DuClaw Brewing, Bowie

11/26/2007 9:03:23 PM, monday, november 26, 2007
The brick facade doesn’t exactly do it for me, making me feel like I’m more in a jail cel, than even in a restaurant, let alone a brewpub. Their selection is pretty much on track with what the brewery offers, which is good and they’re not too snooty to sell you a growler of what they have on tap. Service can be sketchy, especially if you’re not sitting at the bar and the food is typical American-ish.

11/26/2007 8:33:24 PM, monday, november 26, 2007 [ Updated monday, november 26, 2007 ]
A stand alone location (although it’s @ the Bowie Town Center) gave this place more of a local than Arundel Mills. No one just wandering in lost from the mall, you have to come in here by design. Sat at the bar, modern decor, friendly crowd & help, and a lot of people getting Growlers filled the day before Thanksgiving. Good beer selection when I was there, had 10 on tap. Food was decent & the place is non smoking!! I enjoyed it!

1/15/2007 6:10:06 PM, monday, january 15, 2007 [ Updated thursday, january 25, 2007 ]
Like the Arundel Mills location, the bar is separated from the Restaurant. It is also very nicely designed with a contemporary vibe to match the vibe of Duclaw’s branding style. Menu is the same, as well as the beers. The main difference is that this is a stand alone building and is smoke free. It was not very busy when I stopped in, but seemed to have a mixed crowd as well as some regulars. Two days later I went to the Serum release and it was packed with tons of locals. I hardly ever go through the area without stopoing here or at Arundel Mills.

12/11/2006 8:20:13 AM, monday, december 11, 2006
Nice setting. Good service. Average food. Average brews. As of October, is now smoke free.

10/12/2006 12:20:35 PM, thursday, october 12, 2006
A very clean and very mordern decoration with steel and concrete. The stalls are very secluded with walls going all the way to the cealing. I like the tabletops, that are made to resemble rusting metal. 8 beers on tap at my visit. The service was good - but we visited early with only few patrons. I found the sampler very cheap, but the beers very mediocre.

10/10/2006 6:47:35 PM, tuesday, october 10, 2006
Very...industrial looking place in a non-industrial part of town. A bit out of place, you’d expect an IHOP where this was. Nice decor. Sat in the bar right after open, had a sampler. Didn’t try any food. Nice service. Lots of decent beers and lots of ho-hum ones. Kangaroo Love? C’mon!

7/12/2006 12:48:34 PM, wednesday, july 12, 2006
In Bowie for business, staying across the street in the Hampton Inn. Very nice restaurant with rather smallish bar area. Patio was a nice place to get some fresh air and a beverage. Had a good balance of lighting - not overpowering at all. Sat at a table in the back of the restaurant section at first - with a group of 8 people for dinner on a weekday night. Half of the group ordered one brew at a time, two had soft drinks, and myself and one other ordered the sampler of their brews. I received mine, which was a selection of 10 different brews which consist of their standard brews as well as seasonal varieties. It’s a very good way to sample their selection without being committed to an entire glass. I was glad on a couple of the brews that I made this choice - most notably the naked fish (not as good as the description sounds). After receiving my sampler, the waiter returned to inform us that they ran out of glasses...we were rather perplexed at how a brewpub runs out of glasses on a slow weekday evening. After about 20 minutes they "found" some glasses and delivered on the second sampler. Food was average fare with a wide variety. Stayed at the bar area for another few brews after dinner. If I lived a little closer, I would definitely return often - Beer is very good and reasonably priced. Staff was friendly and attentive.

11/21/2005 8:55:03 PM, monday, november 21, 2005
Seemed a lot like the Arundel Mills location -- given the food is decent and the beer is the same, that’s a good thing. Slightly clueless waitress, but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm at going to a much closer location (to DC). Only downside is that we went of Sunday, and didn’t realize until the way out that we’d have gotten some discounts if we’d sat in the bar area instead of the restaurant area. Ah well. Will definitely return.

9/6/2005 5:26:31 PM, tuesday, september 06, 2005
Went here on Sunday, September 4th, 2005. Came here specifically for the Repent Ale and drove here before going into DC. As mentioned, this is in a mall - specifically the Bowie Town Center. Nice building and interior. Deep booths and seemingly "private". Very clean. Staff was very friendly and attentive. Food was very good as well, especially the crab dip. Beers, were vey good. Asked and received some extra coasters as well as directions to my wife’s bank branch. Enjoyable place and friendly staff. Recommended!

9/5/2005 11:31:42 PM, monday, september 05, 2005 [ Updated friday, december 30, 2005 ]
Located in what seems to be an upscale, nice strip mall (I didn’t check out the mall itself), the building is new and modern. Tall ceilings, clean bar, large booths provide privacy and space for a goup. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive, gave me a basic run down on their sampler beers, but didn’t stick around to talk about the beer - nothing wrong with that. I didn’t order food, but the menu was large and had many appealing options at reasonable prices. The beers on tap were the standard lineup, plus one seasonal. Nothing amazing about this place, but absolutely nothing bad about it either. A clean brewpub. I have to mention that DuClaw has the best graphics, by far, of any brewery in the area. Their website also speaks to this. Whoever is doing the graphic design is on the ball over there. Re-rate 12/30/05: stopped by with pailhead and ordered samplers - $7 for 10 beers is a hell of a deal, but the bar took a long time getting them out so the manager came by, apologized, and comped both of them for us! Very nice.