Upfront coffee roast receives creamy milk chocolatey caramel fudging and recessive citric acidity plus distant berry snips for satisfyingly mellow Sacred Grounds Coffee Roasters collab.
All posts by John Fortunato
HOUSATONIC RIVER GENTLE ON MY MIND NEIPA
Signature soft-toned New England-styled IPA with slightly bitter lemony grapefruit juicing, sour guava-mango-gooseberry tartness and resinous pine tones contrasted sweet orange peel tang by utilizing Citra, Amarillo and Azsaca hops. Mildly creamed oated wheat base anchors juicy fruited razzle dazzle.
HOUSATONIC RIVER AMARILLO SKY DOUBLE IPA
Richly creamed full body combines Ipswich IPA’s thick cookie dough yeast and bruised orange swerve with Rogue Dead Guy’s honeyed chestnut/ almond splurge and rum-soaked whiskey warmth. Tertiary grilled pineapple, salted mango and pink grapefruit illusions, delicate floral spicing and sappy pine add to luxurious Amarillo/Citra hop blend.
HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT
Taking up a brown brick fronted bunk house with a covered deck and floor-to-ceiling stone hearth plus a separate beergarden pavilion, HOUSATONIC RIVER BREWING perfectly recreates olden New England-styled wood work in purely bucolic fashion. The rustic pub’s pine kiosks, countrified stool seating, wraparound wood coves, wood paneled walls and corrugated aluminum roof suit the aluminum-sided lacquered pine top bar.
Opened in 2018, entrepreneurial brewer David Littlefield perfected his craft at California’s Harbor Lights Brewing before heading east and teaming up with veteran brewmeister, Steve Medd, at Housatonic River. The busy brewin’ duo have made over 150 different recipes in just over six years.
There’s a midsized stage area for music acts and brew tanks are staged in the rear.
I stopped by on a warm Friday evening, July ’24, to try an Imperial Stout and its oak-aged variant – plus a light Bavarian lager – taking home a few more goodies in cans (reviewed in Beer Index).
Easygoing German pilsner, Duffer Lager, brought sourly salted lemon seed spritz to dried plantain tartness, grassy hop astringency and slight vegetal herbage over popcorn-like maize buttering.
Creamily smooth Imperial Stout, Remedy, placed whisked bourbon chocolate sweetness next to caramelized coffee, wood-smoked molasses, chocolate cake, creme brulee and sugary vanilla illusions as its tarry hop char contrasted the mighty mocha nightcap.
Stronger spirits-derived variant, Whiskey River Remedy, aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels, embraced subtle dried fruiting to deepen its oaken whiskey-bent dark chocolate resolve.
NOD HILL BREWERY
RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT
Inside a tan stucco brick building overlooking the sylvan tree-lined countryside at the foothills of the Berkshire Mountain in Ridgefield, Connecticut, NOD HILL BREWERY came into biz, November 3, 2017. Boasting “separate authentic flavor profiles for its small community vibe,” the popular pub has expanded its taproom, began local can distribution and struggled to keep up with increased demand.
Nod Hill’s spacious wood floored interior features a lacquered wood top bar, two community tables, a few round tables, loungy metal-chaired tree stump tables, several side stands and an overhead door – plus a baby blue-tiled draught board at the back bar listing eight homemade elixirs. Brewtanks are stored in the large backroom and a centralized refrigerator serves to-go brews.
Perhaps the most important part of Nod Hill is its separate picnic-tabled pavilion beergarden. A solar-powered brewhouse, its brewers’ tend to make ‘hop-forward ales, Old World English, German and Belgian styles and spontaneously mixed fermentation oak-aged beers.’
Portishead plays trip-hop in the backdrop as my wife and I sink a few Nod Hill brews on a sunny Friday evening, July ’24.
Bavarian lager yeast, mineralized pilsner graining and Noble hop herbage connected for standard mild German Pils, Beam, a slightly pungent moderation with light lemon licks and recessive doughy breading.
A frisky lemon spritz sparked bustling hefeweizen, Fritz Walrus Edelweiss, retaining stylish banana-clove sweetness but adding date, plum and raisin subtleties to the rich honeyed wheat base.
Lemony white peppering, green grape esters and soft floral spicing engaged Trappist single, Ace of Wands, a delicate pilsner malted patersbier (best described as Belgian Monk’s lawnmower beer).
Mixed fermentation red wine-barreled Belgian dubbel, Queen Of Funk, stayed dry as leathery muscat grape, oaken vanilla and charcoaled black chocolate illusions picked up light lemon acidity.
Buttery dried fruiting draped lovely Belgian quad, King Of Swords, leaving candi-sugared raisin, plum and prune sweetness plus nutty toffee spicing and cotton candy confection upon brown chocolate malting.
Flagship NEIPA, Geobunny, raised grapefruit rind bittering, orange peel sweetness, tangerine tanginess and tart gooseberry-guava souring above vanilla-daubed oated wheat creaming.
Another flagship NEIPA, Super Mantis, maintained a sunnier, brighter disposition as its tropical fruit juicing embroidered a dryer wood backdrop. Peachy pineapple tanginess, lemony grapefruit bittering, navel orange sweetness and salted mango-papaya tropicalia reached mild oats-flaked pilsner malting.
English-styled dark mild, Eynsham, let bland dried fruiting run thru light-roast burnt coffee tones, buttery cocoa powdering and murky nuttiness.
SPACECAT BREWING COMPANY
NORWALK, CONNECTICUT
At the edge of downtown on Chestnut Street in the thriving coastal suburban town of Norwalk, SPACECAT BREWING COMPANY occupies an olden red-bricked Industrial mill with polished wood floors, ancient window banks and stark wood trusses. Opened during October 2021, Spacecat became the first brewpub to operate after Norwalk lost Iron Brewing a year hence.
On an early Friday evening stopover, July ’24, my wife and I initially grabbed seats at the wood plank-topped bar adorned with Edison lights and featuring twenty draught handles. There were plastic-seated butcher block tables and six dual-stooled wood tables filling out the rustic barroom. Huge windowed brewtanks stored the straightforwardly variegated, dependably rounded and usually easygoing fare.
We then headed outside to the narrow biergarden where a nifty duo played cool tunes for the neighborhood crowd scurrying in. Local wine, spirits and ciders plus homemade cocktails were also available.
Contentedly crafting conventional brews celebrating familiar stylistic terrain, Spacecat’s (mostly) year-round suds, classic seasonals and one-off elixirs stay predictably sound and consistently rewarding.
Rustic yellow-bellied German-styled moderation, Whistleville Pilsner, combined musky lemon rot, dark floral must and dusty herbage atop maize-dried barnyard graining.
Soft-tongued Helles Lager retained spritzy lemon souring, spiced Noble hop herbage and cabbage-like vegetalia above bready pilsner malting. Toastily caramelized amber grains weaved thru Vienna Lager.
A saltier lemon thrust and muskier herbal response led crisply deviant kolsch, Spacecat Summer, a ’24 seasonal hiding delicate lemony grapefruit bittering and light pine tones over white wheat breading.
Brisk yellow grapefruit sunshine and tangy mandarin orange zesting stayed laid-back for Session IPA, utilizing newfangled Azacca-Strata-Sabro hop combo.
Raw-honeyed desiccated orange received musky fungi earthiness for The Tree Cat, a resinous hopped West Coast IPA.
Possibly my fave, spectral New England IPA, Orion, sashayed sweet orange peel zesting and yellow grapefruit bittering alongside salted mango, passionfruit and guava tropicalia while remitting light floral perfuming.
Dewy off-dry The Irish Red nestled hazelnut and chestnut subtleties beside mild toffee sugaring.
Lightly nut-toasted Brown Ale placed tepid toffee sweetness against mossy truffle murk.
Dry dark German lager, Schwarzbier, relegated mildly embittered black chocolate and light-roast coffee tones as well as musty dried fruiting.
TALL OAKS FARM & BREWERY
FARMINGDALE, NEW JERSEY
In the “serene countryside” of Farmingdale (a few miles west of Asbury Park), panoramic family friendly microbrewery, TALL OAKS FARM & BREWERY opened its doors, January ’24.
At a white aluminum sided, shutter-doored barn house on 5-acre farm, Tall Oaks includes a pristine barroom, heated covered porch and separate large pavilion. Inside, white plastic seats and tables spread across the post-Mod pub where unique metal piping fills the brew tanks servicing the rounded elixirs poured for beer-centric minions at the wood top serving station.
Head brewer Rebecca Barry honed her skills at popular brew school, UC-Davis, joining Pennsylvania’s Weyerbacher and Newark’s Anheuser Busch before becoming Tall Oaks’ top cat.
My wife and I settle at the fenced-in picnic grounds, grabbing a few Adirondack-chaired round wood tables to suck down eight fine suds, July ’24.
Freshly baked breaded sourdough wheat engulfed crisp light pilsner, Berm, leaving slight floral herbage upon its sour lemon surge.
A West Coast IPA vibrancy enhanced bolder pale ale, Redwood Grove, bringing slightly embittered Cascade-hopped lemony grapefruit tanginess plus orange-peeled peach, pineapple and papaya sweetness to dry Centennial-Chinook-hopped pining atop dainty Vienna-Crystal malting.
A mild IPA, Open Field allowed brisk lemony grapefruit and orange sunshine, salted guava-passionfruit tropicalia and floral-daubed evergreen minting to rise above biscuity Vienna malts.
Lacquered mango sweetness grazed glutenous white wheat for Fruit Stand Mango, a summery soft-toned pilsner-malted wheat ale.
Spritzy lemon fizz sparkled above the freshly baked French breading consuming Meadow, another soft-toned moderation (with ‘white grape skin and pear’ nuances).
Offbeat farmhouse-styled grisette, Petal Rustic Ale, dripped Lemon Pledge-wafted citrus moisture into white-peppered sage and parsley herbage atop pilsner-malted cracked wheat backbone.
Serene dark-fruited date, plum and apricot fronted easygoing doppelbock, Cultivator, a German-style lager with musky cellared fungi digging into cardboard-like brown breading.
Light-roast coffee nuttiness, chalky cocoa powdered Black malt bittering and musky dried fruiting received dry hop char for Cottage, a mossy English mild ale.
CENTRAL WATERS BREWERS RESERVE VANILLA BEAN STOUT
On tap at Growler & Gill, dry barrel-aged vanilla bean adjunct picks up gentle bourbon warmth and dark cocoa caress of initial Brewers Reserve stout, replacing original’s brown-sugared dried fruiting with thick black treacle-syruped vanilla resonance. Oak charred whiskey tones, black chocolate bittering and milked espresso nuttiness enrich full bodied template.
WELDWERKS STARRY NIGHT MILK STOUT
On tap at Growler & Gill, milk-sugared coconut toasting and hazelnut pasting stick to milk chocolatey Graham Cracker base of frothy tan-headed mahogany-bodied sweet stout, leaving tertiary black cherry, black grape and date illusions.
FRYE MOONDOGGLE BARREL AGED IMPERIAL BROWN ALE
Pleasant soft-toned brown ale aged in Laird’s Apple Brandy coalesces brown chocolate-malted Irish coffee creaming with caramelized dried fruiting and subtle chestnut-almond nips – recalling a lighter barleywine. Sharp apple-spiced raisin, date and prune subtleties receive mild black peppering, contrasting candied dried fruit finish.
ABOMINATION DRIPPY POPSICLE FRUITED SMOOTHIE SOUR – STRAWBERRY
Murkily lacquered pinkish mauve fruited Smoothie lets perfumed Pez-candied strawberry tartness receive vanilla beaned marshmallow sweetness overtaken by sour lemon-puckered white wine esters as mild pomegranate, cider and rhubarb illusions also seep into sea-salted acidulated malting.
VEIL DESSERT ISLAND TASTEE SMOOTHIE STYLE SOUR ALE
Murkily rust clouded Smoothie with yogurt-milked thickness lets wafting orange-concentrated blueberry pomegranate lacquering and tannic pencil shavings disrupt salty mango, oaken cherry and toasted coconut adjuncts in lightly vinous salting. Distant red-wined Giacobazzi and Chianti illusions seeping thru the uneven, ammonia-daubed mix.
