Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

EXHIBIT A BREWING COMPANY

Exhibit A Brewing is the Cat's Meow of Framingham, MA

FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

Just half a mile down the road from Jack’s Abby, Framingham’s EXHIBIT A BREWING COMPANY was established by entrepreneurial brewmaster Matthew Steinberg during 2016. A highly experienced, well known Massachusetts zymurgist, Steinberg enjoys crafting a wide variety of brews utilizing mostly locally sourced ingredients.

Exhibit A’s large outdoor community-tabled beergarden leads patrons to the black aluminum warehouse currently staging storage but marked for a future beer hall. Across the parking lot lies the current brew room where large brew tanks sit across from the quaint epoxy-floored tannish barroom (with 12-plus taps, bronze ceiling tiles, casual high chair seating and countertop stands).

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, June ’21, my wife and I drag Roscoe the dog to an empty outdoor table to consume a few durable Exhibit A products.

Look Inside Exhibit 'A' Brewing in Framingham

One of Exhibit A’s most popular offerings, The Cat’s Meow, a zesty NEIPA, let lightly embittered yellow grapefruit zesting and spiced navel orange pickup grassy herbal-tinged pine lacquering over mildly vanilla-creamed oated wheat bottom.

Dry lemony orange-rotted fizziness gained a slight sour-candied glaze for wispily herb-spiced Goody Two Shoes, a mild clear yellowed kolsch with crisp bread crust bottom.

Light-roast coffee nuttiness consumed Briefcase Porter, overwhelming black chocolate-embittered Blackstrap molasses, burnt rye toasting, soured tobacco chaw and wispy blackberry tartness.

Creamily smooth Imperial Stout, Sunday Paper (a collaboration with nearby Barrington Coffee Factory), let milk-sugared coffee tones gain a bitterly tarred dark roast char swirling above caramelized chocolate molasses oats, picking up espresso, hazelnut and black pepper snips.

Vintage 2020 barleywine, Weights & Measures, stayed mildly caramel creamed as its brown-sugared bourbon licks gained dewy rye spicing to back its bittersweet cherry-bruised orange tang.

 

JACK’S ABBY BREWING

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FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS

Designing some of the most impressive lagers, dark ales and barrel-aged stouts in the entire country, Framingham’s JACK’S ABBY BREWING has tripled in size since opening in 2011, becoming a premier New England craft beer haven on a grander scale than the fabulous, less glorified Ipswich Ale Brewery. The pride of Jack, Eric and Sam Hendler, three Massachusetts-based brothers originally inspired by German beer culture, Jack’s Abby now encompasses an enormous red brick warehouse (with forest green aluminum siding).

Presently the largest microbrewery in the state, Jack’s Abby occupies a high black-ceilinged 1,300-barrel taproom with multiple barrels, brew tanks and canning operation connected to its community-tabled bar area. A food station with wood-fired pizza oven serves fine pub fare. A roomy side deck offers further capacity.

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Entrance to Springdale Beer Co. pictured above

In 2016, the maverick Hendler brothers decided to expand their empire to include SPRINGDALE BEER COMPANY, an offshoot taproom and blendery experimenting with sour ales, tarts, cocktail-inspired knockoffs and barrel aged fare.

I’d already tried at least thirty Jack’s Abby and a dozen Springdale offerings before my initial June ’21 visit to purchase a few new brews, including stylishly enhanced Samoa Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter, semi-dark Czech lager Co-Pilot: Leopold, Pride and Parquet Hoppy Lager and Ray Catcher Lemongrass Lager (reviewed in Beer Index).

LOST SHOE BREWING & ROASTING COMPANY

Lost Shoe Brewing and Roasting Finds Firm Footing in Marlborough,  MassachusettsDaily Coffee News by Roast Magazine

MARLBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS

Occupying a red brick professional building (with black stucco top) in suburban downtown Marlborough, LOST SHOE BREWING & ROASTING COMPANY came to fruition springtime 2019. Besides slingin’ delectable homemade suds, Lost Shoe is also a well-known local coffee roastery.

Lost Shoe’s wood-emblazoned emblem sits atop the front door where the cement-floored patio with four glass-rocked firepits is situated. Taking the place of a 4,600 square foot nightclub, this olden wood furnished taproom features a railroad tie-fronted aluminum top serving station, 17-plus tap handles and multiple glass-encased brew tanks. The noirish black ceiling contains crowned Edison lights and exposed pipes. And a black-leathered lounge area adds casual upscale splendor.

On my June ’21 pre-dinner visit, my wife and I try grab an outdoor table to enjoy three wonderful hybridized varietals plus one nitro stout, one German and two Belgian ales. In the two years Lost Shoes has been operating, it has crafted at least forty nifty one-offs.

It seemed every Marlborough-Framingham brewpub visited had a kickass li’l kolsch. Lost Shoe’s second anniversary Kolsch retained crisply crystalline clarity as its orange-oiled lemon zesting picked up herbal hop astringency, mineral grained earthiness and cracked wheat neutrality.

Next up, dryer-than-usual witbier, Whit’s Way, let sour lemon rot pervade its orange-peeled coriander expectancy and mild chamomile-lemongrass snips.

Light molasses creaming draped brown-sugared dried fruiting for sassy dubbel, Size 6, leaving plum-prune-raisin scrum and cocoa-pecan-butternut daubs upon the dewy earthy bottom.

Bright orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess and juicy pineapple zest stayed atop the piney herbal resin of Crossroads of New England: Nugget & Motueka.

For a sweet cocktail derivative, orange-glowed cream ale, Lakeside Avenue Orange Creamsicle, combined cara cara orange zesting with milk-sugared Madagascar vanilla bean richness. Its pulpy orange concentrate juiciness outweighs the sugared vanilla aspect, slowly integrating nearly cloy perfume-candied pineapple, peach, tangerine, cherry and watermelon swipes.

Creamily milk-sugared cold-brewed coffee tones settled softly atop nitrogenated New Pair Of Brews: Vamp -Coffee, a Madagascar vanilla-beaned mocha stout with coconut-hazelnut hints that stays airy and light on the tongue.

Milk-sugared coffee creaming picked up toasted coconut and Madagascar vanilla sweetness for New Pair Of Brews: Vamp -Dark Roast, another ethereal nitro-injected coffee stout.

FLYING DREAMS BREWING COMPANY

MARLBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS

Originally emanating from Worcester, FLYING DREAMS BREWING COMPANY landed in the quaint downtown neighborhood of Marlborough during 2018. Inside a green-shingled tan-sided professional building, Flying Dream’s wood-glossed interior is reminiscent of an intimate 1920’s speakeasy with its brown embossed tin ceiling tiles, elongated 10-seat pine bar and tulip Edison lighting.

Brewmaster Dave Richardson, a University of Vermont science major and UC-Davis grad who started at Red Hook before heading Gardner Ale House’s operations, went out on his own thereafter. Richardson’s general Flying Dreams fare never strays too far stylistically, promoting well-roundedness, balance and vigor. He’s won several US Beer Tasting awards along the way.

Tonight, on this warm June ’21 journey thru Marlborough, I enjoy nine diversified brews while taking home four more for outside consumption (reviewed in Beer index).

Flagship New England/ West Coast IPA hybrid, Pond Jumper, brought mildly perfumed passionfruit-grapefruit-pineapple-orange tropicalia and peachy mango zesting to honeyed pale malts contrasting dank pine resin.

Mildly creamed wheated oats contrast dank pine resin underlying the orange-bruised peach sweetness and mild grapefruit bittering of The Experimental IPA #2, a dry Imperial moderation.

Worthy India Dark Ale, Nightcrawler, heaved dry cocoa-malted nuttiness at less pervasive citrus-spiced dried fruiting and dark-roast hop char.

Sour lemon-limed Himalayan sea salting and light coriander spicing provided oceanic intrigue to Straight Up Gose, scaling back its acidulated wheat malts.

Herbaceous citrus spicing guarded Dreaming Up Summer Saison, a musky barnyard-grained farmhouse ale with lemony mandarin orange tanginess and buttery Chardonnay illusions darting thru musky barnyard graining contrasting creamy caramel malts.

Even more herbalized, Just In Thyme Saison brought evergreen thyme freshener to lemony woodruff syruping, mild rosemary-basil-paprika shimmy and lead-based pencil shavings.

Honey-glazed brown chocolate dipped into sweet fig-plum-prune conflux and caramelized hazelnut-pecan notions for Dragonator Double Bock.

Easygoing Park Avenue Porter plied dark chocolate malting to sedate hazelnut coffee, walnut ice cream and cola nut illusions plus distant dried fruiting.    

Rich brown chocolate syruping drapes the mild chili burn of robust Aphrodisiac Russian Imperial Stout, letting creamily cocoa-nibbed hazelnut coffee tones as well as gentle burgundy-bourbon sweetness engage its fudgy cookie dough bottom.

 

TACKLE BOX BREWING COMPANY

Live At Tackle Box Brewing Company | Tackle Box Brewing Company, LLC,  Marlborough | May 29, 2021

MARLBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS

Inside a cavernous Marlboro Square Shopping Mall backspace, TACKLE BOX BREWING COMPANY opened for biz, November 5, 2020. Entrepreneurial brewer Adam Krasinski, a Penn State grad, spent several years honing his craft at Strange Brew – the home brew shop concurrently occupying this Marlborough hotspot.

The high-ceilinged, pale blue-walled pub features a bark-sided serving station (with high-back chairs, four-seat tables, twin TV’s and two billiards tables), backroom red-white-blue vinyl floored game lounge, expansive brew room, separate keg-bottling section and grain mill section under a black ceiling.

Krasinski’s traditional American-styled fare stays on the mark, appealing to casual mainstream thirsts as well as seasoned aficionados.

My wife and I grab one of the six side-decked community picnic tables (with red umbrellas) to imbibe nine tasty suds this sunny Saturday afternoon, June ’21.

Efficient best-selling moderation, Gail River Trophy Amber Ale topped its toasted amber grain minerality with herb-spiced hops, fizzy lemon licks and latent wood tones.

Stylishly dryer than expected, Hefe On The Horizon leavened its tart banana-soured clove spicing with lemon-rotted herbage.

Wild blueberry pureed golden ale, Money Lure Blueberry, retained sweet-tart berry fizziness over Graham Cracker-honeyed malts.

Crisply clean clear-yellowed kolsch, From Streams Come Dreams, engaged orange-dried lemon oiling with bubbly champagne fuzz and wispy herbs.

Lightly lingered jalapeno peppering cut thru the fizzy lemon spritz and soft wood base of Ripped Up Jalapeno IPA, leaving only a mild green pepper burn.

Lemony grapefruit bittering darted across serene juniper-smoked pine tones for Jiggin For Pigs, a semi-sharp IPA.

Flagship IPA, Colorado Fisherman, let perfumed grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess splash into resinous Nugget hop oiling over dry pale malts.

Dark chocolate-malted peanut buttering smeared Dock Side Peanut Butter Porter, leaving wavered black grape, walnut and granola illusions upon its mild hop-charred nutty bottom.

Sweet brown chocolate and milk-sugared coffee tones bustled inside Baltic Sea Monster, a dark-roasted Baltic Porter-derived stout with confectionary Milk Dud-candied finish.

TIN BARN BREWING

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SUGAR LOAF, NEW YORK

Up in the woodsy rural hills of Sugar Loaf three miles north of similarly rustic Drowned Lands, TIN BARN BREWING opened springtime 2020. Co-owning head brewer, Lauren Van Pamelen, whose rotating beer lineup pours from twelve-plus taps, honed her skills as a homebrewer and an apprenticeship at Long Island’s Oyster Bay Brewing Company.

Inside a spacious forest green farmhouse lodge with pitched high ceiling, exposed pipes, a cozy couched hearth section and Industrial wood-metal-plastic furnishings, Tin Barn’s mammoth stainless steel brew tanks occupy the entire left side. The food station (next to the gray ’52 Ford tractor) provides specialty gas-fired red and white pizzas.

Plus, there’s plenty of outside backyard seating as the benched wood deck and its mezzanine sidle the turf grounded open air outdoor pavilion.

I step up to the wood top bar and order a few rangy homemade brews (reviewed below) before heading outside on this warm Saturday afternoon May ’21 to watch acoustic duo, the Al’s, give a new spin to old classics while offering funny pandemic-related originals such as “Where’s My Charger?” and “Plan B.”

Sessionable hazy straw yellowed NEIPA, 1938 Farmall, let spritzy lemony grapefruit tanginess pick up mild pineapple, mandarin orange and tangerine slumber as well as piney hop resin.

Easygoing sunny yellow-glowed Oh! How I’ve Dreamt Of Taps, a lightly creamed triple IPA moderation, saddled its peppery lemon tang with oats flaked mineral grains.

Musky golden marbled NEIPA, Dank Island, retained yogurt-soured pineapple tartness, grapefruit-pitted orange rind bittering, lightly peppered lemon spritz and spiced mango salting.     

Tartly sour Tropical Tsunami brought puckered orange-juiced guava, mango, pineapple and tangerine tropicalia to the moderately acidic surface above oated white wheat dryness.

Whipped cream banana pudding received chocolate chip sugaring for richly creamed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bourbon Banana Pudding Imperial Pastry Stout, leaving fudgy molasses brownie goodness all over ancillary bourbon vanilla sweetness.  

 

LONG LOT FARM BREWERY

Long Lot Farm Brewery - Chester, NY

CHESTER, NEW YORK

A quaint family-owned farmhouse nanobrewery in the idyllic countryside of Orange County, Chester’s LONG LOT FARM BREWERY occupies a tin-roofed red aluminum sided converted dairy barn. Open for business since early 2018, former homebrewer Curtis Johnson utilizes local ingredients to craft his rustically rangy one-offs, seasonals and semi-permanent suds.

A covered front porch with hanging Edison lights introduces patrons to the diminutive wood-floored Long Lot barroom. The spare interior setup includes a small tree top-barked serving station (with ten tap handles), a few chairs and barrels plus the small brewing operation. A grassy picnic area overlooks the hop bines and a chicken coup and cow pasture are nearby.

My wife and I visit on a hot Sunday afternoon to sample all the available fare, early June ’21.

Mild hay-dried grain musk fortified the grassy Perle-hopped herbage of Long Shot Pilsner, securing a pasty raw-honeyed whim, clean cucumber-watered dash and distant fungi remnant.

Laidback rye spicing and toasty pumpernickel residue tingled peat malted moderation, Roggenbier, procuring underlaid mineral graining.

Tart pineapple-juiced Pucker Up Sour let brief lemon-salted cherry-strawberry rhubarb sharpness inside the slightly acidic backend.

Crushable Barnstormer Session IPA caressed serene grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering with grassy hop astringency contrasting dry pale malt spicing.

Oaken bourbon vanilla dryness softly embellishes Barrel Aged River Chain, a tidy Belgian strong golden ale with buttery Chardonnay, Scotch and whiskey nips.

A few days hence before dining at Goshen’s Hacienda Restaurant, bought growler of Long Lot’s Baby Cow Coffee Stout, a roughhewn full body with dark roast coffee penetrating tarry nut-charred Blackstrap molasses bittering and cocoa-nibbed black chocolate fudging over maple oats, leaving scorched earthen remnant on muddy mocha finish.     

 

SING SING KILL BREWERY

5 Questions for Matt Curtin, Master Brewer and Co-Owner of SSKB |  InOssining.com

OSSINING, NEW YORK

Open since 2018 and straight across the street from Ossining’s courthouse half-mile from the Hudson River, SING SING KILL BREWERY crafts stylistically straightforward, well balanced, easygoing beers not just for milder tastes. A certified New York farm brewery utilizing locally sourced ingredients, SSKB occupies a downtown marble-faced red brick professional building with green awnings.

Head brewer, Matt Curtin, with long-time friend, Eric Gearity, created SSKB after the former developed his zymurgy skills in Syracuse during college in ’93. At the time, Curtin frequented local craft beer haven, Blue Tusk, and recently defunct brewery, Empire, while living upstate. A traditional brewer uninterested in “kitchen sink” aberrations, he concentrates instead on typical styles such as IPA’s, stouts and pale ales, creating a few year-round flagships and a bunch of nifty one-offs.

Taking its name from the famous local prison, Sing Sing, this family-friendly pub took over an abandoned storefront and is part of Ossining’s burgeoning revitalization. A beautiful epoxy-topped 10-seat serving station occupies the right side where four small community tables are setup. The centralized draught lines emanate from large plumbing pipes and a large refrigeration unit sidles the elongated bar. To the far left, glass doors lead to the three-barrel brew room.

My wife and I visit mid-May ’21 on a sunny afternoon with Roscoe the dog, downing nine 4-ounce samples while eating a frankfurter with mustard and sauerkraut (available on the light pub menu) at the makeshift front patio.

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Mild yellow-cleared flagship, Killer Cream Ale, brought maize-dried lemon bruising to mineral-grained pilsner malting, utilizing citric Cascade hops instead of standard herbal Saaz varietal.

Made from 100% New York ingredients, fellow flagship fodder, Singularity Pale Ale let musky lemony orange dryness seep into pasty pale malt spicing and wispy herbal notions.

Spritzy lemon sunshine engaged Keeper & The Kill Wheat Ale, a tidy moderation with cucumber-watered melon rind earthiness drenching any banana-clove reminder.

Brown tea-like Charlotte The ESB let waddle-seeded dewy peat moisture to sop up its dry rye breading.

Tart kettle-soured Cran-Tastic linked subtle green grape esters and sharp crabapple crisping to mildly vinous cranberry salting.

Brisk pale yellow-cleared Flaming Hoops India Pale Ale retained lightly floral-spiced grapefruit and mandarin orange serenity as well as musky cologne perfuming.

Laidback citrus-spiced Cascade hops guided Too Many Matts, an approachable Imperial IPA with perfumed orange peel sweetness, lightly embittered yellow grapefruit tanginess and resinous pine tones.

Decadent Chocolate Milk Stout burrowed fudgy cocoa goodness into soy-floured hazelnut, spiced toffee and earthen truffle illusions.

Black cherry insistence serenaded spiced chocolate sweetness and mild ancho-habanero peppering for Chocolate Cherry Chili Milk Stout, leaving teasing cinnamon snips.

 

NEW JERSEY BEER COMPANY – 2021

Checking out New Jersey Beer Co.

NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY

In the blue collar industrial region of North Bergen just beyond the Lincoln Tunnel on Route 1-9, NEW JERSEY BEER COMPANY was co-founded by Matt Steinberg (check out my interview with him in the preceding 2010 NJBC entry) before local investor Paul Silverman took over a few years hence.

Now augmenting their usual fare (including indelible flagships 1787 Abbey Single, Hudson Pale Ale and Garden State Stout) with modishly experimental hybrids, sour ales and NEIPA’s, this rustic red brick fortress recently started producing canned beer for the entire Garden State, developing a prudently creative brewing team along the way.

On my rainy May ’21 sojourn, I discovered a dozen newly crafted elixirs (including eight kaleidoscopic India Pale Ales).

One of NJBC’s most popular India Pale Ale’s, beachy summertime moderation, LBIPA, brought sharp orange-grapefruit tanginess to piney hop resin contrasting honeyed pale malts above clayed grouting.

Laidback variant, Mango LBIPA, lost its subtle mango influence to lemony grapefruit-papaya tanginess and mineral-grained grassy hop acridity. But its Blood Orange LBIPA variant fared better as sweet-tart blood orange tanginess picked up candied pineapple-tangerine tartness in a fizzy pale malt setting.  

Brusque beige yellow-hazed Imperial IPA, The Real Vaccine, contrasted sunny lemon-sugared tartness and sweet floral-perfumed grapefruit spicing against mild orange rind bittering and a gently persuasive black pepper burn.

Soft-toned tropical fruited Imperial IPA, Wearin’ My Birthday Suit, relegated its orange-peeled grapefruit, mango and peach tang and light wood tones above doughy malts.

Deeper and denser taste-wise, Tasting Colors, a double dry-hopped Imperial IPA, plied perfumed floral spicing to slightly sharp lemon-bruised grapefruit bittering and waxy mango-peach-tangerine tanginess.

Midrange West Coast-styled IPA, Decoration Day, let mellowly dry perfume-spiced citrus fruiting linger lightly over pale malt sugaring, rendering spritzy pineapple, grapefruit and orange zest.

Perhaps my favorite IPA, creamily milk-sugared ambrosial fruiting fortified Mixed Berry Milkshake, a Madagascar vanilla-conditioned dessert treat with marshmallow-sugared blueberry, raspberry and strawberry tartness gaining yogurt-soured kiwi-mango souring as well as pink lemonade nods and tertiary lingonberry-boysenberry snips.

Sunshiny orange-peeled grapefruit, peach and pineapple tang secured sessionable New England-styled Pale Ale, Garage, leaving herb-tinged pine resin on its splashy citric spritz.

Orange-dried fennel grassing and mild hop astringency surrounded the spelt grain minerality of easygoing golden ale, Beach Watch.

Salt-licked powdered candy raspberry tartness received pink wine-blushed oaken cherry acidity and pink lemonade sugaring for lollipop-like Raspberry Sunset Sour Ale.

Rapturous pink-headed, purple-bodied sour ale, Blueberry Waves, scurried tart blueberry pie sugaring into musky muscat grape, pureed raspberry and cranberry snips, finishing like blueberry jam.

WOLF & WARRIOR BREWING COMPANY

Image result for wold and warrior brewe

WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK

Offering sidewalk, indoor and beergarden seating, WOLF & WARRIOR BREWING COMPANY became White Plains first brewpub January 2019. A 5-barrel brewhouse in the center of town, this red-bricked wood floor pub serves easygoing brews alongside gourmet hot dogs, chili, cheese and hummus.

Crafting over 50 different beers in a mere two year period, Wolf & Warrior’s high ceiling interior includes a 12-plus draught bar with central TV. A small couch area at the front sidles the right sided chair-tables.

A beautiful psychedelicized warrior mural spread across the backdoor area enriches the brick-pavered beer garden, where I grab a seat to consume five simply inviting refreshments this sunny May ’21 afternoon.

Take a Peek Inside White Plains' New Brewery

There were three New England-styled India Pale Ales available on my initial journey, along with an Italian pilsner and English porter.

Brisk lemony grapefruit tanginess spread across dry wood tones and oated wheat malting for Punch It Chewie, a tidy NEIPA with waxy crayon-grouted pineapple and guava tartness.

Vibrant juniper-licked grapefruit rind bittering gained dry pine resin and salty white peppering to contrast the milk-sugared oats base of pilsner-malted B127, letting pineapple, mango, peach and berry tanginess emerge at the juicy citrus-spiced finish.

The driest IPA, dewy hazily golden-hued Pack Leader, utilized tropical fruited Norwegian yeast to contrast its oniony chive respite, leaving tertiary bruised lemon, dried apricot, burnt orange and dehydrated grapefruit illusions on the backend.

Crisply clean golden-cleared light body, Forza Italia!, a fizzy ‘pizza-paired’ pilsner with desiccated lemon tartness grazing perky Noble hop herbal fungi and grassy wood chipping will please soft palates.

Dark-roast chocolate and day-old coffee combined for dry peat-soiled English porter, Mr. Manchester, picking up mild hazelnut, cola and walnut snips.

BAR HYGGE

The Civic | Neighborhood - Francisville & Fairmount Neighborhood Cafes,  Shops, Parks

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Bringing some Danish bohemian spirit and contemporary American cuisine to the City of Brotherly Love’s tree-lined Fairmount Section, BAR HYGGE’s concept is to find genuine peace thru ordinary pleasures. Established during 2016, this friendly North Philly neighborhood bar serves the quaint Art Museum area with rangy house brews.

A beer barrel hanging from a metal pole leads to the entrance. The elegant black-ceilinged art deco right side features several wood tables-chairs-barrels fronting the 10-seat railroad-tie walled bar (with brew tanks behind) and an earth-toned flat stone segment with four black leather booths. Just as exquisite is the separate left side upscale dining section. Patio tables under the two awnings provide outdoor dining.

During a rainy Friday in May ’21, I consumed  a few IPA’s with wife and dog, returning for brunch the next day to try the fine maibock, kolsch and nitro stout alongside Lox & Bagels, Pretzel Beignets and Breakfast Sandwich.

Bar Hygge - Restaurant & Brewery on Fairmount Ave

Smoothly clean kolsch, Nexus, let spritzy lemon sparkle its orange-dried tartness and grassy hop astringency.

Rangy maibock, Recoil, coalesced candi-sugared lemon zest with white-peppered cilantro herbage and mild lemongrass snips.

Tart lemon zesting and pale malt pasting secured soft-tongued Lemon Meringue IPA, leaving sharp orange-peeled grapefruit and pineapple bittering on dank pine residue.

Laidback sour ale, Tropicalia, draped tart blood orange oiling and salted mango atop sourdough breading as floral-licked guava and green grape illusions stay back.

Creamy eclair-headed stout, Sorry Tom, brought dark-roasted black chocolate and powdered cocoa sedation to nutty hop-charred bittering in a mellow way.

2ND STORY BREWING CO.

2nd Story Brewing Co. Menu, Menu for 2nd Story Brewing Co., Old City,  Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

A block from Penns Landing at Philly’s Old City neighborhood, 2ND STORY BREWING CO. opened its doors autumn 2015 at the former Triumph Brewing site. A modern Industrial ‘rustic chic’ wood-furnished pub with elongated 20-seat chop-block bar (and multi TV’s for sports fans), its upscale mezzanine banquet hall (with secondary bar) and glass-encased brew tanks fill out the exquisite ‘second story.’

Crafting classically inspired farm-to-table brews utilizing locally sourced ingredients, 2nd Story brewmaster John Wible’s revolving taps served four original in-house brews on my initial front patio visit during May ’21.

2nd Story Brewing Philadelphia Menu, Parking, Reviews, Party Pricing & More

The laidback barley-smoked campfire setting of dewy Old City Is Burning Rauchbier relegated seared beechwood singeing for caramelized rye sweetness.

Dark candi-sugared dried fruiting delicately glazed the oats-flaked splet graining of Dirty Girl Farmhouse Ale, anchored by leathery barnyard acridity.

Lightly creamed pale malt sugaring snagged lemony herbal fungi muskiness and mild lemongrass zesting for Fielders Lemongrass Pale Ale.

Casual lemony grapefruit spritz enlivened 2020 Vision IPA, a dry moderation pitting raw-honeyed pale malting against tamped-down hop herbage.