Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

TAYLOR BROOKE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Taylor Brooke Brewery

WOODSTOCK, CONNECTICUT

A unique family-owned homestead featuring a full-scale brewery and winery, TAYLOR BROOKE BREWERY & WINERY occupies two separate farmhouses up a hill in the historic town of Woodstock.

Inside a maroon aluminum barn with towering brew tanks behind a wood top serving station, Taylor Brooke’s cement-floored main pub space placed community tables underneath glass-cylindered Edison lights and exposed pipes hanging from the high ceiling. A mezzanine area stations the original pilot system.

During March ’22 sojourn, my wife and I discovered nine TB brews and brought a few for the road (reviewed in Beer Index).

Locally grown flaked corn gave light lager, Height Of Luxury, its buttered popcorn pep as spritzy lemon fizz crackled beyond its wispily mossy vegetal souring.

Cocoa-dried Czech dark lager, Throes Of Winter, plied sedate honeyed nuttiness to woody Saaz hop astringency.

Vanilla creamed banana and clove sweetness draped bitter orange peel, grains of paradise tartness and white-peppered lemongrass herbage for Bulrush, a fulsome witbier with a sturdy sugared wheat base.

Easygoing Strawberry Milkshake IPA spread milk-sugared lactose all over mildly tart pureed strawberry, tangy ruby red grapefruit and tertiarily sour passionfruit-guava-kiwi tropicalia.

Mixed fermentation farmhouse ale, Woodstock Veraison, pushed brettanomyces acidity and sour wine yeast into apple-juiced petit Sirah, Frontenac and cayuga must plus dry plum whim. A mouth puckering sour saison.

Fermented on proprietary Corot Noir wine and lightened further by spelt-flaked pilsner malts, Harvest Berliner Weiss gained mild lemon souring, vinous red-green grape esters and briny pinot snips.

Another Harvest Berliner Weiss, influenced by Wild Fox Concord-like grapes and sumac, stayed sharply acidic as salty lemon tartness coalesced with tannic grape-plum dryness above earthen leathering.

Smooth dark-roast chocolate malting led lactic nitro milk stout, Stoggy Hollow, picking up molasses-sapped cinnamon bark resin and latent hazelnut, cola and macadamia illusions.

Creamy vanilla sweetness amplified Bigelow Hollow, letting black coffee-dried cocoa and black malt bittering reach the vanilla frontage above oats-flaked caramel malts and distant walnut-shelled pistachio and macadamia snips.

BLACK POND BREWS

United States Brewpubs,

Black Pond Brews            Photos at Black Pond Brews - 2 tips from 86 visitors

DAYVILLE, CONNECTICUT

Next to farmland in the tiny village of Dayville, BLACK POND BREWS currently occupies a red brick-fronted warehouse with a white brick rear entrance and plastic-benched back porch. Named after a local Woodstock, Connecticut party spot, its original pub was in nearby Killington. The new space offers 500% more capacity for the increased beer volume now produced.

Co-owners Mike Tweed and Coby Smith got together in 2010 and soon won a contest with their Machu Pichu Jalapeno Saison. By 2014, they guided a popular local taproom and got serious about expanding operations, moving the tap house in 2021.

Inside a gray cement-floored storehouse, Black Pond’s wood-topped ten-seat back bar is fronted by plastic benches, creating a splendid casual homey feel. The expansive brew tank area actually takes up the anterior space.

Now equipped with a full kitchen, sandwiches, flatbread pizza, weinerschnitzel and bratwurst join the soft-watered suds and serious spirits menu.

My wife and I tried all six available draughts on our March ’22 Sunday lunchtime stopover. Remarkably, when I perused Black Pond’s website Feb. ’24, all eight draughts were different.

Part of Black Pond’s rotating sour series, lactose-bound Alice Scooper Fruited Smoothie, let its mildly milk-sugared vanilla creaming pick up confectionery cotton-candied strawberry puree to contrast the briny acidulated malt base.

Tart passionfruit-juiced light body, Captain Misbehavior Gose, allowed lemon-oiled pomegranate salting and mild guava-kiwi tropicalia to sit atop its pale straw white wheat base.

Easygoing Baby Tears, a West Coast IPA, brought mildly perfumed lemony grapefruit zesting and tart green grape esters to corn-dried pale malts.

Delicately fruited It’s Fun To Do Bad Things, a hazy New England IPA, placed subtle grapefruit, mandarin and clementine tanginess next to honeyed peach sweetness and mild piney hop bittering above polite vanilla-creamed crystal malting.

Smoky black malts embittered Pond Factory, a coffee-stained dark ale with dry nut-shelled earthiness.

Sweet-toothed dessert ale, Snack River (Red Velvet Cake), plied sweet brown chocolate fudging to mild vanilla-daubed buttercream frosting.

 

BEAR HANDS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Bear Hands Brewing Company Image result for bear hands brewing putnam

PUTNAM, CONNECTICUT

Residing in the old New England mill town of Putnam, Connecticut’s BEAR HANDS BREWING COMPANY set up shop during February 2020. A bustling tavern near the historic former railroad station, its friendly neighborhood bohemian feel gets captured by ex-homebrewing married couple, Justion and Kayla Trant. Their compact lantern-lit taproom emulates a cozy streetside low-ceilinged English pub. A metal-furnished gated front patio offers further seating as does the lower-level Prohibition Era-styled Speakeasy.

The wood-floored pub features a few four-seat tables. Glass-encased brew tanks are behind the diminutive, eight-stooled, twelve-draught, rear wood bar. Downstairs at the loungy Speakeasy, an L-shaped, wood cabinet-adorned bar with brass draught board services a couched lounge area (with widescreen TV).

Interestingly, alongside the fine food fare and good beers are flights of whiskey, Scotch and mini martinis.

My wife and I had wings and pizza while downing ten fine offerings in the dungeon-like Speakeasy.

Sourdough-grained pilsner malts and corn-dried vegetal whims soothed The Light Kellerbier, a pale malt-lagered moderation with mild cellar musk.

Sweet rice-caked corn entry gained (9% ABV) malt liquored boozing for Imperial Bohemian Pilsner, Czeching Up, leaving spicy lemon licks on the biscuity bottom.

Dewy amber grains sweetened Irish Red Ale, Drunken Leprechaun Rave, letting melanoidin barleycorn scour its murky red-orange fruiting.

Purplish blue-hued Violet Beauregard’s Revenge Blueberry Ale brought tart blueberry puree essence to spritzy lemon zesting and waxy fruit lacquering over a sugary wheat base.

Jolly Rancher-like Crashing The Party (Oh Yeah!) – part of the Juice Box Sour Series – let lemon-limed candied cherry, watermelon, orange and boysenberry tartness form a lollipop guild.

Limey white peach tang and mild orange juicing set up New England IPA, Show Me Triumph, picking up light pine comb bittering to contrast latent saffron-spiced lemongrass daubs.

Zestful orange-peeled grapefruit bittering and dry piney insurgence anchored NEIPA, King DIPHA, placating peach, pineapple and papaya tropicalia.

Creamy brown chocolate and vanilla sweetness upped the toffee-spiced goodness of Jingers Brown Ale, a sweet-toothed sensation.  

Nutty black chocolate resilience guarded Dessert, a rich Imperial Vanilla Coconut Porter with sweet vanilla-teased coconut milking and burnt coffee reminder.

Confectionery peanut butter cup knockoff, Ermegerd, saddled its bittersweet dark cocoa powdering with oily nuttiness and sweet soy saucing for a full-bodied mocha stout.

 

SHUNOCK RIVER BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Shunock River Brewery & Village Cafe | North Stonington, CT | Beers | BeerAdvocate

NORTH STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT

Inside a historic maroon-shingled Colonial edifice above North Stonington’s riverside rapids, SHUNOCK RIVER BREWERY & VILLAGE CAFE is stationed at an inconspicuous intersection merging residential neighborhoods.

Opening its doors November 29, 2019, Shunock Brewery added a wood-fired pizza oven a year hence. A cozy nanobrewery with small left side brew tank section across the diminutive six draught bar, its windowed frontage features several barrel-top tables while the waterside covered deck provides Edison-lit wood benches for further capacity.

An old hardware store converted into a friendly local cafe, SRB offers casual rustic Americana. Vintage mushroom boarding consumes the chestnut-columned interior and olden wood cabinets adorn the bar.

During my March ’22 one-hour journey, ate green peppered onion-topped pizza with wife while imbibing six approachable suds.

Dry citrus-spiced Eldorado Pale Ale let subtle lemon rind and yellow grapefruit bittering contrast tangy tangerine and mandarin orange misting above musky wood-toned herbage.

Utilizing local pumpkins, moderately maple syrupy North Stonington Pumpkin Ale picked up daintily autumnal cinnamon-sugared nutmeg seasoning for its brown-sugared pumpkin pie dalliance.

Easygoing IPA, River Monster Bitch, brought mild Mosaic-hopped lemony yellow grapefruit bittering to lightly pined Simcoe hops and dry pale malting.

Lactose-laden milkshake IPA confection, Orange Creamsickle, hid its vanilla-creamed orange tartness and lemon meringue piquancy behind dry hop astringency.

Local honey paraded thru lightly maple molasses-sapped Honey Maple Brown Ale, leaving nutty mocha remnants.

Dark chocolate glazed dewy English-styled Cocoa Nib Stout, picking up faded maple walnut coffee tones and sweet hazelnut snips.

MC ALLISTER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for mc allister brewing

NORTH WALES, PENNSYLVANIA

Completely redesigning and renovating the same blush pink-fronted commercial industrial space defunct brewery, Prism, previously occupied, MC ALLISTER BREWING COMPANY crafts some of the most expressive beers in Pennsylvania. Re-creating a loosely defined Speakeasy feel, this tidy North Wales pub came to fruition December 2018.

Dedicatedly detailed co-owners Mike and Kate Mc Allister got inspired to open their own small brewery during a honeymoon trip to Denver’s Great Ameircan Beer Fest. College friend, Seth Montz (a former military man) then joined the married couple (a cop and nurse) on their nostalgic zymurgic venture, niftily capturing the spirit of yore.

A rustic warehouse turned into a Prohibition Era saloon, this nifty watering hole features a sidewinding 20-seat mid-space mahogany bar with twelve-plus draught handles. Its snazzy original wood floor, reupholstered wood booths, olden red brick walls, exposed ceiling pipes and four front tables retain a certain antiquity.

When the weather’s fare, there’s a roomy metal-furnished front deck with siding for extra seating. A small billiard-centered game room’s to the right upon entering and the brew tanks are behind the bar.

McAllister Brewing Company (North Wales, PA) – Straight From The Tap

My wife and I chow some beer-cheesed pretzels while dabbling with a dozen dandy delectables early February, ’22.

Judiciously combining stylish orange-peeled coriander spicing with tangy peach zest and banana pureed clove sweetness, fulsome witbier, Movin’ To The Country, heightened its fruitful fortitude with spritzy red cherry, pineapple, pink grapefruit and strawberry illusions plus random cucumber-humidified watermelon rind snip. Highly recommended.

Dewily soft-toned yellow-cleared German pilsner, Gras Mahen, let dry perfumed citrus musk seep into lightly spiced cereal graining.

Dryly citric-spiced Winter Lager plied its sharp orange-peeled cinnamon stick adjunct and nutty cocoa tones to subtle woody Chinook/Simcoe-hopped bittering.

Bubbly orange-juiced champagne spritz pervaded Mimosa knockoff, Baller Beermosa, a Citra-hopped moderation with an Orangina soda twist.

Tart blood orange adjunct gathered citric-derived tangerine, clementine and mandarin juicing for Hindsight, a sugary pale malted NEIPA.

Sharp grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and dry wood tones informed Shovel Buddy, a briskly moderate Citra-Apollo-hopped New England IPA.

Packing a punch while retaining a mild mouthfeel, multi-hopped Imperial IPA, Blackthorn, mingled waxy grapefruit-peeled tangerine, mandarin orange and tangelo oiling with resinous dank wood tones and musky grains.

Nutty mocha and sour dried fruiting saddled mossy First Love Brown Ale, allowing black grape, fig and prune desiccation to flourish below the surface.

Confectionery sweet-toothed brown ale, Campfire S’More, loaded yummy vanilla-sugared marshmallow, toffee and butterscotch above its honeyed Graham Cracker base.

Dry cocoa-beaned dark chocolate syrup draped Porter’s Porter, leaving coffee-burnt vanilla tannins on its bitter back end.

Buttery Chardonnay wining, creamy banana liqueur and burnt orange murk grazed tripel-like malt liquor, Clown Puncher, a Scotch-licked, corn-liquored 9% ABV strong ale.

For an early nightcap, rich bourbon vanilla-creamed brown chocolate sweetness anchored Sir Fuzzy Pants, a burgundy-licked bourbon-aged Imperial Stout with hazelnut-glazed pecan, almond, praline and coconut niceties.

PERKIOMEN VALLEY BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Perkiomen Valley Brewery – Nick Media Productions

GREEN LANE, PENNSYLVANIA

Renegade spousal-owned multifaceted nanobrewery, PERKIOMEN VALLEY BREWERY, honors the local pre-prohibition brewhouse that served 20,000 yearly barrels at its 1919 peak while celebrating the antique artifacts PVB’s former drive-thru bank left behind. A comfortable family-friendly tap room embracing individuals with mobility and sensory issues, owners Kelly and Tom  Weiss have raised two autistic sons who now ably assist this idiosyncratic community haven.

Opened June 21, 2019, the Weiss family’s already crafted 115 sundry brews since inception as of my one-hour visit, early February ’22. An experienced gardener, Kelly’s specialty is foraging for natural ingredients and harvesting botanical herbage for the uniquely eccentric homemade brews emulating from the basement fermentation tanks and the original pilot system situated in the main pub area.

Inspired by John Troegner (Troegs Brewing founder) while on an exploratory brewpub journey, PVB also took inspiration from Illinois’ fabulous farmhouse brewery, Scratch. Two of their best selling flagships include Sadie’s Dandelion Amber Ale and Honeysuckle Golden Ale – both way more offbeat, involving and creative than their staid amber-golden stylistic design.

Wanting an exterior feel, there are LED lights on the blue-grey ceiling, a patio-like porcelain tile floor, sensory room kiosk and fireplace dotting the eight-seat bar. My wife and I conversed with Kelly at one of the cozy outdoor tables while downing nine diversified offerings.

Grand Opening: Perkiomen Valley Brewery; June 21st (Green Lane) - Breweries in PA

Foraged hickory bark toasting and brown-sugared molasses sweetness paced Shagbark Old English Ale, an interestingly offbeat and stylistically advanced Extra Special Bitter with toffee-spiced marshmallow snips lacing dewy Marris Otter malts.

Another distinctively divergent ESB, Bees Knees, a lactic ‘bee-balm’ botanical brew, saddled English tea earthiness with frankincense, sandalwood and cinnamon bark enticement.

Honey-perfumed dandelion sweetness subtly serenaded the juniper-berried citrus zing of Sadie’s Dandelion, a uniquely foraged amber ale with dry Chinook hop wood tones.

Finnish-styled farmhouse hybrid, Sahti To Me, utilized Kveik yeast to promote orange-oiled  pekoe tea, dried fig, bergamot and papaya fruiting in a raw-grained barnyard setting.

Dryly tannic Sequoia-tipped amber grains and mild peated whiskey tones steadied Sequoia Pale Ale, leaving lemon-oiled orange fruiting on the back end.

Dry Noble-hopped Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Ale let tart strawberry rhubarb buttering sink into biscuity kolsch-like malts, picking up mild cranberry-pomegranate souring.

Spruce-tipped pine musk seeped inside grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and the ‘sturdy grain bill’ of Spruced Up Double IPA, a 90-minute-hopped beauty anchored by caramelized pale malting.

Toasted coconut draped the dark chocolate bittering of Kelly’s Gone Coco-nut, a coffee-nutted porter with latent earthy soiling.

An interpretation of an ‘old local dark ale,’ PVB Porter leaned on dry black malts to embitter the peaty earthen scorch, wood-burn hop char and soy sauced fig souring reinforcing syrupy dark cocoa richness.  

CO-HOPS BREWERY & CANNERY

United States Brewpubs,

Co-Hops Brewery; Pennsylvania's First Craft Beer Incubator Opens In Hatfield - Breweries in PA

HATFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA

Taking up 10,000 square feet at a beige brick-fronted Industrial mall in Hatfield (a northwest Philly suburb), versatile independent enterprise, CO-HOPS BREWERY & CANNERY, came into existence during autumn ’21. Pennsylvania’s first full service contract brewing facility opened for public consumption, the proprietary craft beer haven crafts beer for many local startup homebrewers, even creating a few of their own liquid product alongside fine fanfare from Sutton, Radiant, Loso, Bucks County and Langhorne, to name a few.

At Co-Hops, entrepreneurial veteran brewer, Joe Modestine, offers methodological advise, equipment and spirit to the ensuing zymurgic denizens getting readied for regional distribution. His family ran a successful saloon before he began brewing in his garage prior to founding nearby Doylestown Brewing in 2011 .

At Co-Hops, Modestine prepares kegged and canned suds for on-site/ off-site consumption. The bright blue-floored brewing space backs an inconspicuous serving station inside the beige-walled, high-ceilinged, overhead-doored warehouse. There are tables and benches neatly placed across the ultra-clean cement floor pub.  A small left side lounge with small wood tables and couch serves as a dinky private space while a picnic area with firepits provides outside quaffing.

I consumed three original Co-Hops brews and a few days hence some worthy canned ‘gypgy’ brews by Radiant, Sutton, Steel City, Loso and Like Minds (reviewed in Beer Index) while perusing Co-Hops early February ’22.

Brisk lemon-limed Cashmere hops meet floral-herbed Loral hops for Co-Hops Hazy Pig, a sessionable hazy India Pale Ale with lively tangerine tanginess and resinous pine snips above sugared pale malts.

Bright orange, tangerine and grapefruit tanginess guided spritzy Hatfield Haze, a lightly herbed New England IPA gaining mild mango, guava and starfruit tropicalia.

Dark chocolate syrup draped salty peanuts and sweet coconut for Co-Hops Hawaiian Stout, a dewy full body with distant cold-brewed coffee, espresso and spiced toffee illusions.

IMPRINT BEER CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Imprint Beer Company | Hatfield, PA | Beers | BeerAdvocate ReinBro - Imprint Beer Co. - Untappd

HATFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA

Specializing in ‘lusciously thick stouts to mind melting fruited sours,’ IMPRINT BEER CO. is certainly leaving its unique mark on North Penn Valley’s tiny borough of Hatfield since opening, January 2018. Famous for their neverending line of thickly pulped Schmoojees, basically fluffily creamed marshmallow fruited ambrosia salad knockoffs, these ambitious zymurgists craft some of the most diverse brews north of Philly.

Located at a brick Industrial mall, Imprint’s cement-floored pub sits adjacent to the Quality Tank Solutions brewhouse. Several four-stooled metal tables, wooden benches, front-walled barrels and a kitchen kiosk fill out the rustic overhead-doored tasting room where large silver tanks take up the backspace.

Founding brewer, Ryan Diehl, realized he had to immediately expand his space after operating a small one-barrel nano. Now a mid-sized microbrewery, Imprint’s equipment includes its original 7-barrel fermenters (bought for its first expansion) and a newer 15-barrel system plus an experimental stainless steel brite tank.

HOME

My wife and I try a mild pilsner and lager before grabbing a few impressive stouts, then get a bunch of canned goodies for the road (reviewed in Beer index).

Zesty dry-hopped lupulin oiling gave Czech-styled pilsner, Citra-Galaxy Wallpaper, its mildly bitter IPA-like lemony orange-peeled grapefruit splurge, delicate peachy pineapple tang and clean Seltzer briskness receiving muskily floral-spiced herbage above milled grain malting.

Another cleanly dry citric-bent moderation, Game Face Helles Lager, retained spritzy grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering for pale lagered mineral graining.

As for the two richly creamed stouts, lactose-bound Vanilla Rye Imperial Stout boasted chewy Madagascar and Mexican vanilla luxuriance for its nutty rye-spiced black chocolate density.

Richly rewarding confectionery milk stout, Dunkable Nilly, let Nilla wafer sweetness entice resilient vanilla ice-creamed brown chocolate milking as tertiary bruised black cherry, toasted almond and praline illusions reached its fudgy vanilla mocha finish. 

BLUEPRINT BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Blueprint Brewing Company | Brewbound.com

HARLEYSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA

At an Industrial Park in tiny suburban village, Harleysville (30 miles northwest of Philly), BLUEPRINT BREWING CO. was designed by the three friends and opened during 2018. Going thru the earthen flat-stoned frontage, Blueprint’s rustic cement-floored, picnic-benched barroom features opposing overhead doors, cavernous ceiling and strung Edison lights.

Blueprint’s prodigious Philly-themed painted insignia covers the wall across from the Formica-topped, corrugated aluminum-sided serving station. An electronic blackboard lists all available draughts and one TV hangs nearby. Six metal-chaired tables fill out the refurbished wood-laden room.

A lounge area leads patrons from the pub area to the brew tank room.

My wife and I grab a few excellent food truck burgers while settling in to devour a dozen choice homemade brews this Friday night in February ’22.

Dry Mexican pale lager, Luchador, let musky grain earthiness reach peppery hop herbage, leaving a mild smoked agave nip.

Dewy amber lager, Pick Me, let tobacco-roasted brown tea crisping contrast caramelized apple sweetness above mild bread crusting.

Flour-sugared vanilla sweetness tingled Cake Cream Ale, an otherwise dry pale malted moderation with spritz cream soda licks.

Lemon-twisted raspberry tartness engaged Raspberry Beret, a dry fruit ale with subtle cranberry and crabapple notions plus cherry rhubarb snip.

Lime-salted guava tartness embittered offshoot blonde ale, Blondeprint Guava, pervading mild white grapefruit, white peach and lemongrass illusions.

Tangy tangerine juicing forwarded White Zombie, an adjunct witbier with delicate orange-peeled coriander spicing, wafting floral herbage and dry pale malt sugaring.

Candi-sugared Belgian blonde, Thicc And Sweet, burrowed its banana-clove sweetness into mild cologned herbal salting before gaining subtle yellow grapefruit and mandarin orange zesting.

Spicy orange-peeled grapefruit tang and candied pineapple tartness embraced The Wizard, a fruitful IPA with light piney hop astringency contrasting oated wheat malts.

Lemon-soured orange spicing pervaded the floral pining of dry Imperial IPA, Tribe Mentality, one of Blueprint’s finest offerings.

Zestful tropical fruiting brightened fruited sour, Sparkle Bomb, letting persuasive grapefruit-peeled pineapple bittering, peachy mango sweetness and pink guava tartness reach its resinous pine bottom.

Sumptuous peanut-buttered dark chocolate creaminess guarded P’Nuts And Bolts, a thick Imperial Stout with wood-charred hops contrasting nutty mocha insistence.

Toasted coconut sweetness guided finer spinoff, P’Nuts And Coconut, letting rich peanut-buttered dark chocolate and recessive burnt marshmallow whims bolster its confectionery goodness.

KANE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Kane Brewing Company | Ocean, NJ | Beers | BeerAdvocate Kane Brewing - Wikipedia

OCEAN, NEW JERSEY

KANE BREWING COMPANY quickly became one of Jersey’s finest iconic microbreweries during August 2011. Led by married financial marketeers Michael and Erika Kane, their huge freestanding warehouse operation has expanded by leaps and bounds since the beginning.

Inside a rustic high-ceilinged building with cement floors, overhead doors, barrel stands and large silver brew tanks (in the barroom and right side fermenting space), Kane utilizes repurposed wood for its bar frontage and 20-plus draught station backdrop.

A fabulous maltster, Michael Kane homebrewed for fifteen years and traveled to Europe to learn more about beer culture. A Fairfield University grad with a Masters degree from Notre Dame, the lanky red-haired zymurgist soon became interested in spirited barrel aging and spontaneously fermented mixed culture sour ales.

I get a chance to hang at Kane for a few hours on a snowy Super Bowl Sunday in 2022 to down two enlightening barrel-aged stouts, one glorified pastry stout and one barrel-aged porter. I’d been to Kane in the past, but only to buy bottles to go. As of this date, I’ve had 67 different proprietary brews (all reviewed in Beer Index except the following four quaffed on-site).

Unfiltered and Able Brews at Kane Brewing | Beer Busters

For starters, I chose the breakfast-styled pastry stout, A Night To End All Dawns Banana Pancake. Maple syrup-draped caramelized banana sweetness indulged dark chocolate fudging as dark-roast hop char lightly embittered the backend to contrast ancillary bourbon vanilla sugaring, butterscotch walnut cookie flouring and toasted cinnamon splendor.

Viscous bourbon-spiced porter, Morning Bean, aged in Willett and Wild Turkey barrels, plied cream-sugared coffee beaning to Madagascar vanilla tannins, dark cherry pureed tartness and black peppered whims anchored by bittersweet dark chocolate luster.

Fudgy brown chocolate affluence guided Bourbon-aged Lunchbox Hero, a luxurious Imperial Stout conditioned on peanut buttered cacao, vanilla beans and hazelnut paste. Its richly creamed maple syruping soaked up bourbon vanilla-sweetened marshmallow chewiness and chocolate cherry cordial banter for an enticing pastry-like dessert.

As a luscious sweet-toothed Imperial Stout nightcap, Saturday Night Lights, let its sublime Vermont maple syruping serenade sweet brown chocolate goodness as milk-sugared coffee, vanilla pastry cream, toasted marshmallow, honeyed Graham Cracker and cookie dough illusions enriched the bourbon-licked chocolate cake decadence.

FIRST STATE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

First State Brewing Company in MIddletown nears opening

MIDDLETOWN, DELAWARE

Inside a grey aluminum Industrial warehouse with large black-lettered FIRST STATE BREWING insignia, this spacious northern Delaware pub opened for biz, December 2020. Crafting a diverse range of stylishly ‘classic’ brews, First State concentrates on delivering a host of IPA’s alongside several charming one-offs and a few recurring faves.

A pristine high ceilinged watering hole at Middletown, Delaware’s Levels Business Park (a few miles from Crooked Hammock), this freestanding brewhouse boasts an elongated 25-seat bar with glass-encased tanks, a stainless steel kitchen (serving fine pub fare) and several metal chaired tables.

There are 20 taps along the tiled backbar while exposed pipes line the walls and white hop coned lamps light the bar. Three TV’s show college football bowl games and the electronic beer menu lists today’s fare.

A black metal-furnished side deck offers further seating.

On New Years Day, 2022, I imbibed seven sundry suds.

First State Brewing — Marshall Adams

Crisply dry helles lager, Downright Upright, plied raw-honeyed mineral graining and hay-like barnyard leathering to mildly perfumed herbal hops over bready pale malts.

Sedate lemon-candied banana and clove entry gained floral cologne fragrance for Lucid Refraction, a doughy-bottomed hefeweizen.

Zesty orange-peeled grapefruit tang gains mild herbal-tinged piney hop dankness for double dry-hopped IPA, Mystic Illusion, leaving white peach, pineapple and cherry illusions in its wake.

Better still, resonantly soft-toned Mosiac-Citra-Galaxy-hopped tropical fruit spicing sent lemony orange-peeled grapefruit zesting across tangy pineapple, peach and tangerine sweetness contrasting guava-passionfruit sour end of Persistent Illusion, a delightful oated wheat sugared India Pale Ale.

Tripel Beaming - First State Brewing Company - Untappd

Interesting off-dry Belgian-styled moderate-medium body, Beaming Tripel, brought light black peppering to floral lemon-licked honeysuckle adjunct slightly sweetened by beet-sugared dextrose malts as tart Lemondrop hops glisten for bitter herbal cellar funk.

Stylishly a tad dryer, Quadratic Quadrangle, let candi-sugared plum, fig and cherry tartness seep inside tobacco-roasted cocoa malting.

Penetrative Nicaraguan medium-roast coffee overtones punctuated by tarry walnut-seared dark chocolate bittering and wood-burnt hop char of dry Black Lotus, letting silky lactose creaming envelop its bold java theme.

VALHALLA BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Valhalla Brewing Co in Elkton - Restaurant reviews

ELKTON, MARYLAND

Located at a fork in the road in the rural small town of Elkton, Maryland (20 miles west of Wilmington, Delaware), VALHALLA BREWING CO. inhabits a fire engine red ranch. Opened during 2017, the cafeteria-styled barn house churns out an approachable array of brews as well as meads to go alongside light pub fare.

A horse insignia post leads to the metal-furnished front deck at Valhalla’s wood paneled entrance. Its lofty bright red interior features an elongated 20-seat bar with large backroom brew room. There are 12-plus aluminum-backed tap handles – some serving outside brews such as Germany’s respected Reissdorf Kolsch and local RAR’s Bucktown Brown. Several community tables fill out the gray cement-floored pub and several TV’s add a sportsbar angle.

I saddled up to the bar to enjoy four fine suds during New Years Day, 2022.

Valhalla Brewing Company

Splendidly sheening flagship IPA, Hiking Viking, brought candied orange tanginess, yellow grapefruit bittering and peachy tangerine sweetness to the fore alongside mild pine resin above dry pale malting.

Dry Citra-hopped IPA, Citra Smash, let lemony mandarin orange spritz perk up piney herbal licks underscored by crystal malt sugaring.

Spelt-grained rusticity and mild herbage guarded Benediktiner Oktoberfest, leaving oily brown leaf astringency upon its biscuity melanodin malting.

Mild nut-charred dark chocolate gained mossy wet leaf astringency for Friggs Robust Porter, picking up a snip of dry burgundy wining.