CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK
Defined as a ‘social space to gather,’ FREQUENTEM BREWING CO. began operations at an old Main Street dairy in Canandaigua during 2020. Garage-bound small batch homebrewers David and Meagan D’Allesandro enjoy crafting ‘modern and traditional beer styles’ at their spacious downtown lair, leaning towards India Pale Ales and fruited sours.
Residing at a brown-bricked station, Frequentem’s windowed brew tanks service the 20-seat lacquered oak bar where the white tiled backsplash draught board offers a dozen-plus choice suds. Two TV’s entertain the six-seat tables fronting the bar. A plastic-furnished cement floored palate-enclosed deck with a few firepits offers further seating.
My wife and I got some pizza and popcorn to go with the ten available brews onsite during our Friday afternoon, November ’23, Finger Lakes exploration.
Anchor Steam-styled California Common, Cali Lager, placated its toasted grain crisping and dank hop musk with subtle caramel spicing that turns cardboardy.
Utilizing a corny Czech pilsner base, Cream Ale tempered its musky grains and grassy hops with orange-dried herbage.
Spritzy fruit-candied Fresh Squeeze (Strawberry, Lemon), a kettle soured pale ale, exuded tart lemonade and salted strawberry cadences as well as watermelon Jolly Rancher souring and raspy raspberry ripples.
Dry-hopped with zestful Idaho 7, citric Mandarina Bavaria and cannabis-oiled Strata, #39 NEIPA let seltzer-fizzed mandarin orange, clementine and tangerine briskness plus salty grapefruit bittering pickup subtle herbal spicing and dank pine resin.
Yellow grapefruit-forward #24 NEIPA, dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Rakau, allowed ancillary orange-peeled pineapple sweetness to contrast salted guava-gooseberry souring and piquant lemon meringue tartness in a mild oated wheat setting.
Kettle-soured IPA, Natural Flavors (Concord Grape), retained lightly vinous red wining to contrast its muskily sweet Concord-Muscat grape conflux above creamy marshmallow fluff.
Similarly kettle-soured Natural Flavors (Cara Cara Orange) rampaged salted navel orange concentrate and mandarin orange tartness thru slight vanilla creaming.
Smoothie-creamed fruited sour, Just Fruit (Cranberry, Peach, Strawberry), combined sharp cranberry souring with sweet peach tanginess and strawberry rhubarb tartness, bringing mildly acidic orange concentrate to the surface alongside latent mango salting and banana pureeing.
Another vanilla-creamed fruited sour Smoothie, Just Fruit (Pineapple, Orange, Mango), daubed bittersweet orange juicing with tart pineapple and sweet mango, staying mildly acidic.
An experimental red-hued tequila barreled sour IPA, Cincoro Anejo Tequila-aged Not From Concentrate (Blackberry, Tangerine) maintained burgundy-dried red grape tartness and tangy pineapple juicing for its relegated blackberry and tangerine adjuncts.