Ramapo Valley Brewery

122 Orange Avenue
Suffern, New York, 10901
(845) 369-7827

Man, I was hoping you guys had it all wrong. I've been there before, both fairly recently (last February) and back in the day (when it was the Mountain Valley Brew Pub) and I've read the recent reviews so I figured I'd stop in to see if it's really all that. It's all that. What can I say? The copper sheet bar was sticky with beer that wasn't my own. The place is very poorly lit, and there doesn't seem to be any good reason why. So, right off the bat it's like an "anti clean, well lit place". They had 4 beers on tap. A light beer that I don't even want to talk about, an uninspiring Winter, a so-so lager, and the copper ale which was the best of the lot of them and still nothing to write home about. Nobody could tell us when this imperial stout was coming. I've got to wonder if it even really exists. In February, me and Jed did lunch. He had a very unflattering bowl of chili which he deemed to be "canned" and I got soggy motzarella sticks. I won't do the food there again. So, from the top... 1) You need to lose the cave motif. It looks unclean and makes me think "unclean". You know why?? Because a cave is a dirty rock wall. 2) You need to light the joint up. When the bar is dim, you can't see if it the bar is clean (it isn't. turn on the lights) 3) You need to always have that Ruffian Porter flowing (I remember that it won the best porter at the GABF in '94, why don't you??) 4) You need to fix the food scene. Look, I'm a Rockland kid so I know the layout of the land. If you want a seedy Suffern bar, then you've got it. But you can be so much more. Word is that you've got a great brewer. You've got a big dining area. To be a successful brewpub, you need good beer and good food. I'm amazed in the contrast between RVB and the Gilded Otter just an hour away.