Home Brew

Pug Mahone’s claims it’s the only Lakewood bar that brews its own beer. Today, the pub rolls out its initial batches of Frankie’s Irish Red -- which packs a mind-numbing 5.9-percent alcohol content. “I don’t want my Irish red to taste like any other Irish red,” says Rocky Fox, the bar’s owner. “This red is a strong beer with a kick to it. It’ll give you a buzz even faster.”

Fox hired Parma brothers Brian and Matt Dembinski to do the brewing. By the end of next month, they’ll add an Irish oatmeal stout and a pair of seasonal beers to the menu. The drafts cost $2.50 per pint during happy hour, $3 after 8 p.m. And unlike other Brewhouses, Pug Mahone’s also offers run-of-the-mill domestic brands -- just in case you don’t like the taste of home-produced drafts. “You can have your Bud Lite, and I can have my homemade brew,” says Fox.

Frankie’s Irish Red is named after Fox’s “cool as hell” uncle, who died of a heart attack last July. The bar plans to sell gallon-sized jugs of the beer sometime in the near future. Uncle Frankie would’ve wanted it that way, says Fox. “He was stubborn and didn’t drink anything but bottled beer,” he says. “If he was around now, and I told him I was naming a beer after him, he’d wonder if it comes in a bottle.”
Starts: April 1. Daily, noon, 2007