Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

NEPENTHE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Nepenthe Brewing Co.'s experimental beers and innovative pub food are just days away

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Banishing grief from a person’s mind via Homer’s Odyssey, NEPENTHE BREWING COMPANY will cure your ills with a well-respected, ever-evolving lineup of diversified beers. Next to Extra Space Storage, the commodious gray-bricked warehouse pub in the northern Baltimore mill town hamlet of Hampden (near Johns Hopkins University) took over a former sportsbar and opened for biz January 2019.

Alongside fashion boutiques and vintage shops, Nepenthe’s part of the entirely overhauled main drag. A 10-barrel brewhouse with two draught stations servicing sixteen taps, its twenty-seat marble top bar stretches across one side and ten community tables and several leveled tables fill out the plank wood-floored, pipe-exposed, red brick-walled interior.

An open kitchen serves fine pub cuisine. A large blackboard beer list centers the bar and two opposing TV’s provide further entertainment.

I tried one rich stout and a busy IPA variant on my December ’22 stopover, then downed seven more goodies thereafter (reviewed in Beer Index).

Nepenthe Brewing Co. is Finally Debuting in Hampden This Weekend - Baltimore Magazine

Part of an ongoing series, Spontaneous Deviations #2: Red West Coast IPA chameleonically combined an amber-grained red ale with a dry-wooded Cascadian Dark Ale. Its charcoaled Simcoe/Amarillo/Chinook-hopped pining surfaced alongside lightly embittered grapefruit, jammy red grape and sprucy juniper tones above bitter cocoa bean insistence.

Dutch cocoa powdered pistachio and almond roast gains Madagascar vanilla beaning for richly creamed Aphotic Run, an intriguingly mocha-nutted Imperial Stout with tarry hop char and flaked oats spine as well as setback almond biscotti, Amaretto, espresso and cafe latte illusions.

 

WAVERLY BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Waverly Brewing Company | Baltimore, MD | Beers | BeerAdvocate

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Just off the Jones Falls Expressway in western Baltimore’s industrial Mondawmin area, WAVERLY BREWING COMPANY occupies a blue aluminum storage facility. Set up as a whimsical ‘art gallery lounge’ or ‘merchant marine chill out space,’ Waverly’s ever-shifting small batch brews range all over the spectrum since 2015.

Recycled and reclaimed barnyard wood completes the rustic cement-floored pub. Its ten-seat, aluminum-sided, lacquered wood bar features six to eight proprietary beers plus a few worthy outside suds. There are olden tables and a wide patchworked beer rail for on-site consumption.

I visited Waverly on a cold December ’22 Friday afternoon to down three rangy brews.

Waverly Brewing Company in Baltimore - Restaurant reviews

Spritzy lemon-soured briskness picked up spicy herbal licks for Golden Sombrero Pale Ale, an easygoing faux-Mex moderation.

Rummy brown chocolate draped the bourbon-spiced bruised cherry, red grape and figgy raisin fruiting of Rum MoFo Barrel Aged Belgian Ale, a wonderful strong ale with latent caramelized bourbon snips.

Briny oyster-shelled espresso tones and oily nuttiness propelled nitrogenated Local Oyster Stout, relegating its semi-sweet chocolate creaming.

 

PEABODY HEIGHTS BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Host your Event |

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Residing at the painted lady rowhouse-lined Abell neighborhood, former home of historic Oriole Park, Baltimore’s PEABODY HEIGHTS BREWERY initially came to fruition during 2012 as a contract brewer only. Operating out of a large red brick warehouse, its memorabilia salutes the old timey Orioles (before they relocated six miles south to the Inner Harbor in the ’90s).

Since 2015, Peabody Heights has been crafting its own proprietary beers as well as outside brews for local independents. Its rustic cement floored brew room features 20-plus draughts at the Edison-lit left side bar (with centered TV). Wood tables and counters fill out the spacious interior and black pipes hang from the white-bulbed ceiling. There’s also a heated patio tent.

During my two-hour December ’22 lunchtime perusal, a seasoned DJ spins tunes for a growing crowd of local residents – some with children and dogs. I grabbed a dozen recurring and one-off suds.

Peabody Heights Brewery / Brewee.app

Subtly dry honey grazed salted lemony orange oiling of Czech pilsner, Up Hill, leaving grassy astringency in its brisk wake.

Dryer Czech pils, Westport Park, let its perfumed lemon musk and grassy herbage settle atop spelt-like oats.

Salted caramel sugaring sweetened confectionery delight, The Charmer, a honey-spiced Scottish ale with butterscotch candied reminder.

Candy-glazed orange and juicy papaya, pineapple and mango anchored piney hopped 10 Acres Imperial IPA, a debonair 10th anniversary celebrator.

Mild rum-soaked coconut and polite cinnamon spicing paced New England IPA variant, Crash Boat Beach, re-creating Puerto Rican coconut eggnog while eschewing most of its stylish tropical fruited zesting.

Arguably my fave, Double Mango Double Astrodon Milkshake IPA plied marshmallow sugaring to salted mango juiciness, turning refreshingly bitter when its lemony orange rind and grapefruit pith sharpness increased.

Coconut creamed candied pineapple and lemony orange zest fortified tropical fruited sour ale, Juiced Painkiller, a vibrant cocktail alternative.

Toffee-spiced dried fruiting obtained dewy cellar musk for Evocator Doppelbock, leaving brown-sugared fig, sweet orange peel and tart raisin illusions on the caramelized back end.

An adjunct Belgian Dark Ale, Lord Pumpkin let its rummy brown-sugared pumpkin pie entry gain toasted cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice subtleties.

A coconut-bound oatmeal cookie, Philter Imperial Stout ushered in brown chocolate, brown raisin and cumin sweetness with finesse.

Milk creamed medium roast Colombian coffee and dark chocolate malting sufficed for Major Arcana Imperial Stout, a valiant nut-charred full body.

Creamy peanut buttered dark chocolate richness pounded decadent Imperial Stout variant, Major Arcana: The Magician, to its molasses-sugared ‘Graham Cracker pie crusting.’

 

 

 

FULL TILT BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Full Tilt Brewing | Good Velo Club

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

In the heart of northeastern Baltimore’s revived Govans district, FULL TILT BREWING inhabits a pale blue-bricked, garage-doored shop. Local homebrewers Nick Fertig and Dan Baumiller joined forces in 2013 to open this friendly neighborhood pub, combining ‘traditional and modern ingredients’ for a solid lineup of mostly one-off brews in its backspaced brew room.

Full Tilt’s white slate-topped bar extends towards the rear with its 20 stools creating an elongated corridor with centralized draught taps, assorted bottled wines, cocktails and spirits. An unassumingly charming tavern (with multiple TV’s for sports addicts), a few frontal community tables plus several black and orange right side seats consume the interior. The pipe-exposed black ceiling houses stringed Edison lights and a front patio and upstairs mezzanine provide additional seating.

Despite having only a modest-sized barroom, its massive stainless steel brewtanks stretch towards the backroom ceiling, allowing for expanded brewing capacity in the future.

Alongside a few left side tables were two shuffleboard games and a brilliant wall-painted Full Tilt insignia.

Besides the typical stylistic fare done right, there were also a few highly approachable sour ales. My wife and I consumed nine sundry brews on a brisk December at noon while Argentina bested France for the World Cup.

Full Tilt Brewing Co., Baltimore, MD | The Beer Mapping Project

Snappy lemon prickle teased light lager, Royale With Cheese, retaining mild herbal hop licks and barnyard-dried graininess.

Spritzy lemon fizz crackled for tartly banana bruised hefeweizen, Go Bananas, leaving herbal-snipped clove and coriander spicing on its poppy seeded lemon banana breading.

Juniper-licked lemony orange bittering softy sashayed thru lacquered pine contrasting salted caramel for moderate-bodied Beer Maria: Blonde Ale.

Orange candied spicing perked up Hops The Cat, a Citra-Mosaic-Sauvin-hopped India Pale Ale with dank pine resin and grassy floral herbage.

Soft-toned milk chocolate creaminess and light vanilla sugaring captivated High’s: Cookies & Cream, a nifty chocolate chip cookie confection.

Fudgy cookie dough enriched High’s: Mad Cow Fudge, a chocolate brownie ice cream alternative with nutty sugared coffee reminder.

There were also three Dan’s Jams sours available on our wintry perusal.

Murky rogue-rubied ‘pistachio blackberry ice cream sour,’ Jamba Jams, juxtaposed peachy blackberry tartness and distant pomegranate-cranberry bittering with cake-battered vanilla sugaring sans pistachio influence.

Gummy Bear fruit punch, Cannonball City, combined candied orange, tangerine and clementine tartness with tertiary cherry-pineapple tanginess in a vanilla-pinched lactose setting.

Candied peach souring and tart lemonade sugaring guided Life’s A Peach Ring, a lactose fruited sour with slight apricot-nectarine sweetness plus Gummy Bear powdering.   

ALECRAFT BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for alecraft brewery bel air

BELAIR, MARYLAND

Many independent shops dot the streets of Bel Air, a festive small town 20 miles north of Baltimore now housing two successful breweries. Celebrating their fifth anniversary in 2022, ALECRAFT BREWERY crafts a well-rounded assortment of stylishly diversified small batch beers down the rear corridor of its snazzy art deco taproom.

An L-shaped 14-seat bar with planked pine surface and embossed bronze kick-plated frontage offers quaint antiquity for the pristine cement floored main space. Several wood tables and a cozy two couch side space bedeck the cozy interior.  A red brick-enclosed black metal-furnished outdoor deck adds further seating. There are twelve draughts listed on the electronic board.

Alecraft will expand capacity when they open a second larger location 45-minutes North in York, Pennsylvania during 2023.

My wife and I sank ten fine brews (reviewed below) during our December ’22 sojourn – missing out on the lemonade/black tea mixed fermentation Sliced! Sour Ale and Reviction Double IPA.

Image result for alecraft brewery bel air

Pallid barley roasted hop crisping gained light floral spicing for Alecraft Oktoberfest, leaving wispy orange-apple-pear illusions on the earthy bottom.

Mild pale malt spicing and light herbal hops coalesced for Bel Ale Pale Ale, a crisply dry moderation less involving thirsts will enjoy.

Placid Citra-hopped Imperial IPA, RecalCitrant, rushed sugared citrus tanginess by mild wood tones and pale malt breading.

Easygoing floral-perfumed orange and grapefruit tanginess retained a soft-toned twang absorbed by the dry wood lacquering of Le Renard, a standard all-grain West Coast IPA.

Meanwhile, offbeat New England-styled IPA, Seven Wonders #3 Olympia, utilized Kveik yeast for its fruit-forward lemony limed grapefruit zesting and mandarin orange tartness pushed aside for enigmatic cologne-daubed cilantro herbage and grassy hop astringency.

Spruce-tipped evergreen minting picked up tart lemonade sugaring for effervescent Spruce Tip Scottish Ale, riding atop lightly caramelized peat smoke.

Interestingly devised 5th anniversary ale, Cranberry Golden Spike Belgian Wit, let its orange-peeled coriander ‘holiday spicing’ seep into lemony cranberry tartness as well as sugary dried cherry, tangerine and clementine fruiting contrasting salty pink peppercorn souring.

There were also two delightful winter warmer nightcaps. Sweet vanilla-creamed brown chocolate richness and honeyed cherry guided nutmeg-spiced Sledding Around, pasting dried fruited date, green raisin and plum to its brown-sugared caramelization.

Nearly as engaging, Winter’s Run Winter Warmer let spiced-up orange peel sweetness recede as sugarplum, date and fig serenaded its hazelnut-glazed caramel center.

Another sugarplum-derived strong ale, Sugar Plum Fairy Dubbel, allowed its dark Belgian candi-sugaring to saturate the funky cellared herbal mustiness.

TWO LADDERS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Two Ladders Brewing Company | West Nyack, NY | Beers | BeerAdvocate

WEST NYACK, NEW YORK

A dandy l’il red brick neighborhood brewpub in an inconspicuous mini-mall close to Route 59 in West Nyack, TWO LADDERS BREWING began operations in August ’22. Homebrewing partners Pete Garrison and Jeff Turicek turn out stylishly approachable, satisfyingly straightforward and predominantly dry beers from the small rear brew kettles of this sports-friendly right-cornered watering hole.

The quaint interior features a laminated 12-seat wood bar with centered aluminum-treaded draught station, baroque stools, caged Edison lights and 4 large TV’s. Wall-bound stooled seats and wood tables fill out the front and right side. A black metal-railed front deck with red concrete pavers offers further seating.

Sank seven solid suds during Sunday evening one-hour spell in December ’22.

Dry lemony herbage and mild maize flaking embraced straw-hazed moderation, Paddy O Kolsch, to its bready pale malt bottom.

Easygoing farmhouse ale, The House That Saison Built, let lemony mandarin orange salting gain barnyard-dried herbal rusticity.

Dryer and more sedately fruited than most Belgian ales, OMG Abbey plied oaken cherry tannins, dried prune tartness, brown raisin sweetness and crabapple souring to roasted tobacco crisping creeping inside recessive earthen musk.

Sweet tangerine, clementine and peach fruiting outdid mild orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and sedate pine tones for Elder Statesman West Coast IPA, a honey malt-backed moderate-medium body.

Sharp yellow grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering saddled Uncle Pete’s Hyperbole IPA, leaving juniper-licked vodka nips and dainty pineapple tanginess upon its brisk evergreen pining.

Two Ladder’s most popular brew for its initial six-month stretch has been a straightforward India Pale Ale, Little Igloo. Its vibrant lemon-peeled navel orange, pineapple and tangerine zesting prodded the creamy vanilla froth opposing grassy hop astringency in crisply clean water softener.

Cream-sugared coffee and dried dark cocoa rampaged thru enticing Mad Dog Willie Stout, a trusty mocha nightcap.

WALT & WHITMAN BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for WALT & wHITMAN BREW

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK

Inside the Old Saratogian building in downtown Saratoga Springs, impressively designed and family-owned WALT & WHITMAN BREWING COMPANY opened in 2020. A multi-tiered, multi-faceted operation with an exquisite lounge leading to a pristine coffeehouse and spacious brewpub section, its catacomb lower level features a glass-encased brewroom, benches, couches, wood tables and walled pop culture pix. A large caged patio offers further seating.

The main 20-seat slate-topped pub area offers 20 draughts (listed on the wood menu) plus two opposing TV’s and a refrigerator with cans to go. Several community tables fill out the room while exposed pipes, old wood columns and Edison lights give the wood-floored bar a rustic old Americana glaze.

Fine pub fare from the right side kitchen includes Detroit-styled pizza, wings and sandwiches.

Image result for walt & whitman brew

During my sunny noon time visit in November ’22, I bought several brews for the road (in canned version listed below) and consumed a lovely milk stout at the corner of the bar.

A soothingly creamed confection, Written In The Dark plied coffee-dried dark cocoa to mildly hop-charred cola, walnut and Brazil nut illusions as well as peaty chocolate truffle snips.

In the can and bettering most lo-cal light lagers, dry aluminum yellowed Dick Murphy Lite placed mildly grained German pilsner malts alongside salted lemon fizziness and phenol hop astringency while avoiding some acridity.

Clear beige-yellowed, billowy cumulous-headed “American wheat,” Agrarian Society, let its rustic amber graining and hay-like acridity dig into its sour lemon wedging.  

Rangy Oktoberfest lager, Festbier, secured a stylistically upscaled profile as unexpected spruce-tipped perfume musk seeped thru autumnal brown leafy astringency, straw-dried barnyard acridity, raspy lemon oiling and wispy basil herbage.

Crisply tart lime salting stays dry alongside sour lemon twist for easygoing Rough Day Gose, leaving lightly vinous white grape acidity upon mild coriander seeding and cologned agave nectar.

Rangy frail-headed pale golden farmhouse ale, Le Petit Poete, awakened the senses with mildly spiced orange tanginess, bruised banana sweetness and lemon custard tartness penetrating salted white pepper herbage and cellared mushroom fungi in a spritzy flow.

Murkily dense purplish Berliner Weiss, Now, Forager Blueberry rode tart blueberry pureed pomegranate essence thru sweet milk sugaring, picking up vodka-licked purple grape, cranberry and crabapple illusions as well as mild tobacco leaf crisping.

Briskly tropical IPA-like fruiting paced crisply clean moderate-medium-bodied pale ale, I’m So I’m So… Citra, serenading zestful lemony grapefruit-peeled pineapple bittering and navel orange sweetness with polite pale malt spicing contrasted by dry wood tones at its grassy hop stead.

Floral-spiced yellow grapefruit entry of The Infinite Nick IPA picked up mellow mandarin orange, peach and pineapple tanginess against dry herbage and hay-like acridity in clean mineral water setting.

‘Candied orange, mango and grapefruit’ spicing gained floral-bound mango, pineapple, papaya and tangerine fruiting for Big Kids Table NEIPA, leaving grassy hop resin upon the fizzy salted citric finish.

QUEEN CITY BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Queen City Brewery | Burlington, VT | Beers | BeerAdvocate

BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Beginning its journey in 2014, QUEEN CITY BREWERY enjoys being a “comfy pub” at the historically industrial South End of Burlington. One of its founders, Paul Hale, was a former associate vice president of research at the University of Vermont. Managing partners Phil Kaszuba and Paul Held embrace the traditional beer styles head brewer Ben Gostanian crafts.

A ’40s pickup truck adorns the barroom inside the metal corrugated aluminum-sided warehouse. The cement floored pub features a laminated U-shaped 20-seat mahogany bar with a pipe-exposed high ceiling. Silver left side tanks service the bustling draught board (with over a dozen homemade brews). A meticulous pine-detailed, garage-doored Event Space welcomes large parties.

A rustic makeshift enclosed deck with orange plastic chairs matching the overhead canvas is where I sat with wife and dog to enjoy a host of German-style lagers and beyond during my two-hour November ’22 sojourn.

Queen City Brewery Tap Takeover — Pizzeria Verità

Ricey corn pilsner malting consumed Bushwick Lager, a ’50s-styled American light body with musky lemon-spiced herbage and wispy floral daubs.

Musky Noble hop herbage grazed the toasted cereal graining of German helles-styled South End Lager, ‘a delicate blonde lager,’ and the spicier toasted malting of Vienna Lager.

Dewy peat mossing, earthen truffle fungi and faded nuttiness saturated the dried fruited musk of Munich Dunkel, a lightly creamed Bavarian lager.

Another German lager, Psycho Keller, an unfiltered cellar beer, placed honey spiced Vienna malts against salted orange-oiled musk, leaving mild leafy foliage and fennel snips.

Spry herbal lemon zesting prodded the vanilla-creamed banana, clove and coriander expectancy of Hefeweizen, a sourdough-bottomed moderation.

Capturing much of the maple-glazed cured meat sweetness and only some of the smoked beechwood pilsner malting its Bamberg-derived style demands, Rauchbier gained a nifty lemon spritz.

Traditional springtime copper lager, Maibock, brought spicy red-orange-yellow fruiting to toasted caramel malting, picking up contrastive raw honeyed fungi must.

Smoothly effervescent Belgian tripel, Monk of Underhill, regaled butterscotch-candied sweetness to caramelized banana, lemon meringue and creamy vanilla affluence.

Moderately bitter Fuggle-hopped English IPA, Argument, left perfumed citrus spicing upon dry fungi herbage.

Soft-toned Yorkshire Porter allowed its black coffee-embittered dark chocolate roast to embrace weedy soy saucing and cola nuttiness.

Peaty mocha malting girded Barge Canal, a musty oatmeal stout with day-old coffee tones, chalky dried fruiting and spiced dark toffee atop charred oats.

 

ZERO GRAVITY BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

6 Outstanding Breweries in Burlington Vermont

BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Alongside Queen City Brewery and Switchback Brewing, ZERO GRAVITY BREWERY calls the South End of Burlington home. An outgrowth of American Flatbread, this pristine brown aluminum-fronted pub opened its doors during 2015.

Inside the Beer Hall, a granite-topped L-shaped bar features white-tiled draught handles. The laminated floor gleams and a few community tables offer bar side seating. A stone hearth on the right side warms up several loungy booths and couches.

Outside, Edison lights illuminate the awning-topped tables at the wood-planked deck.

Never moving too far from stylistic parameters, most Zero Gravity brews will please mainstream imbibers as well as those with exquisite tastes. During my November ’22 midday excursion, discovered each available pouring – including a re-tasting of Madonna and Cone Head IPA’s.

Zero Gravity Brewing - Burlington Brew Tours - All-Inclusive, Guided Brewery Tours & Craft Beer Events in Burlington, Vermont

At 3.2% ABV and 90 calories, Mc Lighty’s Lager retained a slickly arid phenol resonance permeating its dry lemon liming and cloy corn syruping. Strictly for passive light beer drones.

Approachable Cone Head IPA let spiced-up lemony grapefruit zesting and resilient orange rind bittering front its grassy hop astringency and dank cannabis restraint as salted mango, white peach and pineapple illusions flutter softly to the bready bottom.

Zestful lemon bluster beguiles tropical orange-peeled grapefruit and pineapple tang as oily pine resin seeps into Madonna Imperial IPA. Lemon candy, lemon curd and orange marmalade snips add tart edge.

Soothingly delicate lemony strawberry tartness caressed Strawberry Moon, an arid sour ale with mild limey bittering and fizzy pop pep over a pallid white wheat bed. Sharp blue cheese brings out a spicy citric tingle.

Dry rocky tan-headed black Irish-styled Extra Stout placed mildly creamed dark chocolate bittering next to tarry coffee-oiled bittering, hop-charred tobacco chaw and sour nut squelch above its clean watered surface.

FOAM BREWERS

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for foam brewers

BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Inside a large red brick warehouse across the street from Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, FOAM BREWERS set up shop April 2016. Run by a few local professionals dedicated to “resourcefully creating imaginative beers for enlightened palates,” Foam’s waterfront pub provides a serene laidback atmosphere perfectly in line with the progressive Green Mountain State.

Co-founder Bob Grim performs head brewing duties, crafting enticingly rounded fare for local minions and delighted travelin’ ‘brewpies.’

A riveted aluminum-sided slate top bar with 20 tiled draught handles services the windowed round tables and large patio deck. Large steel cross bars, sturdy wood columns and the cement floor give Foam an Industrial rusticity while a small stage area welcomes local entertainers.

Left side brew tanks carry the beer load – a constantly changing variety of one-offs, seasonals, IPA’s and dark ales. Some of Foam’s most popular IPA’s borrow indie rock handles such as Built To Spill, Galaxy 500 and Pavement.

The pub menu includes delicious charcuterie, smoke fish and black bean salsa. Foam also recently opened a vineyard for wine making.

On a warm Saturday at noon in November ’22, my wife and I (plus dog) grab a table in the middle of the metal-furnished front deck to nip six delightful home brews. I also brought home a few reviewed in the Beer Index.

Muskily grain-hopped German-styled Share The Present Pilsner retained floral-daubed herbal lemon souring above its toasted biscuit base.

Hazily golden candy-glazed New England-styled pale ale, Electric Splash, scurried grapefruit-juiced lime zest and white grape esters thru lingered wood-dried bittering over gluey wheated oats.

Sea-salted cantaloupe gose, See You Better Now, let limey guava, watermelon rind and gooseberry souring receive cat-pissed acidity as its bittersweet cantaloupe adjunct descended.

Tropical Imperial IPA, Pavement, brought tangy mango, pineapple and peach zesting plus sour guava-passionfruit gumption to dank herbal hops atop dry pale malting.

Creamy medium roast coffee, dark chocolate syruping and silken cappuccino milkiness picked up mild bourbon influence for luxurious Bourbon Stout, leaving bruised cherry tartness and tingly sherry wining on its oats sugared spine.

Sweet milk chocolatey oak-aged Imperial Stout, Day For Night, conditioned on artisanal coffee, cocoa nibs, Madagascar vanilla beans and toasted coconut in Buffalo Trace whiskey barrels, retained toffee-spiced creme brulee sweetness and maple oats sugaring for its cream-sugared coffee finish, picking up latent black cherry, buttered pecan, almond, rye and cumin illusions. A perfect nightcap!

WEIRD WINDOW BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Weird Window Brewing | Home

SOUTH BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Close to Burlington International Airport and four miles west of Lake Champlain, WEIRD WINDOW BREWING began operations March 2020. Inside an evergreen aluminum sided warehouse, its angled ‘witch windows’ gave this overhead-doored brewpub its name.

Weird Window’s pristine white-walled cafe splendor extends to the 12-seat Edison-lit black top bar servicing four pendant-lit tables and one barreled post plus four outdoor community tables.

A diversified round of seven beers crossed my palate during a warm afternoon visit to this IPA-centric pub, November ’22.

Weird Window Brewing | Home

Spritzy lemony grapefruit tanginess engaged dry light-bodied blonde ale, Wheat Kings and Pretty Weird Things, bringing lightly embittered herbal-citric hops to its gentle white bread spine.

Soft-tongued jalapeno cream ale, Cersei’s Wildfire, retained a mild peppery burn for its light spiced citrus spritz.

A lively Cascade-hopped NEIPA, Wet Hop Vermont Summer let its streamlined floral-bound citrus tanginess pick up grassy hop astringency, lacquered wood tones and mild herbal whims.

Another smoothly well-rounded NEIPA, Queen Of Chittenden County, brought its crackling honeyed citrus spritz to sugared pale malts, letting white peach, pineapple and melon illusions seep inside its glimmery orange-peeled grapefruit bittering.    

Sunny Citra hops freshened up We Named The Dog Citra, yet another worthy NEIPA. Bitter grapefruit zesting, tangy pineapple spicing and sedate mandarin orange sweetness crawl above polite caramel malting.

A danker NEIPA, Pour Decisions, let spiced orange-peeled grapefruit and pineapple tanginess plus sour guava-gooseberry tartness grapple juniper bittering as well as grassy hop pining.

Sweet Vienna malting paced lightly kilned Droppelbock, leaving caramelized brown breading upon subtle raisin-fig sweetness and mild spicy perfuming.

IDLETYME BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

IDLETYME BREWING COMPANY, Stowe - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

STOWE, VERMONT

Consuming an entire red clapboarded Colonial-styled Victorian grange, Stowe-based IDLETYME BREWING COMPANY maintains an exquisite downhome appeal from its sylvan wood-furnished pub room to its luxurious Old World dining sections. A large paver deck with metal furnishings sits alongside several ash trees.

Though the historic Shed Restaurant & Brewery closed in 2011, Idletyme began renovations a year after and quickly picked up the slack.  A founding brewer of New Hampshire’s Moat Mountain, Will Gilson has been Idletyme’s guiding light ‘concocting brews of all variety since 1995.’

While vacationing in Vermont, November ’22, discovered seven available brews – including two Bavarian pilsners, a Munich-styled lager, two pale ales, an IPA and porter. There were also two sours I missed out on, wild yeast cultured blueberry- Sour Blue and tart Lemondrop-hopped Sourtyme.

‘Mocktails,’ wines, ciders and mixed drinks were also available as were sandwiches, burgers and salads.

Dry Bohemia Pilsner lent wheat-chaffed barnyard acridity and rustic herbal spicing to fleeting powdered fruiting in light-bodied setting.

Musky raw graining and leathery hay dryness tempered the spritzy lemony hop of Munich Pilsner, a straightforward moderation.

Crisp helles lager, Helles Brook, brought sweet honeyed cereal graining to grassy Noble hop herbage, Seltzer-like lemon spritz and wispy sulfuric acidity.

A traditional American-styled pale ale, Pink n’ Pale, let zesty pink grapefruit juicing infiltrate piney hop briskness and a pink peppercorn prickle as ancillary pineapple and guava tropicalia glanced its spicily citric thrust.

Vibrant dry-hopped pale ale, Zog’s, splashed lemony grapefruit zest against pungent cannabis hop dankness and retained a mildly creamed vanilla froth.

Just as creamy on the surface, Imperial IPA, Ideltyme, worked zestful orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and spiced pineapple-peach tanginess into sugary pale malting (leaving vegetal cucumber crisping).

On the dark side, vanilla bean-embittered black chocolate malting, dark-roast hops and charred nuttiness saddled Vanilla Porter, a soft-tongued (nitrogenated?) delight.