Cape Ann Brewing Company

To say the food here was good is an understatement ! I had to order the clam chowder. no joke was the best freshest I have ever had ! Beers are all brewed there were on point. They had board games and random entertainment for the kids (which is always a plus for my piece of mind) will go back for sure. Very friendly staff and clean restrooms which is a biggie for me !

Walked in and got sat right away but no one came. Seen 3 different waitresses walk by and no one acknowledged our table. Horrible service!

Excellent food, beautiful historic costal New England scenery. Average beer (as far as crafts go). Absolutely one of the best values I’ve gotten on a decent meal in some time. Food and ambience/​scenery 5 stars! Beer 4.

Maybe I’m a beer snob, but the beer was ‘meh’. We had the fisherman’s new, fisherman’s ipa, fisherman’s pilsner, sunrise Saison, barrel aged Blackburn imp stout, Imperial pumpkin stout. The pumpkin stout was the best of all.
We ordered a tuna Wasabi sandwich, and that was very bland, not a lot of flavor.
The fries were good and probably the best thing that we had worth the exception of the cheap bill.

Excellent place to grab some great food to eat! This was my go to place when I lived in Gloucester. A friendly atmosphere, staff were all great and cheerful.
I recommend the fish tacos, they are the best fish tacos I have ever tasted. They use their fish and chips, which are perfectly fried and everything in the taco just fits perfectly.

Great beers and fish tacos are outstanding.

Came to the CABC hoping for a tour and a taste of Gloucester, but we were too late for the tour. (They run 11am, 1pm, and 3pm, at least on Saturday).
We started off with coconut shrimp spring rolls, and they were tasty, but we got 2 spring rolls for $ 9, which seemed a bit steep. The fish and chips were great, fresh and flaky fish with crispy but light batter. Delicious coleslaw and tartar sauce. The fish tacos were also good, but don’t get the option of sour cream and cheddar, it costs extra and doesn’t add anything special.
The beer selection was good! We got a flight – for $ 8.50 how can you not? We tried the Tea Party, Fisherman’s Ale, the Milk Stout, Imperial Stout, Pumpkin Stout, and the Saison. Saison was my favorite, very fruity and light, goes down easy. The Milk Stout was also great, everything else was interesting and okay.
A little pricey for the food, IMO, but a good place to go. Service was fantastic.

Popped on to see what I could eat on the menu. No much for fresh or raw veggies stuff. Settled on fried calamari. YUM. light batter, quick light fry, probably a beer batter. Very tasty. Fun to view the brewing area behind the bar. We did not do the tour. Good place if you like sports, fried stuff, loud dining and big picnic tables.

They have a great selection of beers and a basic menu that’s pretty decent and filling.

Three and a half stars. Didn’t have time for the tour, but we were happy to tuck in some grub. Adjacent parking lot, nearby street parking, lots of communal picnic table seating, vast scenic sprawls out the window. Enclosed patio with a heating lamp if you prefer to emphasize the waterfront view during your visit. Service from Michaela was friendly, and she patiently answered questions about comparative flavor profiles. The chalkboard has a more up to date tap list than the paper menu; beers range in hoppiness, and no sign of their pumpkin stout, sadly.
Zero complaints about food portioning. I regret not trying their bacon-​wrapped scallops on special, or the delicious prix fixe lineup; Portuguese fish stew was just okay without overcooking the bounty of seafood. PEI mussels is a big enough app to share, or indulge in as a small entrée; side order of fries is huge, and dip better in the mussel broth than its accompanying unevenly grilled bread. Dessert was definitely the highlight: apple ginger cake made with one of their lighter beers, with a rich dollop of vanilla ice cream, a squirt of whipped cream, and a mint leaf to garnish. Their dark beers pair great with vanilla ice cream– I would totally beer float their stout.

Food wise, they were out of basic accoutrements-​lime, ginger ale, tabasco, and weren’t confidently knowledgeable. Paul says wicked good beer. I might be driving him home. Kid in a candy store. Best tasters… Dogtown Dire brew with winter berry and rosehip and Fishermans ale… fruity and Kolsch-​light lager. He is trying to choose his favorite child. Portuguese stew was pureed consistency with hard cartilage textured calamari. Brian, the production manager was craft-​brew-​industry friendly, proud, humble and sincere about his products.

Chose this place as it is on the Brew Trail. let me get this out of the way, if you’re going to do the «tour” — don’t. It can’t hold a candle to other stops on the brew trail.
I’m not a fan of long cafeteria style shared tables. I prefer my space, so I absolutely hated that.
They were out of their signature pumpkin beer, so didn’t get to try it. Fishermans brew was just ok.
One friend had fish & chips, not beer battered– they were ok. I had cup of chowder (a little thymey, but it was good) steak tips (they were good) instant mashed potatoes (they said they weren’t but they were thin, watery, tasteless & gross) and asparagus. We shared scallops wrapped in bacon /​the bacon was cooked perfectly (crispy) and the scallops had good flavor.
Basically imho this is an ok place to go in Gloucester

I came here with my brother and we shared chicken nachos. Additionally, we each ordered a flight (6 samples). I can’t remember all the beers, but I remember that I liked 5 of them, and hated one (the saison) Nachos were standard fare. Nice views of the working harbor. I’d go back.

We’ve always had great food and service when we come here.
The beer selection is diverse and changes with the seasons, and the growlers are a nice perk.
The fish and chips are the best I’ve had so far and they use that same fish in their AMAZING fish tacos. The clam chowder is nice and rich and creamy. The hand cut French fries are delicious.
There’s outside seating that overlooks the water and has its own bar.

When I’m in this area, I always come here for the beers. A great flight selection at hand. I’ve never eaten a meal here other than their chowdaaaa which was good, not amazing as I thought it was a little too creamy with not enough clam taste.

my boyfriend and i stopped in here for a few brews before a whale watch. we had a really good time.
the vibe is very casual and laid back. the décor is all wood, and the seating inside is largely communal.
we sat at the bar and enjoyed a few different brews. my boyfriend had the pumpkin stout and the barrel aged belgian style stout. the pumpkin stout was good, but the belgian style was AMAZING. it’s aged in cabernet sauvignon wine barrels for a year, and boy can you smell and taste it! this had wonderful sweet and sour flavors, and totally packed a punch. definitely the best beer of the bunch.
i had the sunrise saison and the bavarian wheat. both were good and easy to drink, but kinda unremarkable. i would drink them again, but there are other things i might try first.
overall, we had a good experience. the bartender was friendly, personable, and happy to pour samples when we asked. food looks really good, and portions appear quite large. if we’re in the area again, we’ll definitely come back.

I was there yesterday for a burger and beer. The burger was pretty good and so were the fries and slaw. I like their beer, but it was not even close to being cold. You would think a place made to showcase beer would have proper refrigeration.
The real problem started when a couple with a dog were seated next to us, inside. Is that even legal, a dog inside a restaurant? It clearly was not a service dog. It sat under our long picnic style table which caused us to watch under the table to be certain it didn’t do anything, like lick our legs, urinate, or bite.
A storm rolled in which quickly drowned the people on the deck and caused a controlled human stampede for the inside of the restaurant. If the staff had been paying attention, they would have had the clear protection walls rolled down and secure. Instead it was chaos.
Lots of families with children under 5 seated at long cafeteria style tables. Not a good mix for a brew pub.
I like their beer, but I will buy it elsewhere.

I’m about to echo the theme of most of the reviews, great beer but so so food. We came in during lunch time on a Saturday so it was pretty busy, we had been hoping to sit on the deck, but that was a thirty min wait and we were hungry. We ended up at the bar and as bars go it was a relatively comfortable location. We were given the beer menu right away and although our bartender switched our beers we figured it out quickly and switched them back (my friends beer was the sunrise saison, which is pretty fruity so it was very easy to tell). No big deal. Best beer was the tea party. It has a complex taste and a nice level of hops to finish it off. Also enough abv to make my cheeks turn pink.
We ordered apps to share, I got the mussels and she got the calamari. The mussels were great, nicely cooked, and the broth was so good. The calamari was good but it needed more spice, it had a pepper on top, I ate the pepper directly and I think it was a bell pepper, no heat at all. Even the cocktail sauce could have used more horseradish. It tasted mostly of tomato.
The second we finished the apps the entrees arrived and when I say a second I’m not over exaggerating. We basically blinked and they were there. Mine was the fish tacos and my friend had the haddock sandwich. The pickle, fries and coleslaw were good. The coleslaw is not just any coleslaw, it has raisins and apples. Super yummy. The fries were crispy and super hot, it looked like a sea salt sprinkled on top, I swear mine tasted a bit like lime, but my friend did not agree. I might have been hallucinating, but whatever they were good. Unfortunately the fish tacos themselves were super bland. I never add table salt but I had to with these. I also added the house made hot sauce, which was super spicy but def what the tacos needed. The tacos have guacamole on the bottom and corn salsa on the top. If I had made them I would have added a chipotle mayo just to tie it all together. It just felt like it was missing something.
When we were finished our meals we were allowed to stay at the bar chatting and finishing our beers with a few check ins from the bartenders to see if we need another round. I would definitely come back but mostly for the beer and the view, not for the food.

For just $ 8.50 we got a great flight of 6 beers. Although I’m not a pumpkin beer lover, the Imperial Pumpkin Stout was outstanding. This will definitely be on my purchase list!
We sat outside, which was lovely, and split an order of poutine. Good thing the beer was good because the food was not. The gravy was like water and the cheese curds had no flavor. Plus, the whole thing was just kind of cold. We didn’t have the urge to order more food after such a poor dish.
We will definitely be back but will be enjoying just beer on our next visit!

Even a disappointing visit to the Gloucester Waterfront Festival at Stage Fort Park in search of arts and crafts can build up a thirst. A visit to the Cape Ann Brewing Co. was not that long of a walk and a good remedy.
Many others must have had the same idea as both the outdoor deck and the dining room were filled. But the far end of the bar had two seats waiting for us. With a dozen choices of brews to choose from, we started with pints of Pumpkin Stout and Vanilla Porter ($ 5.50 each), 64 oz. pitchers are also available for $ 20. Both beers were excellent, plenty of flavor and refreshing. I want to add that I couldn’t notice a pumpkin flavor coming through, but that’s not a complaint because all the flavors blended so nicely.
To satisfy our fish craving, I ordered the Baked Trio ($ 21) and my wife had the Fish Stew ($ 17). The Trio consisted of baked haddock, scallops, and shrimp with smashed potatoes and yellow and green squash. All three fish were cooked perfectly and the panko/​crumb topping was crisp and crunchy. Initially, I thought the topping was a bit salty, but I seemed to adjust to it quickly. My wife thought her Stew was good but should have had more flavor. It was more like a tomato soup with fish in it. Maybe if the stew had a longer time to simmer the fish would have imparted more flavor.
While finishing off with two more brews, Fisherman’s IPA ($ 4.50/pt) and Joey Rock’s Milk Stout ($ 5.50), I noticed a pub game on the wall behind us that I have never been successful in achieving over the last 25+ years on visits to a famous Ale house in Syracuse, NY. It consists of a ring tied to a string hanging from the ceiling, with the object of the game being to swing the ring on the string so that it reaches the wall in front of you and catches on a hook that is screwed into the wall. Why am I telling all this to you? Because I finally succeeded in accomplishing the feat! Hurray!
Service was friendly and efficient. The brews were very good, the food was good, and everyone looked like they were having a good time.