April marks Pale Fire Brewing Co.’s sixth birthday. Opened on April 10, 2015, the craft brewery and taproom is located in the heart of downtown Harrisonburg. It’s one of five Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail stops in the Friendly City.
Pre-pandemic, Reynolds was stamping anywhere from five to 50 passports every shift, totaling around 100 per week.
“It’s just a cool way to not only support the breweries, but the community as well,” Reynolds said. “It’s gonna, in the long run, really help our businesses and our community be able to expand and grow. In turn, that means we as locals can share our community and what we’re about, and that’s super cool.”
Referred to as its “claim to fame,” Pale Fire’s most popular beer is the Red Molly Irish Red. “It’s gotten some huge awards from the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival so not only do people love it, you know, the world loves it too.”
Pale Fire offers between ten and 12 beers at a time, all displayed on vinyl. Artwork is plastered around the tap room and a large bookshelf sits on the back wall. The brewery itself is named after the novel “Pale Fire” by Russian author Vladimir Nabokov. Pre-pandemic, Pale Fire hosted live music shows once or twice a week.
In addition to live music, Pale Fire is known for their Wednesday night trivia. Resuming May 5th after a pause due to COVID-19, there will be roughly 15 to 20 tables that can accommodate groups up to six people.
“It’s cool for people to come in and enjoy beer, but when you can have an activity to do while you’re drinking beer it’s even more fun!”
