Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

QUIRK WORKS BREWING & BLENDERY

United States Brewpubs,

Quirk Works Brewing & Blendery

DANBURY, CONNECTICUT

In a heavy industrial section of Danbury, Connecticut, QUIRK WORKS BREWING & BLENDERY opened its side doored entrance April 29, 2022. A half-mile from Charter Oak, Quirk Works is Danbury’s second brewery.

Occupying a sleek overhead doored silver aluminum warehouse, Quirk Works’ manufacturing fixtures anchor the pub as the butcher blocked serving station provides spring-handled pipe fitted trays of beer for people at the olden lacquered wood community tables (with antique copper pendant lighting). Paved alley way seating’s also available.

Brewer Rick Cipriani ‘formulates ideas’ and skirts some traditional brewing techniques tinkering with hybrid styles. Former owner of nearby Brewster, New York’s Bull & Barrel, Cipriani brought his experienced hands-on approach to Quirk Works, where exotic infused beers and a rainwater-derived Belgian-influenced IPA are the new normal.

On my early March ’23 stopover, I grabbed a few inventive beers for the road reviewed below.

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Sessionable clear golden helles lager/ light pilsner blend, Impractical Logic, a heartier cellared zwickelbier, utilized whole grain oated Cheerios cereal to promote its baked breaded base as presumable Noble hop herbage outdoes New Zealand hop gooseberry-guava souring and muskily floral lemon licks.

Mild apple, pear and tangerine tanginess picked up laidback earthen hop astringency for lightly caramel creamed Interchangeable Fate Irish Red Ale, picking up latent chestnut-pecan sliver.

Buttery oats-flaked red wheat anchored the raw-honeyed sourdough base of double dry-hopped NEIPA, Spontaneous Rhythm, undercutting its spicy orange-tangerine tang and tannic green grape esters.

A better NEIPA choice, partly sunny Cracker Perfection shines lemony yellow grapefruit zestiness on mild evergreen pining as salty pineapple-mango-guava tropicalia and light spicing beckon atop dry pale malts.

Musty oaken barrel aging gave Aged Beauty Imperial Old Ale its dry bourbon, whiskey and rye edge as peat-smoked barleymalts guard ancillary caraway seeded pumpernickel breading and pine nut buttering against rustic brown leaf astringency.

Quirk Works Barrel Aged Rye Golden Ingot Belgium Tripel – CraftShack - Buy craft beer online.Out of Stock – Page 115 – CraftShack - Buy craft beer online.

Rummy whiskey sweetness absorbed the candi-sugared dried fruiting of Golden Ingot Belgium Tripel (Barrel Aged Rye), leaving oaken vanilla, dry bourbon, butterscotch candy and Chardonnay illusions on the busy fusel backend.

Boozy butane-like Golden Ingot Tripel (Barrel Aged Single Malt) let its single malt Scotch whiskey entry receive sedate caramel, vanilla and varnished wood tones, but its burnt rubber sulfites will preclude all but the heartiest liquor lovers.

CHARTER OAK BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for charter oak brewing danbury

DANBURY, CONNECTICUT

Entrepreneurial couple Scott and Michele Vallely originally introduced a few gypsy brews crafted at other local brewers’ facilities under the CHARTER OAK BREWING COMPANY banner way back in 2012 before occupying the present 10,000 square-foot Danbury space they’ve now operated since June 2018.

Given a light industrial post-modish setting, Charter Oak crafts a rotating lineup of beers that usually stick to specific stylistic parameters but sometimes tweak details. Thier 1687 Brown Ale and Wadsworth IPA remain year-round flagship offerings.

Inside the spacious brewhouse, an enormous beige-walled brewing area includes a few small round tables for patrons playing indoor frisbee while the much smaller gray-walled main barroom presents a ten-seat cement-topped serving station (with decorative wood kiosk) and metal-wood chaired tables. Picture-framed stencil drawings of animals (and one of Scott) line the front wall.

I enjoyed ten rounded beers on my March ’23 Friday evening journey.

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Lemony mandarin orange spritz and dry grassy herbage picked up sparkling champagne surge for Easy Riding Kolsch, a Hallertau-hopped moderation.

Toasted amber graining anchored Pale Mild Amber, gaining slick orange oiling and dry lemon spicing.

Brown-leafed hop astringency contrasted light caramelized fruiting and pine nut buttering of Steam Lager, a hybridized California Common lager.

Dried orange, tangerine and clementine gained dewy moss for Wadsworth IPA, a West Coast-styled medium body with crisp tobacco and mild wood tones.

Zestful orange-peeled grapefruit and pineapple tanginess spruced up Juice God NEIPA, dropping moderate piney bittering and grassy herbage above buttery oated wheat malts.

Salty cherry tartness and lightly acidic lime-soured grape tannins sported Gose – Tart Cherry, an acidulated malt-backed sour ale.

Dry cellared fungi and apprehensive fruiting connected for Saaz/Hallertau-hopped Biere De Garde.

Nutty chocolate-spiced maple molasses seeped thru 1687 Brown Ale, leaving pecan, almond and chestnut upon its lightly pined Cascade-Centennial-Columbus hop earthiness.

Dry bourbon and oaken vanilla tannins prodded Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown Ale, relegating burgundy-port wining and sugared nuttiness. 

Rummy molasses-sweetened cocoa engaged Midnight Rider Porter, a creamily mocha-bound barley-roasted full body.

BAD SONS BEER CO.

United States Brewpubs,

2 Derby favorites join forces as Roseland's pizza coming to Bad Sons brewery

DERBY, CONNECTICUT

Residing at an old red brick warehouse in the Lower Naugatuck River Valley, BAD SONS BEER CO. opened in the summer of ’17. Taking its independent spirited ‘true grit’ motto as its commanding slogan, Bad Sons specializes in varied India Pale Ales but aren’t afraid to dabble in lagers, porters, etcetera.

A green-framed wood door with yellow greened hop design welcomes visitors to the raw, pipe exposed, high ceilinged industrial pub. The red brick-walled floor-to-ceiling windows and die-cast iron wheel ornament contribute to Bad Sons’ archaic rusticity.

A dozen cool ghoulish hop-handled draught taps, sidled TV’s and brewery stickers crowd the 30-seat bar. Wood-metal chaired tables fill out the cement-floored front end while brew tanks are staged in the rear where a black and white Bad Sons insignia lines a side wall . A small kitchen serves fine pizza. A green aluminum-sided picnic area with blue-chaired firepit and benches offers further seating.

At noon in early March ’23, I grabbed a seat at the wraparound wood top bar with decorative bolted Edison light panels to down a few suds.

Taproom - BADSONS Beer Co. - Brewery in Derby, CT

A lemony Chardonnay effervescence gave Light Rider Lager its spritzy phenolic entry as Noble-hopped herbage, pale malt pasting and delicate spiciness emerged.

Dry pinkish amber blueberry gose, Violet’s Demise, caressed its candied blueberry tartness with salty lemon-soured pomegranate bittering. 

Lemony passionfruit, pineapple and guava tartness and mild blood orange tanginess imbued Spring Trainer Fruited IPA, a mild springtime potion.

“Crushable” East Coast-styled Roller Coaster IPA let crayon-waxed lemony orange peel zesting pick up moderated floral herbage and slim pine tones in a grassy Comet-Galaxy hop whirlpool.    

Sticky cannabis resin snuck into the perfumed pineapple, orange and grapefruit tang of Hypnotic Dank IPA, retaining a mild dry hop bittering.

Intensely Citra/Mosaic hop-forward NEIPA, Doobious, stayed juicy as lemon zesting perked up pineapple, orange, tangerine, clementine and cherry fruitiness over dry pale malts.

English dark malts and earthen hops frontloaded Bad Billy Brown Ale, scurrying nut-roasted burnt caramel treacle.

Mild coffee-roasted dark chocolate consumed Storm Born Baltic Porter, leaving molasses and toffee sweetness to defend the astringent hop phenols grazing its ice cold lagering.

REVERIE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Reverie Brewing Company

NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT

Inside a blue brick warehouse behind a storage center in Newtown, Connecticut, REVERIE BREWING COMPANY came into existence March 25, 2019. Ably crafting several beers on the stylistic outskirts and others well within range, the expanding neo-mod pub recently put in a new event area, Coopers Hall, for its fourth anniversary.

Several stooled wood benches and five stooled tables get served by the pristine wood lacquered serving station. An orange crossbar above the right side brew tanks includes a black lettered Reverie signpost and exposed pipes line the black ceiling. The parking lot’s filled with benches and stringed Edison lights. Hard ciders are also available.

I settled in on a Friday afternoon in March ’23 to try four rangy suds going from carrot-infused sour ale to soured saison to New England IPA to nutty brown ale. In the Beer Index, there are several Reverie’s I bought for the road reviewed.

What's Happening – Reverie Brewing Company

Murkily yellow-hazed Garrett Carrot, plied sour lemon acidity to carrot-juiced cara cara orange tang and light ginger, fennel and cinnamon daubs for a novel root vegetable-backed eccentricity.

Spritzy lemon-limed grapefruit, mango and pineapple juicing picked up dank pining for Waterfall IPA, leaving mild guava, peach and tangerine tanginess in the lightly creamed oated wheat distance.

Sour yellow fruiting embossed Futz Saison, contrasting its musty fungi herbage and barnyard acridity with laidback honeyed red fruit spicing.

Chalky chocolate and oily coffee guarded the charred nuttiness of Chock Full O Nut’in, a dewier brown ale.  

 

BLUEJACKET

United States Brewpubs,

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WASHINGTON DC

Impressive Navy Yard-bound brewpub, sportsbar and restaurant, BLUEJACKET, was established in 2013. Inside a century-old factory with heavy industrial metal, steel columns and commercial grade windows, this red mammoth brick-based DC warehouse features a street level bar, two windy mezzanine levels and towering brew tanks everywhere.

The large wood-floored main dining room offers several community tables and semi-private booths serviced by the 20-seat silver-topped bar (with 22 homemade and 28 guest draughts).

Brewing director Ro Guenzel (formerly of Colorado-based Left Hand and Great Divide) has a flare for crafting a wide variety of traditional stylistic fare. There’ve been over 200 different beer recipes used in Bluejacket’s ten year stint. Cocktails, Scotch, rye, bourbon and wine are also available.

My wife and I consumed a dozen Bluejacket brews while visiting on a sunny Saturday afternoon, March ’23.

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Bone-dry German pilsner, Love Cats, utilized floral citric-herbed Loral hops to provide a clean crisping for its musky mineral graining.

Another Bavarian pils, Self-Portrait, lifted lemon-dropped Hallertau hop herbage above dainty cracker-like pilsner malts.

Easygoing light-bodied aluminum yellowed rice lager, Gan Bei, retained a fizzy Saaz-hopped lemon spritz and herbal lemongrass minting atop rice-dried spelt graining.

Mild grain musk and sour lemon coalesced for cellared lager, Lost Time Kellerbier, a delicate moderation with slight vegetal tinge.

Flagship Lost Weekend, a rounded hazy IPA, let light vanilla creaming seep into salty yogurt soured milking, waxy tropical fruiting and dank pine resin – leaving ancillary guava, gooseberry and grapefruit tartness as well as peachy tangerine tanginess on its oated wheat base.

Tropical hop bomb, Smile In Disguise, another hazy New England IPA, regaled orange-peeled pineapple, grapefruit, peach and mango tanginess plus brisk lemon zesting over crystal malt sugaring.

Milk-sugared vanilla sweetened tropical fruited sour, Strangers In Paradise, picking up minor citric acidity as its salted mango, guava and passionfruit illusions and wispy green grape esters linger softly above acidulated pale malts.

On to the dark ales. Roasted nuttiness and soy-sauced brown rice combined for They Both Met Dark Lager, letting cola, walnut and Brazil nut illusions flutter before getting soapy.

Bittersweet chocolate and dark caramel received tobacco-roasted earthen mossing for Chimbley Sweep, a viable schwarzbier.

Soft-toned Eton Rifle Brown Porter had a nitrogenated smoothness as its coffee-dried nut char encountered desolate dried fruiting.

Mexican chocolate, cassia bark, vanilla beans and cacao nibs informed Mexican Radio Sweet Stout, bringing mild ancho chili heat to its molasses oats spine.

Brown chocolate-y milk-sugared coffee guided Sugar Snow Imperial Stout, gaining maple molasses, hazelnut paste, cinnamon bark and gingerbread niceties.

 

VALOR BREWPUB

United States Brewpubs,

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WASHINGTON DC

Across the street from the marine barracks in the Navy Yards of Washington DC, veteran-inspired VALOR BREWPUB opened to the public September 2018. Jeff Hancock, co-founder of nearby DC Brau, emerged as brewmaster in 2022.

An English cavern-like restaurant and brewery with a prohibition era speakeasy appeal, the patriotic 2,500 square-foot pub features a 20-stooled right side copper top bar with seven taps, two brewtanks and two TV’s alongside the red brick back wall. A few four-seat tables along the left wall plus an outside front patio allow for more patronage. Glass-encased brew tanks are in the rear.

Caged Edison lights hang above the bar and exposed pipes give the low-ceilinged taproom a certain rusticity.

My wife and I settled in at noon on a sunny Saturday in March ’23 to imbibe five rounded brews.

Brisk Bavarian kellerbier, Moonbeam, let herbal-perfumed grapefruit, orange and peach spicing receive musky hay acridity above its lagered pale malt base.

Honey-fruited Shellback Amber Ale retained sweet cherry, berry and fig spicing as well as bourbon vanilla whims over treacly molasses toastiness.

Lemon-soured herbage and grassy hop astringency placated Blue Nose Kolsch, a tidy moderation with humble white wheated pilsner malts.

Dark candi-sugared syruping draped the brown-sugared raisin, fig and date sweetness of Valor Belgian Holiday Ale, picking up mild cinnamon, candied orange and glazed pecan licks.

Dry cocoa-powdered Bakers chocolate fortified Pollywog Porter, leaving milk-sugared coffee tones and wispy cola nuttiness on the backend.

LOST GENERATION BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Lost Generation Brewing Co. Opens! | DC Beer

WASHINGTON DC

Opened October 29, 2022, District of Columbia’s LOST GENERATION BREWING COMPANY celebrates novelist poet Gertrude Stein’s ‘you are all a lost generation’ slogan as its painted on the left side rear wall. Residing at the Capitol’s northeast Eckington neighborhood, this olden-styled tavern showcases antique sewing machines, rusty horns, mechanical typewriters and aged books as well as a fine array of stylistically popular beers.

Entrepreneurial head brewer, Jared Pulliam, began his journey at DC’s Chocolate City before leaving for the West Coast to work at Lagunitas then returning back east to start Lost Generation. Inside a century-old blue grey-bricked former Nabisco factory, this niftily re-created Speakeasy features a primordial Douglas fir bar with caged lights, barreled and wood tables, picnic benches, butcher block table, rustic pipe-exposed high ceiling, black studio lighting and a left walled animation cartoon painting. The red brick interior walls recall the pre-Prohibition Era. 16 central draught taps carried beers and seltzers.

I enjoyed seven rangy elixirs on my March ’23 nighttime journey.

Lost Generation Brewing Company Opens in DC

Orange-peeled banana and clove sweetness picked up light vanilla creaming to contrast Mandarina Bavaria-hopped green grape esters and tart lemon-drop souring for Listen To The Wind Hefeweizen.

Fizzy golden clear moderation, Shift Crisp Lager, plied herbal lemon zesting and lightly vinous white-wined Hallertau Blanc hops to dry pilsner malts.

Signature dark lager, Grave Shift, combined dark toffee, roasted coffee, dark chocolate and cola nuttiness in a mossy setting.

Zestful limey yellow grapefruit bittering settled mildly alongside sedate mandarin orange, salted pineapple, mango and ‘blueberry marmalade tanginess for hazy IPA, Dismantle The Sun, nearly hiding its mild vanilla creaming.

Creamy vanilla-sugared sour Smoothie, Cherry Pie A La Mode, let its cherry pie tartness get sweetened by brown-sugared Graham Cracker honeying as tertiary candied orange, sour tangerine and pineapple lollipop wisps wavered.

Black peppered chicory coffee roast met creamy lactose milk sugaring for A Hopeless Gesture, an impressive Imperial Stout with cocoa-beaned Vietnam coffee finish.

Decadent lactose pastry stout, Oreo Cookie, married milk chocolate fudginess to creme-filled vanilla sugaring over its cookie dough bottom, hiding black cherry and red grape nips.

CITY-STATE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

City-State Brewing Coming to Edgewood / Brookland Border – Barred in DC

WASHINGTON DC

Down a walking path across the freight rail depot in an old industrial warehouse half a mile north of Lost Generation Brewing at the Edgewood section of Northeast DC, CITY-STATE BREWERY opened up in this rustic art venue space during June ’21. Doing a splendid job crafting a rounded selection of familiar styled beers, the raw community pub resides close to quaint family-oriented row-housed neighborhood. Former congressional aide, James Warner, along with experienced head brewer, Vincent Falcone, create amiably consistent fare never too far beyond stylish parameters.

Celebrating local cultural landmarks, the white back wall sports red, yellow and green framed collages of all 48 DC neighborhoods and a purple side wall (across the rear brew tanks) dons a black and white-painted City-State insignia.

Two overhead doors lead to the cement-floored, wood-columned interior featuring a twelve-seat left side serving station (with strung Edison lights), several orange community tables and two wood beer stands near the arcade games (across the room from the Skeeball table).

In early March ’23 on a Sunday at noon, my wife and youngest son play arcade while I suck down seven dewy delights before heading back to Jersey.

City-State Brewing Co.

Tranquil light-bodied clear straw German pilsner, Lost Laws, placed floral yellow fruiting atop honeyed cereal graining.

A tad lighter, floral lemon spicing gently sufficed for Equal Marriage Blonde, leaving a mild herbal respite on the dry pale malt bottom.

Dewy chocolate wheat malting gained bittersweet cocoa powdering for Equal Marriage Dark Wheat, soaking up dank wood resin.

Piney hop fruiting bedecked 8 Wards IPA, a West Coast variety with red-yellow-orange fruiting slightly embittered by juniper herbage above raw-honeyed pale malts.

Vibrant Spoonbill Hazy IPA secured its tangy tangerine adjunct with mild lemon-pitted orange peel and yellow grapefruit bittering given dry wood resin and crisp mineral graining as well as ancillary yogurt-milked peach, mango, guava and green grape tartness

Candi-sugared Monk’s Cavern Dubbel, allowed spicy dried fruiting to pick up mild dewy fungi over toasted amber grains – moderating its rum raisin, date and fig regalia.

Creamy milk-sugared coffee and sugary chocolate nougats guided Kingman Extra Stout, picking up a molasses-smoked hazelnut and pecan glaze, dark cherry tartness and lightly embittered dark-roast hop char.   

HELLBENDER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Hellbender Secures Brewery Space in Riggs Park | DC Beer

WASHINGTON DC

Inside a large gray brick warehouse at the northernmost Lamond Riggs section of Washington DC, HELLBENDER BREWING COMPANY began operations way back in 2014. Founded by home brewing aficionados Patrick Mullane (a congerssional aide) and Ben Evan (a microbiological neuroscientist), Hellbender’s ‘born of love, perfected by science’ slogan gets reinforced by the sustainable mash press filter brewing system which reduces water, grain, and energy use.

Surviving bankruptcy reorganization in 2016, the cafe-styled gray-walled office suite features a green-walled monster salamander mascot, wooden community benches, tile floor, twelve draught serving station and two TV’s.

On my one-hour stopover during March ’23, I consumed nearly all draughts available.

Hellbender Brewing Company

Hellbender’s premier beer, Bare Bones Kolsch, retained spritzy lemon perfuming, dry champagne sparkle, grassy hop astringency and mild mineral graining.

In its cucumber pureed variant, Kuhl As A Cucumber Kolsch, the lemon zesting receives earthen vegetal fungi above its tidy pilsner malt base.

Dry-hopped Special Lager Friend brought tropical guava-pureed passionfruit souring and tangy pineapple lemonade zesting to cologne-perfumed spicing.

Year round India Pale Ale, Ignite, a dark amber moderation with Citra-Centennial-Nugget hop conflux possessed laid-back grapefruit, orange and pineapple bittering as well as ancillary tangerine, clementine and peach tanginess seeping into its dank pine resin above sugared pale malts.

Hazy IPA, Panda Strike Force, let dank wood tones saturate its yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering and gingery lemongrass herbage over lightly creamed oated wheat.

Perky New England IPA, Unidentified Hazy Object, stayed dry as spritzy grapefruit, orange and pineapple zesting settled alongside Savignon Blanc-derived green grape, guava nd passionfruit sourness.

Ambitious golden ale variant, Love You Honey Bunny Imperial Honey Ale, let oak-toasted vanilla tannins trickle into wildflower honeyed sweetness, lemony gin snips and smooth vodka licks.

Another year-rounder, Southern Torrent Saison, stayed effervescent as floral lemony orange tanginess reached grassy-hopped astringency and wispy peppered herbage.

Breakfast pastry-like fruited sour, Blueberry Flapjacks, a pinkish magenta-hued elixir, knocked off a cinnamon-dusted blueberry pancake embellished by lemon-juiced orange peel zesting above floury vanilla-sugared batter.

NIGHTHAWK BREWERY & PIZZERIA

United States Brewpubs,

About Us - Nighthawk Brewery & Pizza

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

At Pentagon Row in Arlington, Virginia, NIGHTHAWK BREWERY & PIZZERIA recalls a pristine mall-bound malt shop or bustling sportsbar as much as it does a snazzy ’90s themed pizza place. Specializing in thin Midwest Tavern-styled pizza pies and stylistically straightforward brews, Nighthawk’s strategic partnership with nearby Aslin Beer Company came to fruition springtime 2022 when this sizable 10,000 square-foot project was completed.

A 400-seat indoor-outdoor pizza hall with spot-on basic draught brews “reminiscent of Old World working class beers,” Nighthawk also serves cocktails, ciders, wine and hard seltzers. The white-tiled pizza cafe features a 40-plus seat middle bar with multiple TV’s and 24 tap handles connected to the brew tanks via bright red industrial pipes. Tan wood community tables and orange metal chaired tables surround the central bar.

Nothing too fancy, but ultimately rewarding, each pint-size brew hit the mark on my March ’23 dinner stopover.

Easygoing helles lager, Backwards Walk, draped sunny grapefruit, orange, pineapple and mango tanginess plus light wood tones over dry pilsner malts.

Creamier than most hefeweizens, Nossing! (Lebowski) let stylistic banana-clove sweetness pick up lemon meringue tartness and mild herbal whims above its honeyed Graham Cracker base.

Spritzy lemon juicing seduced Babe Lemon Kolsch, a slight variant given lightly spiced agave nectar cologned perfuming to sweet grain-floured pilsner malts.

Dry cream ale, Blue Pickup Truck, let herbal lemon candied sourness wallow in the grassy hop stead.

Peanut buttered brown chocolate sweetness pervaded Peanut Brittle Stout, spreading candy-sugared pecan, almond and peanut goodness along its vanilla marshmallowed Graham Cracker bottom.

NEW DISTRICT BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

New District Brewing Company | Nova Parks

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

Beginning in January 2016, Arlington, Virginia’s NEW DISTRICT BREWING CO. opened its doors. Inside a pale blue brick Industrial warehouse with dual overhead doors, New District became the first package brewery in 100 years to operate a business at this Potomac River-bound DC area city.

A simple cement-floored watering hole with high ceilings and strung Edison lights, its epoxy top bar services several metal/plastic tables and a left wall standing rail. There are a dozen white-tiled draught handles and two TV’s at the bar.

My wife and I perused NDBC March ’23 on a Friday afternoon to down eight stylish varietals.

Sweet cereal-grained pilsner malting received floral lemon herbage for dry-hopped Czech pils, Green Valley, a slightly rustic light body.

Honeyed lemon and mandarin orange guided spritzy Potomac Paddleboarder Blonde Ale, a year round offering.

Another mellow year rounder, National Landing IPA, placed lemony yellow grapefruit salting, lemon custard tartness, orange marmalade zesting and peachy pineapple tanginess above lightly vanilla creamed pale malts.

Lemony orange, tangerine and grapefruit tanginess moderated piney hop bittering over mildly creamed oated wheat for Dog Park Days Hazy IPA.

Buttery vanilla draped lemon meringue tartness and green grape tannins for 7th Year Grand Cru, a seventh anniversary Belgian ale with gin-like boozing.

Limey pineapple tartness, sour-candied licks and berry licks regaled slightly vinegary Pineapple Sour, gaining leathery barnyard acridity.

Black malted dark chocolate saddled That’s My Horse Porter, leaving nutty remnants.

Fudgy brown chocolate picked up bourbon vanilla spicing and black cherry-pureed raisin and date dried fruiting for Barrel Aged I Am The Senate Imperial Stout, a creamy chocolate vanilla nightcap aged in A. Smith Bowman bourbon barrels.

Year round flagships Ginger Saison, Northside Kolsch and 1821 Saison were out during my one-hour stay.

INDEPENDENT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for INDEPENDENT BREWING CO

BEL AIR, MARYLAND

Open for biz since 2015, INDEPENDENT BREWING COMPANY celebrated its seventh anniversary this past October. Occupying a gray grain house with blue brick base, decorative grain silo and rusty metal roof awning, this rustic barnyard pub utilizes aged aluminum, metal and wood to create its homespun warmth.

A black metal-enclosed front deck (with bark top side table) leads to the cream taupe-walled interior where a lacquered wood serving station offers over a dozen homemade draughts. Barreled, bark-topped and community tables (with low hanging caged Edison lights) fill out the cement floor space alongside the left side wood-furnished couch lounge area. Glass-encased brewtanks are behind the bar near the side garage door.

I settled into all twelve available suds on this amicable early March ’23 stopover before heading to DC for the weekend.

Image result for INDEPENDENT BREWING CO BEL AIR MARYLAND

Totally sessionable pre-prohibition pilsner, Siebel OneFiveO, let musty hay-dried mineral graining and salty herbage seep into mild lemony perfume musk.

Combining the candi-sugared citrus spicing and fungi herbage of a Belgian blonde with easygoing gin-teased white wining and cidery tartness, Blue Eyed Blonde escaped simple stylization.

Dewy orange-oiled lemon spritz and diacetyl buttering paced bland Get Off My Lawn!, a sessionable pale ale with pasty malts.

A collab with all eight Harford County breweries, Come See About My Pale Ale retaineed dry lemon-rotted orange tartness, mild green grape tannins and teasing vegetal herbage above musky pale malting.

Exceptional flagship IPA, Carpe Diem, placed mild orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and lemon bittering alongside lightly grassy hopped pine tones and floral herbed respite over dry pale malting.

Infused with tart blood orange, offshoot IPA, Blood Orange Carpe Diem, had sourer citrus fruiting and less insistent piney herbage than its year-round bellwether.

Brisk lemony grapefruit bittering and subtle mango-guava-lychee tropicalia brightened Nasty Woman NEIPA, gaining resinous pine tones atop its creamy oated wheat base – not as juicily fruited or yogurt-milked as most hazy Northeast ilk.

Sour-candied light body, It’s The Pits Cherry Wheat, let juicy Montmorency cherry preserve tartness take control as lemony mandarin orange wisps and oaken vanilla tannins were setback.

Nutty dark-roast chocolate and coffee settled beside mild soy saucing for Poots Magoots Baltic Porter, leaving subtle Blackstrap molasses treacle.

Easygoing dry Irish stout, Wooden Coat, stayed dewily mossy as dark chocolate saturated Blackstrap molasses-embittered burnt wood tones.

Creamily lactose Breakfast Stout, Cereal Killer, wed nutty chocolate to medium coffee roast and mild espresso snips as its light hop char embittered the molasses oats base.

In its fluffily creamed nitro version, CK’s dryly nutted chocolate and espresso frontage obtained tobacco-chawed hop sear.