ENDICOTT, NEW YORK

Endicott’s CROOKED MOUTH BREWING resides at a former ice cream parlor with a newly green-painted exterior brick walled frontage matching its aluminum roof. Owned by former garage brewing partners Josh Olson and Sean Campbell, native Endicott residents, the cafe-like nanobrewery concocts well-balanced traditional beer styles.

Crooked Mouth’s rustic aluminum-sided, bark topped, ten-seat bar features eight stainless steel silver draught taps at the white-gray tiled back wall. Wood-metal tables and three centralized TV’s fill out the cement-floored pub. Black ceiling tiles adds a stark dramatic contrast. A back kitchen serves gourmet sandwiches and fine pub fare.

During my Sunday afternoon trip, early December ’23, while Crooked Mouth celebrated its one-year anniversary, drank all four flagships. Then, slid down the gullet a West Coast IPA, fruited sour and porter. New York ciders and wines were also available.

Clean-watered Kviek yeast gave Casper The Friendly Cream Ale its soothingly creamed smoothness as light lemon-soured green grapes esters and mild herbal musk met honeyed millet-grained corn sugaring.

Easygoing Cousin Kevin Pale Ale gathered tangy tangerine, lightly spiced orange and sugary pale malts alongside grassy hop astringency.

Effervescently soft-tongued Herbert Session IPA contrasted peachy orange tanginess against lightly embittered pineapple zesting and dry pine bark over slim pale malt stipend.

Another flagship offering, Moon Juice NEIPA, let sugary oats sweeten its juicy grapefruit, orange, peach and pineapple tanginess and terse floral spiced respite.

A candy-fruited glaze stuck to West Coast IPA, Equinox, countering sticky piney herbage with mild orange-pineapple-mango spicing.      

Lactose-aided fruited sour, Bermuda Triangle, reached exalted Pina Colada status as toasted coconut and lemon-sugared pineapple tanginess combined to pick up a salty tequila-tinged twist.

Then came a rich autumnal pumpkin-spiced dark ale. Dry-honeyed Bakers chocolate seeped inside pumpkin-pureed cinnamon bark, gingery nutmeg seasoning and caramel-burnt vanilla sugaring of Harvest Moon Porter, picking up roasted chestnut and acorn snips.