On tap at Hoovers Tavern, German-styled pastry dessert serenades maple syrupy waffle-coned powdered sugaring with light cinnamon-spiced vanilla glaze over dry pale malts – hiding minor phenol acridity.
All posts by John Fortunato
NEW BELGIUM HOLIDAY ALE
Pleasingly thin winter warmer unites cinnamon-spiced nutmeg and ginger seasoning with mild orange peeled cranberry souring over pallid chocolate malts, picking up washed-out sugarplum, fruitcake and honey-roasted fig whims.
VICTORY TASTYKAKE KOFFEE KAKE
Sweet vanilla creaming lightens alongside powder-sugared Cinnamon Swirl Pound Caking of golden strawed pastry knockoff. Tertiary vanilla cake, bundt cake, amaretti cookie, creme brulee, cinnamon babka and creamed coffee illusions flutter.
CZIG MEISTER 78 FIRE IRISH RED ALE
On tap at Pompton Craft House, dry Irish red ale collab with Hackettstown Fire Dept. drapes red and orange fruited spicing plus sweet floral daubs atop mild caramelized pale malting. Good stuff but not dewy enuff for peaty Irish red stead.
GLENBROOK ST. PATRICK’S IRISH RED ALE
On tap at Hoovers Tavern, toasted amber grained caramel nuttiness picks up dried orange tease and mild hop astringency and could use more Irish red-like mossy dewiness to reach stylistic integrity.
DIAMOND SPRING ISLAND HIBISCUS
Tart raspberry pureeing settles into tropical hibiscus herbage above honeyed wheat base of pink-hued adjunct blonde ale. Salted strawberry rhubarb caking nearly washed-out at dry rosé finish.
VAULT OF HOPS AND CLOUDS
Vibrant New England-styled pale ale boasts big bouquet of sunshiny Mosaic-Citra-hopped tropical fruits sidling dry Simcoe-hopped pining. Lemon-peeled orange rind and yellow grapefruit bittering plus lightly salted mango, guava and pineapple tartness contrast peachy clementine and tangerine sweetness for briskly fruitful effervescence.
ICARUS WITTY FOOL WIT
On tap at Pompton Craft House, zestfully fruited Belgian-styled witbier conditioned on sweet orange peel and coriander rising slowly above floor-malted white wheated oats. Beyond the herbal cirtus spicing and oncoming pine lacquering lies mild lemon meringue, tangy tangerine, candied pineapple, vanilla custard and mandarin cake wisps.
SEVEN TRIBESMEN CHIEFTAIN’S WIT
On tap at Stosh’s, tart lemony orange peel frontage gains mild fungi yeast musk to contrast downplayed floral spicing above freshly baked bread base. Less sweet than most Belgian styled wits.
ANGRY ERIK BREWED WIT PASSION
Tart passionfruit adjunct sweetly sours stylish orange peeled coriander expectancy, mild peachy apricot syruping, slight Aloe Vera-juiced agave nectar sweetness and distant lemongrass-chamomile-daisy snips.
ROSS RARITAN RYE
Hop-forward citrus musk seeps into dry rye influence of IPA-derived medium-full body. Slight pumpernickel toasting, wattleseed nuttiness and cracked pepper breading reinforce rye adjunct as brisk lemony grapefruit-orange bittering ascends.
BIRDSMOUTH RYE LAGER ROGGENBIER
Dry German-styled roggenbier done right as pumpernickel floured nutty rye influence gains light spicing over dark chocolate-tinged Maris Otter malting.
