Mark’s Score 8.7
Sometimes it feels like there is a craft brewer on every street corner in the Delmarva. Burnish is one of four located in Salisbury. It was founded by three locals, Randy Mills, Alex Fisher, and Taylor Wade. Mills has a long history in Delmarva’s craft beer scene, having been the former head brewer at Evolution Craft Beer Co., and a co-owner of RAR Brewing in Cambridge, both well-established and locally famous craft brewers.
Burnish Beer Company is located in a non-descript industrial park in Salisbury’s north side. The brewery/restaurant/tasting room is located in a 6,000 sq ft (557 m2) pleasantly converted boat manufacturing facility, including a bar, dining room, and a beer garden.
Burnish makes a rotating selection of larger, IPA, porter, brown ale, stout, and sour beers. I am not a big beer drinker, in fact, I rarely buy or drink beer. However, I do on occasion, like a crafted wheat or sour beer. Unfortunately, Burnish does not (or at least at the moment) make wheat beer. But I do like their crafted sour beers. On my last visit I had a glass of their Cranberry Lemon Lime Soda Sour Beer, which earned a score of 3.67/5 on the Untappd Blog. The bartender mentioned that it is one of their more popular sours. I enjoyed the combination of sour/sweetness as well as the flavor combination of cranberry, lemon, and lime.
My opinion of sour beers is exactly the same as my opinion of deserts -a little goes a long way. I had difficulty drinking the entire glass, but don’t take that as a negative, I aways have difficulty finishing a glass of beer. I almost always leave about 1/8 of the glass.
I combined my sour beer with their Chili Lime Chicken Sandwich and a small side of their frittes, which they describe as “twice fried Belgian style fries.” I lived and worked in Belgium for a number of years. I would not describe their fries as Belgian. But that does not diminish the fact that their fries are some of the best fries in the area. They are crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and sprinkled with just the right amount of course sea salt.
The real star of the show though, was the Chili Lime Chicken Sandwich. They are coy about the ingredients in their chili lime sauce, but it is heavy on the lime, very sweet, and mildly hot. It is also extremely dark. So, if I were a betting man, I would say that the sauce is made by glazing brown sugar in a hot pan. They then added garlic, and lime juice with a dash of chili. The chicken was lightly breaded and deep fried, all served on a brioche bun. The sourness of the beer the sweetness of the chicken, and the saltiness of the fries made for a lovely contrast. The whole combination was a mouth bomb of contrasting flavors. I would happily eat here again.
Follow-up Pics
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