C.H. Evans Brewing Company/ Albany Pump Station

September 25, 2008
A must visit if you are in the area. Great atmosphere I don’t know what this place was before it was a BP but it is unique. The food was excellent our server was around alot. TV’s with Monday night football people milling around the bar area laughing and talking. A pretty friendly like place. Oh yeah and the beer was above average for BP brews again a must stop if in the area.

November 11, 2007
Great atmosphere, average food and beer.

October 9, 2007
Quite a fantastic building that they have here. The restaurant and bar area are concentrated in a huge, warehouse-like room that is well decorated and subtly enough to keep its historic soul. We could not have a table for lunch on a friday, but they served us some acceptable pub grub at the bar. Correct prices. The toughest thing was to find a parking spot without having any US coins for the street. Their parking was loaded, but plenty of reserved spaces were free and teasing. Honest selection of 7 of their own beers of mostly average quality that would not pull me back frequently, but made the first visit worthwhile.

July 14, 2007 [ Updated August 11, 2007 ]
Been here a couple times now. Great building, good service, can be busy and the acoustics suck. Interesting menu - "The Gobbler" is not to be missed - prices are a touch steep on food and especially beer. A pint will run you $4 and a filled growler $8. Beer menu is about seven styles at any given time, most of which are pretty good but occasionally infected/off.

June 23, 2007
Quite expansive, yet we still encountered a 45 minute wait for a table on a Saturday night. No matter, we quaffed a couple of pints while taking in the scenery. This is a two-story brick warehouse with lots of shiny, stainless steel brew kettles staring down silently from the loft above. Two impressive 20-ton cranes add to the blue-collar feel and were actually put to use in getting the brew equipment into place. Pretty cool. Seating in booths and close-quarter tables, so you could easily join in on the conversation next to you. Teriyaki Beef Vegetable soup was a little salty but quite good. A Blackened Chicken Sandwich was well-spiced. And... (drumroll)... Golabk!i Yes, everyone’s favorite cabbage roll dish, prepared nicely with an Italian/American twist along with baked Pierogi under marinara. Busy, busy, busy, yet our waitress was very perky and attentive. A nice experience with 7 house brews and one guest tap. Worth the wait, but probably better before or after the dinner rush on a work night.

June 15, 2007
Pretty cool building with a nice range of beers available on tap. The food menu was impressive, and I’ll have to have more than just the chili next time. Waitstaff was friendly but a bit slow. Looks like a pretty cool place on weekends.

March 15, 2007
Lots of suits at lunchtime. Beers were good as was the food. Service was ok, the staff definitely spent more time with the suits (little did they know how well I tip). This is a very nice place, just not a hangout.

March 14, 2007
Établissement visité le lundi 12 mars vers 15h. Ambiance: Très beau bâtiment industriel tranformé en brewpub. La brique est omniprésente. Service: Rien à dire, il fut excellent. On m’a aussi présenté les 7 bières maisons. Sélection: 7 bières maisons de disponible ainsi qu’un cidre en fût. Les bières étaient dans la majorité des cas correct. Nourriture: En entrée nous avons pris chacun la chaudrée de palourdes. Pour le plat principal j’ai opté pour l’assiette de raviolis fumés et les portobellos grillés et ma copine a pris la jambalaya cajun. Mes raviolis étaient correct mais la jambalaya étaient délicieuse avec ses nombreux morceaux de poulets, ses crevettes et ses pétoncles. (41e rating d’établissement)

March 8, 2007
This is easily my favorite brewhouse in the Capital District for any number of reasons. The building is a funky brick and mortar type establishment that pays homage to its roots as a former pump station for the Hudson River. Their "Kick Ass Brown" lives up to its name and they make one of my favorite Hefe’s when they have it on tap. It’s worth the trip!

July 20, 2006
50 foot high ceilings, brick walls, can fit a few hundred people, fully visible brewery equipment. Very impressive indeed, this place must be worth a fortune. Just not the atmosphere I like. Too clean, too big, too sanitized. I like warm friendly laid-back pubs. There were 8 draft beers available, most were generic/boring, a few were a bit more original but not that good. By looking at people’s plates the food seemed to be a few notches above the typical greasy pub food. Very nice (almost fancy) plates and but a bit more $. Friendly service and the waiter knew his beers. If I was an Albany local I’d probably go there once in while as a restaurant with beer but not as a pub to spend the night at.