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On one of Papa Lam’s days off, we took the family out to the Fraser Valley for a day of fun. One of the stops was Field House Brewing. We’ve had Field House’s beers a number of times now, and it’s often a booth we’d stop by at any beer festival, but this was our first time visiting the East Abbotsford brewery on location.

Field House has a covered patio and beer lawn where they serve up their tasty brews and food featuring local ingredients and produce from their own Field House Farm. You can book a table online for the covered patio, but the beer lawn is on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s a nice day out so we took a risk for a spot on the beer lawn. It was a non-holiday Monday but it’s still busy. Luckily for us, we managed to grab the last table available and we settled down for lunch.

Food

For the four of us, we shared three items:

The Roasted Eggplant Peperonata Pizza was on their seasonal menu. We love eggplant and it’s not a usual ingredient for pizza so we were intrigued. And yes, it’s a vegetarian pizza. The dough was really good – slightly crispy from the char with just the right amount of chew. It’s a bit droopy in the middle but it was expected. Eggplant slices were tender, and the pizza was creamy from the mozzarella and feta cheese. It was flavourful and I didn’t even miss not having meat on this pizza.

To make up for the lack of meat, the other pizza we ordered was the Pepperoni + Capicola Pizza. Almost the complete opposite of the eggplant pizza, this had two kinds of meat and it’s everything you want on a meat pizza. Sometimes I’m worried that a meat-loaded pizza could get too salty but this wasn’t it. I liked the use of banana peppers so there’s some acidity to relieve the grease of the meat pizza.

The last item was the Spicy Mac ‘n’ Cheese. This was so good. Gooey melted cheese coated all the noodles and there’s a hint of funk from the cheese. It’s rich, it’s creamy, and it’s definitely a guilty pleasure. The addition of pickled jalapeno not only brought heat to the dish, but also helped cut through the richness.

As for beer, we each ordered something different. Keep in mind that the brewery continues to brew different beers so some beer are seasonal or in rotation. Therefore, at the time this was written, some of the beers we tried were already off the menu.

Cucumber Mojito Sour – Face-puckering sour with refreshing mojito flavour.

Salted Black Porter – Coffee, chocolate and caramel on the palate; porter perfect for summer and fall/winter days. This was delicious and we took home a 6-pack.

Strawberry Saison – Fruity saison that tasted like strawberry juice mixed with beer.

Raspberry Hazy – Juicy double IPA that had a hint of tartness from the raspberry.

COVID-19 Measures

Based on observations, here is what Field House is doing to ensure the health and safety of their staff and customers:

• All guests must check in at the entrance, where a staff would explain about their COVID measures. Hand sanitizer was at the table.
• All staff were wearing masks.
• Tables were 6ft apart. Staff were sanitizing the tables and chairs after customers left.
• Customers were asked to remain at their table, except to use the bathroom.
• Online menu was accessible via a QR code at the table. To order, customers were to flip the table sign up to call a staff over to take their order.

Final Thoughts

Overall, food and beer at Field House was very enjoyable. Food was reasonably priced and it was the perfect amount of food for 4 people. Beers were tasty as ever, and while some might cringe over the use of mason jars, it didn’t bother us. We had a great time sitting at the beer lawn and we felt that they’ve done a great job regarding COVID-19 safe practices. It’s definitely on our list for a repeat if we’re in the area again. In fact, it’s not that much further, if not the same, to drive out to Abbotsford from our Coquitlam home as compared to driving to Vancouver or Richmond. It’s totally possible that we would venture out eastward to this brewery again soon.

Field House Brewing
2281 West Railway Street, Abbotsford
604-776-2739
fieldhousebrewing.com