FENCE ROAD FARM BREWERY

Beers A-Z

WARWICK, NEW YORK

FENCE ROAD FARM BREWERY

I first met brewmeister Charlie Holmgren when his sister and I brought him and his brother to the Bronx Zoo in a stroller. Over a decade later, at age 17, Charlie’d become a local homebrewer 50 yards away from my house in Ramsey, bringing his early zymurgic experience to Suffern’s long-gone Mountain Valley Brewery as brewer assistant soon after.

A decorated award-winning brewer, Charlie now handles operations for FENCE ROAD FARM BREWERY, a mammoth agrarian brewery-meadery-eatery at The Oasis at Warwick (fifty miles northwest of NYC). A 17,000 square-foot farmland with brown aluminum main brewhouse, private event pavilion, wood-benched grasslands, hop farm plus a disc golf pro shop, Fence Road’s Oasis space has many expansion possibilities.

Sharing a love for disc golf, Charlie joined Oasis entrepreneurs, Dan and Zach Doyle, to manage Fence Road’s operations, opening November 2025. Alongside older Orange County breweries such as Tin Barn, Drowned Lands, Glenmere, Rushing Duck, Apex and Aspire, Fence Road features a wide array of high level brewing equipment, pressurized tanks, and now, famed Ale Street News editor Tony Forder’s marvelous meadery.

What sets Fence Road apart is its self-stylized fungiculture, incorporating agriculture, permaculture, socializing, and recreation within the Warwick farmlands it occupies. If you grew up in the ’70s and ’80s like me in the close-by Northern Jersey area, you know damn well these sturdy communal ideals were put forth in the Whole Earth Catalog, an iconic countercultural guidebook.  

A fifteen-seat, aluminum-fronted, black walnut-topped back bar services several four-seaters in the high-ceilinged epoxy-floored main space. There are fancy wood tap handles, hop-designed lights and small searchlights above the bar, creating a certain pastoral barn house rusticity. Wood barrels above the bar contain the multifariously ambitious beer fare readied for pouring right from the source. A fabulous farm-to-table biz, Fence Road’s everchanging pub food menu is equally exquisite. Fried squash blossoms went well with brick-oven pizza.

While my wife and I settle in at noon on a Friday late April ’26, the Allman Brothers classic, “Melissa,” plays in the background, ironic since Holmgren’s parents had parties the band would show up at in the early ’80s.

Flagship Italian-styled dry-hopped pilsner, Funziona, let earthen floral herbage and mossy fungi dusting sink into yellow grapefruit, Meyer lemon and mandarin orange zesting.

Another highly approachable moderation, rustic India Pale Lager, Geyser, splattered musky bergamot orange oil upon white grapefruit bittering and spritzy lemon spicing, gaining fungi-soiled herbal dankness.

Sessionable India Pale Ale, Designated Driver, plied mild grapefruit-peeled orange rind bitterness and grape must esters to buttery pale malting.

Tropical Imperial IPA, Tell You What, stayed soft-toned as lemony orange, grapefruit and pineapple bittering picked up wispy floral pining, retaining a delicate Nelson Sauvin, Citra and Motueka-hopped splendor.

Next, dry-hopped New England IPA, Fearless, coalesced white grapefruit-peeled orange rind bitterness and salted pineapple tanginess with semi-sweet coconut milk, hiding its slight herbal whims.

Zestful passionfruit led the way for Imperial IPA, Passion, tempering misty navel orange and tangerine spurts and champagne-sparkled grapefruit fizziness above raw-honeyed barnyard oats.

On the dark side, dewy Earl Tea-influenced Nermal’s Early Brown Ale, sank lightly soured bergamot orange musk into buttery cocoa-malted cashew, chestnut and macadamia tandem.

Black coffee roast regaled dry breakfast-styled Imperial Stout, Modi, a richly black-malted, hop-charred full body with dark chocolate edges.

An unfinished barleywine allowed dry bourbon-burgundy wining to seep into mildewed date, fig and raisin over earthen floor-grained malts. In the tank was a Belgian lambic blend. Also, there’s a pleasant mead on tap.

A week later, my wife and I again settle in at the bar to try a few meads and a renowned saison.

Zestful farmhouse ale, La Ferme, plied spritzy lemon-candied pineapple and passionfruit to white-peppered chamomile, basil and lemongrass herbage, gaining lightly lingered white grapefruit sway. A briskly tropicalized saison.

As for Tony Forder’s ‘fungricultured’ meads, sessionable champagne-cleared Hoptimead placed pickled homegrown Vista hop shoots in a salty raw-honeyed setting (with coconut-milked Thai herbage).

Soft-toned peach, plum and pear influenced 3P’s, an Easter bread sweetened elixir leaving dainty fruit dusting.

Mild ancho peppering seeped into champagne-sparkled Mango Ginger Chili, picking up lemon-oiled green mango souring.

Tart blackcurrant-paced Pennings Cidery collab, apple-cidered Black Currant, retained cucumber-watered lemon souring.

One of the finest, Oasis Elderblack placated subtle blueberry-powdered blackberry and elderberry tartness with oaken vanilla beans, white grape tannins and gin-soaked botanicals.

TREE HOUSE BREWING COMPANY – SARATOGA

United States Brewpubs,

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK

Taking up a sprawling Saratoga Springs complex at Route 9, TREE HOUSE BREWING COMPANY now operates six fabulously gargantuan wood-designed franchises in the Northeast. Inside an aluminum-roofed lodge with brown wood siding, Tree House’s first New York brewhouse opened for biz March 10, 2025.

A world class enterprise proudly ‘pioneering hazy India Pale Ales,’ Tree House has emerged as one of the finest IPA and ‘big beer’ makers nationwide.

Surrounded by several pavilions with multiple Adirondack chair and firepits, Tree House’s sprawling epoxy-floored interior features a large 40 draught tap station, a few brew room trees, multiple TV’s and cavernous skylight at the black metal ceiling (with hanging bulbs, white sailcloth design and exposed pipes). The enormous left side dining space benefits from a stone-based central hearth with surrounding lounge chairs, couches and tables. A rightside pizza kiosk serves hearty pies.

I initially perused the Saratoga pub on a Thursday afternoon, March 2026, revisiting the next day dinnertime.

For St. Patrick’s Day (a few days prior), Tree House crafted two superb nitrogenated Irish-themed suds.

Soft nitro-frothed amber-grained Irish red ale, Cleona, left nutty cocoa remnants and wispy rye splotch on brown-leafed black tea earthiness.

As for dry nitro Irish stout, Oh Danny Boy, its bristling hop-charred coffee nuttiness subsumed black cherry, blackcurrant and blackberry whims in a bitterly cocoa-dried Black malt setting.

Frothy English brown ale, Bear (With Coffee), draped dark chocolate syrup over medium-roast coffee nuttiness, gathering wood-burnt chicory bittering to counter caramel-candied molasses, fudgy cocoa and hazelnut paste atop brown breaded mocha malts.

Bold “classic stout,” Sojourn, allowed upfront dark-roast coffee nuttiness to consume fudged caramel, chocolate and toffee sweetness contrasting oncoming dark-roast piney hop char, picking up mild hazelnut molasses, pumpernickel rye and espresso sway.

While watching the NCAA basketball tourney and listening to a spry female acoustic guitarist, drifted back to Tree House within 24 hours to consume more excellent fare.

Sessionable Czech pale lager, Easy Does It, doused mild herbal Saaz hop spicing and dried maize starching with spritzy lemon zest over doughy pilsner malting.

Amiable Hallertau-hopped wheat lager, Quiet Satisfaction, let lemony passionfruit, mandarin orange, clementine, white grapefruit and white peach spritz prickle light basil-tinged spicing and dry Pinot Gris wining above hay-like torrified wheat base.

Dry hop-forward straw-yellowed New Zealand pilsner, Hopsy, utilized tropical Motueka, Rakau and Nelson Sauvin hops to lightly embitter lemony white grape, passionfruit, guava, gooseberry and mandarin orange zesting given mildly pined juniper sashay.

Belgian-styled pilsner, Parel, put dry compost-wafted wild oats next to zesty lemon peel, musky orange rot, musty herbage and juniper-tipped lemongrass.

Wee heavy Scotch ale, Old World, caressed dried cocoa stead with peat-smoked dewiness, hazelnut molasses and cola nuttiness.

Upping the citric Tangier hop influence, 7% ABV “American lager” variant, Tangier, spread orange zest, tangerine tanginess and tangelo tartness across dry grassy herbage atop creamy oats base.

Virant mango puree sweetness anchored Imperial IPA, Big Mango, a juicy hazy golden medium body with peachy guava, pineapple and papaya tanginess settling across juniper-tipped piney bittering.

Fudgy brown chocolate and chewy marshmallow aligned for delicious melted S’mores dessert, All That Is And All That Ever Will Be, a rich pastry stout with vanilla-spiced dark cherry, raisin and anise illusions seeping inside honeyed Graham Cracker sugaring.

ARTISANAL BREW WORKS

United States Brewpubs,

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK

The perfectly named ARTISANAL BREW WORKS crafts a wide range of proprietary beers and pub cuisine at its spacious beige cement-fronted North Plaza mall space in Saratoga Springs. Opened 2016, the ‘mod’ prairie-styled, metal-furnished, glass-fronted bistro welcomes patrons to the main space thru a brown metal-awninged entrance.

A marble-topped eight-seat bar in the back of the green tavern services the barny community-tabled, yellow-walled dining room off to the left. A beautiful hop-designed barrel-crossed chandelier hangs from the ceiling while a covered side terrace provides more metal seating.

Former homebrewer Colin Quinn started at Olde Saratoga Brewing, then partnered with fellow Saratoga high school teacher, Kurt Borchardt, to begin Artisanal’s decade-long journey. Originally well known nationally for having created Warheads Extreme Sour candy ales and seltzers plus nifty Belgian-styled ales, the dynamic duo crave experimentation. 

Burgers, pizza and salads were available on my April 2026 trip (alongside local wines, spirits and cocktails).

Easygoing golden bohemian pilsner, Hip Czech, sprayed Saaz-hopped herbal lemon zest upon popcorn-buttered cracked barley and bread crusted biscuity oats.

Another simple pleasure, casual dry-hopped Italian-styled pilsner, Intermezzo, matched raw-grained barnyard oats to floor-malted grains as its spritzy lemon pep gained minor floral herbage.

Perfectly centrist dry light lager, Artisanalager, let lemony orange fizz tickle pasty pale malts and mild hop astringency. Dryer variant, Artisanalager with Lime, was a limey offshoot for Mexican beer lovers.

Award-winning golden tripel, Trappist At The Track, utilized house Belgian yeast to guide its banana bubblegum sugaring, candied pineapple sway, light rum spicing, white-peppered coriander whim and slight butterscotch saucing over cereal grained pilsner malts.

St. Patrick’s Day ’26 Irish Red Ale, Rattlin’ Bog, snuck dewy peat into red and orange fruit spicing over tobacco-roasted amber grain toasting.

Flagship New England IPA, Saratoga Squeeze, sprayed lemon zest onto orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and peachy pineapple-guava-tangerine tanginess, leaving light pine hop resin upon contractive spicy pale malt sweetness.

Sharp West Coast IPA, Derailleur, spread floral-perfumed pine lacquer across lemony grapefruit bittering and sweet orange peel tanginess in an Amarillo-Cascade-Simcoe-hopped setting contrasted by less assertive caramel malting.

As for the dark ales, English-styled brown ale, BB Brown, plied light roast coffee and sweet chocolate to toasted rye graining while scattering Macadamia, almond and butternut snips across the dry mocha plain.

Milk-sugared coffee set up smooth oatmeal stout, Total Darkness, placing cocoa powdered tartness alongside oats-charred molasses sap.

Fudgy chocolate and Madagascar vanilla saturated the caramel coffee creaming of lactic milk stout, Multiple Infinities Vanilla Mocha, a decadent cacao-nibbed cold brew coffee alternative with espresso-laced cola nuttiness and black cherry tartness.

The soft-toned nitro Multiple Infinites version brought dewy earthen weediness to dark chocolate and medium roast coffee conflux, upping the dark-roast hop char.

As for the rich Irish Cream extract variant of Multiple Infinities, its cocoa nibs, vanilla and coffee adjuncts promoted milk chocolatey sweetness, picking up fudged Brownie and Neapolitan cookie illusions over oats-flaked mocha malting.

COMMON ROOTS BREWING COMPANY – ALBANY

United States Brewpubs,

ALBANY, NEW YORK

Taking over Albany Pump Station’s historic red brick warehouse brew space, South Glen Falls’ COMMON ROOTS BREWING COMPANY expanded to its second location 50 miles South in New York’s capital.

My wife and I enjoyed Cheese and Charcuterie board while downing six snazzy suds and snagging some slammin’ stouts for the road.

A lovely fruited opener, sweetly tart blonde ale, Berry Bunch, let pureed raspberry and strawberry and slight blueberry-boysenberry whims soak into the white wheat bottom.

Sessionable IPA, Shreddie, steeped pine resin into floral-daubed clementine, tangerine and tangelo fruiting as well as tangy pineapple-passionfruit-papaya tropicalia above sugary pale malts.

Lemony grapefruit sugaring and ‘red candied’ tartness paraded thru Psychedelic Sky, a moderate-bodied New England IPA with delicate oated wheat backdrop.

‘Mild sour’ variant, Tasteful Deception: Pineapple Mango, combined salted mango tang with brisk pineapple tartness given spritzy lemon liming.

Cold-brewed coffee sanctified luscious stout, Latte Cup, leaving creamy vanilla latte, cappuccino and mochaccino serenity on its dark chocolatey espresso base.

Richly fudged lactic campfire treat, S’mores Snowy Night, a decadent pastry stout variant, brought chewy marshmallow fluff to honeyed Graham Cracker, creme brulee, vanilla mocha cake and dark chocolate sumptuousness.

WELDWERKS MEDIANOCHE BARREL-AGED IMPERIAL STOUT 2025

Beers A-Z,

On tap at Kitchen & Beer Bar, luxurious 10th anniversary celebrator (and flagship Imperial Stout variant) layers fudgy dark chocolate syrup atop oak-aged bourbon, whiskey and rye conflux plus nutty dried fruiting. Dry bourbon, burgundy and port wining combines with rye-spiced molasses whiskey tones as its dark-roast hop char contrasts the sweet cedar sear. At the midst, Buffalo Trace and Elijah Craig spirits get absorbed into the Black Forest cake sweetness, picking up tertiary dark cherry, candied pecan, glazed hazelnut, cinnamon and fig illusions.

PERENNIAL ABRAXAS VANILLA

Beers A-Z,

Decadent pastry stout variant submerges cacao nibs, chili pepper and cinnamon stick adjuncts for rich vanilla fudging, gathering Black Forest cake, molasses cookie, cinnmaon coffee, fudged brownie, creme brulee, bruised black cherry and burgundy-port undertones. At the bold finish, chocolatey vanilla goodness usurps mild cayenne-peppered chili heat plus latent anise-nutmeg spicing.