Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

KANE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

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.

TOX BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Tox Brewing Company

NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT

TOX BREWING COMPANY became New London, Connecticut’s first brewpub, April 2019. Run by a few local ‘curiosity-filled’ beer nerds, Tox crafts many vibrantly sharp IPA’s alongside an eclectic array of stylistic offshoots.

Occupying a rustic cabin with community-tabled front patio, the epoxy-floored pub offers a six-chaired L-shaped serving station, several metal-wood Industrial tables and a fabulous Beer Style map on the right wall. The turquoise-daubed copper patina draught stations match the bar frontage while twisted Edison lights provide cool antiquity and a TV at the bar sits atop the mushroom-handled draught taps. The rear brew room has a raw feel.

During my December ’21 venture, got to try nine impressive suds.

Dry pilsner-malted kolsch, Crocus, let orange-rotted champagne fizz prickle vinous grape, tart cherry and spicy saffron as well as Noble hop herbage in a mild manner.

Dewy dried fruited spicing anchored Mandrake, a heady 9.5% ABV Scotch Ale with caramelized chestnut, praline and almond nuttiness and light tobacco roast.

Sharp flagship IPA, Amanita, brought floral-spiced tropicalia to the fore as mango-candied grapefruit, orange and tangerine tang contrasted piney hop bittering.

Dry soft-tongued NEIPA, Devil’s Trumpet, allowed lemon-candied peach, mango and pineapple tanginess to penetrate mild coniferous pine tones and black pepper whims.

Bright ‘n lively IPA, Eft Citra, let zesty lemon and orange-candied mango, papaya and grapefruit spicing pick up waxy crayon grouting and lacquered pine oiling.

Cocktail-inspired sour IPA, Box Jelly Paloma, based on Mexico’s national drink, plied sea-salted agave to mild limey grapefruit pith bittering for a nifty tequila knockoff.

Briskly sharp Christmas-spiced fruited sour, Lily Of The Valley – Spiced Cranberry Sauce, a distinct Berliner Weiss variant, backed its salted lemony cranberry tartness with orange-peeled cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger seasoning and vanilla-daubed maple syruping.

Another wintry treat, Holly, Holiday Fruitcake Winter Warmer, hurled gingerbread-bound cinnamon, vanilla and almond sweetness at dried fruited nuttiness for a strong 8.5% ABV confection.

Guatemalan coffee roast pervaded luxurious milk stout, Deadly Nightshade, bringing brown-sugared cinnamon spicing, candied hazelnut glaze, vanilla and espresso illusions into the rich java scheme.

ZEUS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Thinking About Robots - Zeus Brewing Company | Photos - Untappd

POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK

At the bottom of the hill in Poughkeepsie’s bustling Main Street promenade, ZEUS BREWING COMPANY began operations December ’19. An exquisite Industrial chic pub on the large-windowed first floor of the Queen City loft, its rooftop bar and lounge overlook the Hudson River. Rising to prominence quickly, Zeus joins King’s Court, Mill House and Blue Collar as Poughkeepsie’s first four modern microbreweries.

Brewmaster Amit Ram (formerly of nearby Peekskill and Newburgh breweries) utilizes a left side seven-barrel system to craft his brisk IPA-centric fare as well as nifty one-offs and recurring fare. The upscale pub menu includes brick oven pizza, artisanal entrees, burgers, wings and sandwiches plus specialty cocktails, wine and ciders.

Two colossal neo-Classical wood cabinet murals grace the ten-seat bar. The beautiful black brick-tiled bar back features one bronze draught station with twelve tap handles (and a TV peering out from each corner). Several four-seat wood tables fill out the high-ceilinged black and white-walled pub.

Zeus Brewing: Poughkeepsie's Newest Brewpub Aims for Beer Worthy of Gods | Restaurants | Hudson Valley | Chronogram Magazine

Classic soul music played as my wife and I enjoyed all ten available brews during our December ’21 trip prior to dinner up the street at Schatzi’s.

Muskily earthen grained German-styled light-body, Queen City Pilsner, left a dainty floral-spiced lemon spec upon its French-breaded spine.

Dewy Aviator Doppelbock let rye-spiced brown breading, peaty mossing and dried fig combine alongside sugary toffee malts.

Rustic P.F.L. Harvest Lager retained leathery hay dryness, earthen truffle musk and honeyed rye buttering for mild butternut squash adjunct.

Crisp moderate dark lager, Crown & Anchor English Mild, filled its dewy peat meadow with sashayed red-orange fruiting and leafy hop astringency above biscuity cereal malts.

A Mosaic-hopped West Coast pilsner (collaboration with Wayward Lane), Everything For Everyone brought sharp floral-perfumed lemon bittering to mild lacquered pine tones contrasting cereal grained pilsner malting.

Similarly West Coast styled, Cruisin’ The One, a bright IPA, let juicily yellow grapefruit-peeled orange tanginess and candied lemon absorb floral-daubed piney hop resin.

Escaping to two East Coast IPA variants, dry Nelson Sauvin-hopped Nelson Road hid sour gooseberry tartness beneath lightly lingered grapefruit and mandarin orange bittering.

Meanwhile, fellow New England IPA, Mall Santa, provided spicier sweetness to its zestful grapefruit, orange, pineapple and peach tang.

Delicate yellow-hazed Imperial IPA, Square Two, retained dry grapefruit-orange zesting, mild pine bittering and floral-herbed snips as subtle apricot-tangerine notions waver.

Easygoing Berliner Weiss, Urban Oasis Italian Plum & Cranberry, allowed sour cranberry and dried plum tartness to gain briny lemon liming without overloading citric acidity.          

JERSEY CYCLONE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for jersey cyclone brewing exterior

SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY

Open May 2019, JERSEY CYCLONE BREWING COMPANY operates a light modern Industrial-furnished 2,500 square foot tasting room in the middle of a professional office mall in Somerset. Local proprietary homebrewers Jan Chwiedosiuk and Brian Teel began working together a few years back and now they specialize in wholly expressive IPA’s and stouts plus worthy pilsner-lagers and fruity kettle-soured Uncharted Waters variants.

Jersey Cyclone’s brick-based, wood lacquer-topped back bar draws 14-plus brews from the stainless steel draught station. Twisted metal-designed cyclone-webbed tap handles occupy the repurposed fire hydrants (previously used as water fountains) and caged Edison lights hang from the ceiling. Community-tabled benches fill out the pristine interior and an outdoor beer garden provides further space.

I hung out with owner Jan Chwiedosiuk at Plank Pizza one Friday night in early December ’21 to down eight proprietary 5-ouncers. Then, a week hence, my wife and I dropped by Jersey Cyclone to down a few more diversified suds.

Jersey Cyclone Brewing is open for business in Franklin

Soft-toned Eye Of The Storm, a sunny tropical flagship India Pale Ale, combined lemony grapefruit zesting, brisk orange peel sweetness and spicy peach-mango-tangerine sugaring above crystal-caramel malts – leaving dank pine tones on its candied citrus finish.

Easygoing tropical-fruited IPA, Microburst, gathered orange-peeled grapefruit zesting, peachy lychee-pineapple-mango tanginess and wax-candied cherry blip to contrast juniper-embittered currant tannins.

Lightly lactic Imperial IPA, Harbor Of Refuge, contrasted tangy citrus spicing and sweet caramel malts against mild red-peppered jalapeno heat as earthen pine resin and celery-watered herbage scurried below.

Pleasantly fruited kettle sour, Uncharted Waters Cranberry Orange, plied salted berry-citrus tartness and pithy orange juicing (plus white peach tartness) to lactic acidulated malts.

Toasted amber graining and dewy peat mossing (reminiscent of a red ale) picked up mild dried fruiting and dainty nuttiness over biscuity malts for Touchdown Lager, an offbeat Dunkelweizen.

Tarry black patent-malted dark chocolate syruping greeted Baltic Porter, Storm Surge, bringing ancillary coffee-stained maple oats and dark toffee spicing to dewy brown-leafed hop astringency.

Luxuriously detailed Imperial Stout, Barrel Aged Flood, steeped in rum, rye and bourbon barrels, let creamy dark chocolate and bourbon vanilla richness propel molasses-sapped nuttiness, dainty raisin-plum-prune subtleties and brandied burgundy wining above recessive charcoal hop sear.

Decadent confectionery dessert, Back For S’More, a bold lactose stout with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans and cinnamon, received chewy marshmallow-honeyed Graham Cracker sugaring and sneaky almond-praline-toffee illusions latently contrasted by a subtle wood-singed hop char. its fudgy brown chocolate overtones and creamy vanilla richness enhanced the fulsome finish.

The above beers were consumed at Plank Pizza, but the suds below got imbibed at Jersey Cyclone early December ’21.

Brisk clear golden Czech pilsner, Clear Skies, combined raw-grained oated wheat with musky floral herbage.

Lively NEIPA, Pole Reversal, brought orange-peeled peach, pineapple and grapefruit tanginess to salty pine needled hop bittering above sugary pale malts in a stylishly straightforward way.

Lactic kettle-soured fruited gose, Uncharted Waters Passionfruit, let mildly acidic lemon-limed Himalayan pink salting embitter its dry passionfruit-pureed gooseberry tartness.

A spicier Baltic Porter, Storm Surge engaged its caramelized dark chocolate base with cinnamon French toast illusions plus spiced coffee, anise and toffee atop molasses-smeared brown breading.

Coffee-stained dark chocolate malting saddled Flood, a dewy Imperial Stout with soily compost-wafted nuttiness.

Bold lactic vanilla beaned Imperial Coffee Porter, Snowtoberfest, graced its roasted coffee frontage with holiday-inspired cinnamon-spiced brown chocolate, gingerbread, Amaretto, glazed hazelnut and dark cocoa regalia.

FLOUNDER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

NJ breweries: Flounder Brewing relocates to Hillsborough farm

HILLSBOROUGH, NEW JERSEY

After nearly a decade at crowded Hillsborough Business Park, FLOUNDER BREWING COMPANY moved to a huge wood-paneled barnhouse on a 19-acre Carraige Farm a few miles away (next to Bellemara Distillery), springtime 2021. Initiated by former homebrewer, Jeremy Lees, the winner of Sam Adams 2016 Brewing and Business Experienceship award, Flounder continues to grow exponentially.

Making great use of plank wood and prestigious wood columns, the stainless steel-tanked interior also offers mezzanine seating. The high-ceilinged, polyurethane-floored, repurposed microbrewery features several community tables, four-seat metal chaired wood tables and a fifteen-barrel system crafting a wide range of one-offs, recurring favorites and splendid dark ales.

Two opposing overhead side doors, one leading to back patio seating with strewn Edison lights, get utilized for outdoor quaffing.Flounder Brewing Company, United States, New Jersey, Hillsborough | BrewCruizer

I’d already experienced a dozen or so Flounder brews at the old business park locale before downing six more previously untried libations spanning the gamut from German-styled kellerbier to amber and pale ale to English bitter, nitro porter and spiced-up Christmas ale.

Crisply rustic Kellerbier, Sich Unterhalter, pitched musty raw-grained earthiness to orange-spiced herbal musk over bready pilsner malts.

Soft-tongued dewy peat mossing led easygoing English bitter, One And Done, placing buttery fig-dried nuttiness alongside earthen herbal licks.

Stylishly bold amber ale, Slow Roller, let the orange-peeled grapefruit zesting and dank pine resin of an IPA blend with sweetly spiced amber graining.

Brisk orange-peeled lemon zest brightened lovely floral-spiced pale ale, Almost Persuaded, a sunshiny moderation with mild piney hop bittering.

Dry nutty dark chocolate and mild black coffee bittering sufficed for nitro porter, Post Digger, leaving burnt caramel sweetness upon its charred hop backend.

Festive Christmas ale, St. Nick, plied brown-sugared dried fruiting to dainty cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice seasoning, gingerbread cookie sweetness and singed cedar-hickory wisps.

FOX FARM BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Growing CT Beer At Fox Farm Brewery — CT Bites

SALEM, CONNECTICUT

Open 2018 in the remote rural bedroom community of Salem, Connecticut, FOX FARM BREWERY incorporates two distinct refurbished farmhouses with plenty of outside seating along the agrarian homestead.

The expansive grain-siloed maroon and white complex (shown above) houses the pristinely open-aired natural wide plank pine-walled pub. Its majestic gable ceiling and dazzling wood interior are reminiscent of a town church. A wood top serving station features twelve tap handles while a few tables, counters and Edison lights fill out the raw space. The large rear area contains many standard stainless silver brew tanks. A slate side deck adds further seating.

Going around back, the separate white-columned farmhouse with beautiful earth-toned stone frontage stores the sour and spontaneous ale tanks.

My wife and I grab a table at the pub’s mezzanine, November ’21, to down a few pints on a brisk Sunday.

Degrees of Intent — Fox Farm Brewery in Salem, Connecticut — Good Beer Hunting

Many Fox Farms brews have a rustic, reserved feel and various European styles are respectfully well crafted.

Musky raw-grained Saaz hop herbage, celery-watered lemon oiling and delicate floral spicing refined German-style pilsner, Gather, a stylistically robust Bavarian Kellerbier.

Spritzy sour lemon herbage, orange-dried champagne esters and mild white peppered floral spicing paced dry kolsch, Bower, softly rising above its doughy bread crusting.

Tidy pale ale, Amble, let piney lemongrass-herbed Columbus hop musk seep inside perky grapefruit-orange spicing.

Sedate blonde ale, Little Brook, allowed sunshiny yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange, peach and tangelo tanginess reach its grassy hop stead as mild pine resin and slight herbage stay distant.

Straightforward easygoing India Pale Ale, Burst, maintained a crisply clean citrus spritz as tangy orange, tartly sour lemon and zesty grapefruit laced mildly bitter pine hops.

Mild unfiltered IPA, Tideline, took mellow grapefruit rind bittering and subtle mandarin orange, pineapple and mango tanginess to juniper-licked grassy hops.

Another soothingly soft-toned IPA, Alta, brought floral-spiced yellow grapefruit, orange rind, pineapple, peach and tangerine tanginess plus spritzy lemon zesting to piney hop resin above spelt-like wet graining.

Brisk orange-peeled grapefruit zesting fronted bold Imperial IPA, Burrow, pushing lemon-candied peach, pineapple and tangelo tartness forward alongside mild piney hop bittering topping crystal malt sugaring. Arguably Fox Farm’s best elixir.

Perfectly re-creating a German rauchbier, The Camp Smoked Lager let beechwood-seared peat malts pick up meat-cured salami, pastrami and bacon fat above dried cocoa malts, leaving stylish soap-stoned Band-aid-like astringency upon the smoky finish.

Dry waddle-seeded pumpernickel rye breading soaks up lightly embittered dark cocoa and black chocolate malting above dewy peat earthiness for English-styled Dark Mild, Tiddly, a frothily creamed nitrogenated charmer.

For a true turnabout, exquisitely vinous Foeder-aged Biere De Garde, punctuated its mildly puckered white wine tannins and lemon-lime-squeezed green apple cider souring with leathery barnyard acridity, leaving earthy sawgrass, heart of palm, alfalfa and horseblanket whims on the funky farmhouse ale’s tail end.

BEER’D BREWING COMPANY (THE SILO) – GROTON

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for beer'd BREWING GROTON

GROTON, CONNECTICUT

Following the success of its Stonington pub at American Velvet Mill, BEER’D BREWING COMPANY opened “The Silo” in nearby Groton’s Airport Business Park during January, 2020. Inside a gray aluminum cement-floored warehouse with large beige silo and casual front deck, the pristine black-walled Industrial art deco pub features a slate top, 12-seat, slate top bar containing 24 tap handles and black pendant lighting.

There are several tables and chairs fronting the bar and a few cool canvassed mod art designs hanging sparsely along the walls. The distinct Beer’d insignia sits across from the bar.

Producing 6,000 gallons of beer yearly at Groton’s 12,000 square-foot operation will increase production threefold for convivial entrepreneurial partners, Aaren Simoncini and Precious Putnam.

My wife and I stumbled upon four previously untried beers on my initial November ’21 stopover.

Stylishly offbeat, quirkily fruited, Huell Melon/ Mandarina Bavaria-hopped pilsner, Connecticut Casual, plied salty grapefruit-pineapple bittering to lemony sour-candied Gummy Bear tartness above its straw-dried bohemian pilsner malt floor.

Dry Imperial IPA, Riff, let floral grapefruit-peeled orange pith bittering and lacquered pineapple-passionfruit-mango tropicalia pick up musky herbal pining and slight grassy hop astringency above glass-candied crystal malting.

Cold-brewed coffee infiltrated P^2 (with Coffee), a full-bodied java-based cold one with cocoa-smoked roasted chocolate grazing tobacco-chawed bittering.

Nutty roasted espresso beaning led Russian Imperial Stout, Roulette, a rich nightcap with dark cocoa and black coffee riffs settling above tarry hop-charred oats.

BANK & BRIDGE BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for bank and bridge brewing mystic

MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT

Right next door to Mystic Pizza in a beautifully prominent beige marble-columned gothic edifice, BANK & BRIDGE BREWING began operations July ’21. Downtown Mystic’s second brewpub (after Barley Head), this ‘laidback production brewery and taproom’ also offers fine culinary cuisine.

Bank & Bridge’s pristine white-walled interior features several skinny beige-marbled community tables with plastic stools fronting the exquisite 14-seat slate-topped bar. Antique lights add to the vintage feel.

The cement-floored brew tank area is off to the right, a semi-private couched lounge area is situated near the front windows and wall-hung caricatures of Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse are to the left.

The fab pub food menu offers fried chicken, rib eye and cod sandwiches plus burgers and appetizers. Guest taps and red-white wines are available and a game room keeps kids busy.

My wife and I visit on a crowded Saturday afternoon to try all four available home-crafted brews plus Vermont’s Snow Republic Chocolate Twix Highway Milk Stout (reviewed separately in Beer Index).

Crushable light pilsner, The Joker, maintained a musky herbal grained rusticity, lemon-dropped tartness and dry cracked corn malting, staying true to style.

Fluffy cumulous-headed amber yellowed Mystic IPA, a New England-styled medium body, coalesced Citra-hopped grapefruit-orange zesting, Galaxy-hopped piney floral herbage and Nelson Sauvin-hopped pineapple, guava and gooseberry tropicalia above a delicate oated wheat base.

Brisk floral-spiced citrus zesting, hard-candied raspberry tartness and mild coconut watering emerged for Shock-Hop-alypse, a tidy NEIPA with minor pine resin.

Sharp redcurrant-juiced citrus tanginess emboldened Imperial IPA, Celestial Navigation, letting orange-peeled grapefruit, tangerine and clementine receive juniper-licked pine tones.

CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY – MIDDLETOWN

United States Brewpubs,

MIDDLETOWN, DELAWARE

A funky aluminum-topped farmhouse shack with rounded tin grain roof silo, Middletown’s CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY became the franchise’s third location autumn 2019. The rustic 7,000 square-foot pub boasts a hammock-packed backyard and slightly upscale pub menu to go alongside the varied proprietary beer.

A family friendly brew-centric sportsbar, its cement-floored multi-roomed interior features a separate left side dining area and tree bark-enclosed backspace. Large exposed pipes cover the low ceiling and an overhead door leads to the large turf-grounded back deck (with strung Edison lights, covered tiki bar, bocce court, horseshoe pit, cornhole boards and a tiled sequoia firepit lounge).

Plastic chaired tables crowd the outside deck area where my wife and I (plus Roscoe the dog) grab a cranberry pumpkin ricotta dip to go alongside nine delicious brews, November ’21.

Vintage clear purple-bronzed Delaware Punch sour ale knockoff, Wonder Punch, offered sweet-tart grape soda sugaring to just a hint of lemon lime souring.

Salty strawberry toaster pastry, Tardy Pass, an Imperial Sour Ale, hoisted lemon-limed brining and oaken vanilla into tart orange-juiced strawberry rhubarb.

Arguably the best fruited sour, pink magenta-hued FrankenBooBerry let milk-sugared blueberry-strawberry tartness gain aspirin-like cherry buffer, wispy cranberry-guava souring and mild oaken vanilla tannins.

Lactose-heavy Berliner Weiss, Brand New Day: Pomegranate Plum Vanilla, coalesced lime-salted pomegranate with plummy guava souring to contrast sweet vanilla resilience.

Crisp cucumber-salted watermelon rind earthiness contrasted lesser cantaloupe sweetness for fruited kolsch, One In A Melon, leaving cologne-wafted floral spicing on the dry finish.

“Bright” hazy pale ale, Sultana Sun, let mild juniper hop bittering affect juicy pineapple tang and mixed berry tartness over subdued pine resin dankness.

Juicy pink guava picked up grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and dank wood tones for briskly clean tropical IPA, Bless Up – Pink Guava, combining hard-candied El Dorado, citric-acidic Cashmere and passionfruit-tinged Zappa hops.

Floral-daubed citrus zesting paced Party In The Back, an earthen-bottomed Imperial IPA plying yellow grapefruit bittering and lemon sourness to orange peel sweetness.

Cherrywood-smoked pumpkin salting seeped into the freshly ground black coffee entry of autumnal Jav-O-Lantern, a peppery soy-sauced dry body.

BRICK WORKS BREWING – MILLSBORO

United States Brewpubs,

Brick Works Brewing and Eats - OnSite

MILLSBORO, DELAWARE

Opened June 2019, Millsboro’s BRICK WORKS BREWING became the second franchise started after the original Smyrna pub took hold. Fourteen miles from the Delaware beaches in a sleepy suburban community at the Taormina Square mall, the cafe-designed Brick Works operates out of the same stately-styled red brick ranch as its first site.

A large black metal-fenced deck surrounds the entrance leading to the left side barroom featuring a 20-seat L-shaped bar with 14 tap handles, top shelf liquor, two central TV’s, decorative fire company ladders and ceiling-hung Edison lights. Several windowed brewtanks peek out from behind the bar. The sienna-walled right side cafeteria clusters wood-metal furnishings in front of an open kitchen serving worthy pub fare.

I had the crab and corn chowder while consuming five previously untried libations early November ’21 while watching Alabama beat LSU in nightly college football.

Brick Works Brewing and Eats - Long Neck - Millsboro, DE | USA TODAY Support Local Businesses

Whiskeyed banana-breading insistence gained spicy clove-coriander sugaring and zesty lemon spritz for Heff Off, a heady hefeweizen with mildly vanilla-creamed wheat base.

Peach cobbler pie crusting penetrated the spritzy citrus zesting and subtle honeyed apricot-nectarine fruiting of Princess Peach, a puree-infused pale ale.

Briny strawberry-kiwi tartness received mild lime souring for Strawberry Kiwi Sour, picking up wispy hard cider, gooseberry and cranberry bittering at the rhubarb pie midst.

Creamy S’mores-like confection, Chocolate Covered Pretzel Stout, loaded marshmallow fluffed brown chocolate sweetness inside wheat-honeyed Graham Cracker wrap, overshadowing any salted pretzel influence but gaining a rich chocolate pudding skin texture.

Another S’mores-candied confection, S’mores Part 2 Stout, engaged its cinnamon Graham Cracker-honeyed dark cocoa and mild vanilla-marshmallow sway with creme brulee, spiced toffee and plummy black cherry illusions for heavenly dessert.