sodas.
3rd Act has a ton of board games that you can bring to your table, great for kids, but if you look around, adults are playing them too. They have a patio that goes around half the building and part of it is a green space. The last time I was there, they had a huge chess game outside, but it was not there tonight. Their food consists of pizza, hot dogs and brats, wings, pizza fries, nachos and pretzels. Pretty simple fare, but there is always that argument that it's the beer, stupid. If you've read any of my prior posts, you know I can lament when beer isn't the focus of the brewery, so I can't say that here. All the beer is pretty darn good and the food is better than expected. 3rd Act is usually pretty busy, so you can expect a crowd, but Woodbury is starving for breweries and the other two in the area are just tap rooms. I think this brewery is worth a visit for lunch or dinner or just between games during the kids next tournament. Cheers!
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