HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
In the rustic red-bricked Parkville section of Hartford, HOG RIVER BREWING COMPANY occupies a warehouse backspace in multi-storied Parkville Market, a recently renovated and reenergized food and drink complex.
Owned by German beer-lovin' husband-wife team, Ben & Joy Braddock, Hog River began operations springtime 2016 and quickly flourished in its historic neighborhood digs (formerly Hartford Rubber Works factory). The Seibel Institute grad previously honed his craft at nearby Thomas Hooker and Willimantic breweries.
The cavernously cement-floored, reclaimed wood-clad, catacomb-like Industrial pub features a ten-seat/sixteen-draught serving station, several community tables, butcher block tables, several gear-related metal machine relics and cozy wood-bound couch lounge (with opposing elongated cafeteria counter). Barrels, tanks and brewing equipment settle at the overhead door.
A spacious outdoor patio fills up during my sunny August '21 sojourn.
My wife grabs some Parkville chow to down at Hog River as I consume seven wonderfully diverse libations.
Dry earthen grains and wheat-husked astringency provide raw grained rusticity to the citric-spiced hop zesting of Warehouse Pils, an appealing lightweight.
Sweet Scotch-licked Vienna malting, leafy hop dewiness and mild dried fruiting saddled Oktoberfest, a crisp autumnal moderation.
A slightly drier stylistic changeup, Peels & Blossoms Wit forwarded lemon-peeled chamomile tea to coriander-spiced orange tartness and musty white peppered whim.
Tangy pink guava and pineapple puree adjuncts outdone by salty lemon-limed green grape vinegaring and chalky limestone parch penetrating Thingaling Sour, a mildly acidic tropical dry body.
Then came the "Big Beers." Creamy peanut-buttered dark chocolate malting dominated Princess Butter Cup Chocolate Stout, overriding sweet vanilla-spiced bourbon and port wining plus subtle red grape tartness.
"Luscious" vanilla ice cream-drenched hot fudge sauce sweetened tart maraschino cherry bruise for luxuriously rich Brain Freeze Ice Cream Sundae Stout, leaving bourbon-soaked anise spicing and maple-glazed cocoa nibs splendor upon Graham Cracker honeyed wheat spine.
Heavenly lustrous Caribbean elixir, Mango & Coconut Tripel, aged in Jamaican rum, let mango-pureed coconut toasting, mild vanilla-spiced creaming and ancillary pineapple-salted guava tartness get seeped in buttery Chardonnay wining before boozy phenol ethers hit the tail end.
TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY
Assuming the beige marbled brewhouse previously run by Rinn Duin, TOMS RIVER BREWING took over this novel Jersey Shore chateau-like villa springtime 2019. New owner Jim Mulligan's transformative grand reopening featured head brewer Bob Warzecha's newly designed wide ranging ales, utilizing natural fruit extracts and flavoring.
A left side community-tabled Beer Garden (with green umbrellas) edges the narrow pub space. A ten-seat L-shaped bar with speckled gray granite top opposes the windowed brew tanks and a few high top tables line the walls of the high ceilinged room.
My wife and I visited TRB, August '21, to suck down a dozen varied 5-ouncers in the breezy warmth of the Beer Garden.
A well respected holdover from Rinn Duin, St. John's Irish Red took perfumed hop-spiced red and orange fruiting to caramelized barley-roasted chocolate and toffee whims.
Delightful light-bodied Koastal Kolsch let sweet-riced maize-flaked pilsner malting receive slightly sour lemon-dried Noble hop herbage and wispy floral-daubed botanicals.
Cali-styled Cascade hops provided perfumed lemon oiling to mash-billed corn flaked Kentucky graining for Cal-Tucky Common Ale, a simple carapils-malted moderation.
Diffident coriander-spiced orange zesting slacks off for soapy At Wits End, a grassy herbal hopped witbier with frail white wheat base.
Traditional Polish smoked wheat ale, Thadeusz Piwo (Ted's Beer), a low alcohol 'grodiskie,' promoted beechwood-charred blackened rye graining over proper phenol hop astringency.
Summery watermelon-pureed Jolly Rancher bubblegum knockoff, The Gnar Watermelon Gose, a sea-salted Sour Patch-candied libation with earthen herbal frisk.
Sea-salted peach puree souring guided The Dude Peach Gose, relegating lemony grapefruit bittering.
Tart Belgian-styled hybrid, Celtic Sunrise Blood Orange Pale Ale, rendered salty blood orange, tangerine and clementine spicing for its light herbal soothe.
Sessionable yogurt-soured New England IPA, Gimme Mo,' brought Motueka-hopped guava, gooseberry and green grape tartness to herb-licked pale malt spicing.
Floral-perfumed citrus spicing guarded white IPA, Windy Seas, forwarding its brisk lemon spritz to the cracker-like spine.
Limey mango salting picked up earthen herbal compost reminder for lactic IPA, Takes Two To Mango, leaving grassy hop astringency on its mild fruited tropicalia.
Bold dry-hopped Imperial IPA (9% ABV), New Beginnings, placated its sweetly soured passionfruit-addled melon scurry and lemony grapefruit bittering with floral-bound pine tones above plentiful caramel malt sugaring.
Revisited Toms River Brewing mid-July '24 to enjoy another nine rangy suds.
Mild Blueberry Blonde Summer Ale had a breezy blueberry spritz, polite hop astringency and subdued honeyed wheat base.
"Pillowy" lemony orange spicing introduced What'sa Bro Pale Ale, a lactic milk-sugared NEIPA-derived moderation with tropical Huell Melon hops adding pine-daubed gooseberry and guava tartness to lactose milk-sugared wheat-flaked pilsner malting.
Rustic barnyard graining secured the sharp lemon-soured herbage of Stick Toss Kolsch, thickened by eggy sourdough wheat.
Offbeat hefeweizen, Slice Of Hefen, let spritzy lemondrop soaping and smoke pineapple tartness overtake stylish banana-clove sweetness swiping its thick sourdough bottom.
Tropical lime-salted candied lemon briskness, floral honeysuckle perfuming and spiced redcurrant reached fresh-cut hay barnyard acridity for Barbe Rouge-hopped French red ale, Brewlon Rouge, picking up light fungi musk for its distant rye breading.
Ultra-dry lactic IPA, Boots On The Ground, placed sharp lemony grapefruit rind bittering and lightly hop-charred pine lacquering across peachy mango-passionfruit fodder and wispy floral spicing atop heavily oated wheat creaming.
Interestingly woven Belgian Brown Ale, I Blame A.I., spread mild coconut-toasted cocoa nibs sweetness into subtle molasses-sugared hazelnut, chestnut and almond riffs as well as pureed raspberry snips.
Dry whiskey bent (10.5% ABV) barleywine, No Whining, bent hop-spiced dried fruiting into laid-back chocolate malting, staying a tad thin.
S'mores-inspired pastry stout, Mulligan's Delight, knocked of a marshmallowy chocolate Graham Cracker sandwich, could've been richer, but its ancillary coconut toasting, chocolate pudding skin richness and candied toffee sweetness paid dividends. 
TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY
Inhabiting a red brick-based Main Street storefront in Toms River, BATTLE RIVER BREWING opened its doors August '20. Utilizing a crisply clean water source second to none, head brewer Ian Barlet specializes in an interesting assortment of eclectic stylized brews, salty oceanic elixirs, hard seltzers, shandys and a beer-cider hybrid.
The red brick-walled interior features an art deco black ceiling, hanging Edison lights, exposed pipes and a narrow hallway leading to the back-sided beer tanks. At its gray granite top bar are 30-plus tap handles, a blackboard beer menu and centralized TV. There are windowed community tables for extra seating.
My wife and I sat down for some sassy suds August '21.
Unconventional German pilsner, Mariner, allocated sweet rice-wined corn sugaring for herbal-hopped green peppering.
Traditional New Zealand-styled pilsner, Haka, a dry-hopped lightweight, let salted lime zest provide tart zing to its soft white wheat base.
Aluminum golden-hued dry lager, Battle Light, segued lemondrop candied piquancy into mineral grained maize astringency.
Dry Mexican-styled Vienna lager, Rio Bueno, placated its sweet corn frontage with white wine esters, herbal agave nectars and mild maize astringency.
Spritzy hybridized hefeweizen, River Lady Ruby Red Grapefruit, took its lightly spiced grapefruit adjunct to salty lemon-limed souring contrasting stylish banana-clove sweetness.
Subtle orange-peeled lavender and tart strawberry plied hybridized witbier, Wartime, a lightly sugar-spiced moderation.
Salted blueberry subtlety and lemony white peach tartness secured the clean-watered Kveik yeast-based Bluecoat Blueberry, a saison-inspired blonde ale with dry wheat-chaffed straw leathering.
Salt-watered raspberry and blueberry pureed fruit ale, Main St. Mosaics, allowed sour New Zealand hops to add abrupt limey gooseberry-guava tartness.
"Crushable" red-cleared kettle sour, Courthouse, brought tart blackberry adjunct to vinous green grape esters and cucumber-watered earthiness for mouth-puckered succulence.
Flagship IPA, Patriot, gave its straight-up lemony orange peeled grapefruit bittering a dank piney hop astringency and herbal-spiced floral flutter.
Easygoing East Coast IPA, Irons Street, daubed its vodka-licked citrus tang with wood lacquered residue and jasmine snips over syrupy pale malt sweetness.
Uniquely offbeat Belgian dubbel, River Root Bier, a crossbred cane-sugared soda alternative, dangled raisin, prune and plum sweetness alongside Jamaican sarsaparilla, sassafras birch, wild cherry bark and dandelion root.
Brown-sugared cinnamon anchored Snow Melter, a spiced-up Belgian strong ale, coalesced nutmeg, cardamom and ginger above dainty pilsner malting.
Combining chocolate, coffee and Madagascar vanilla, Headquarter Porter picked up toffee-spiced sweetness and tertiary cola nut, coconut and hazelnut illusions.
Richly rewarding chocolate raspberry porter, Robbins Street, forwarded bittersweet molasses-daubed cocoa nibs creaming to tart raspberry-pureed blueberry, blackberry and boysenberry licks.
Wildflower-honeyed dark chocolate enriched nitro stout, Bayonet, a smooth espresso-like nightcap with ancillary coffee, toffee and sarsaparilla tones.
During Super Bowl weekend, February '22, revisited Battle River to suck down seven more diversified suds.
Crisply clean blonde ale, Full Day Sesh, brought spritzy lemony grapefruit zesting to mild clementine and mandarin orange snips above delicate pale malting.
Dewy toffee-spiced English Mild Ale, M24 Toffee, let caramelized fig, candied apple and sour prune pick up mild cellared fungi musk and crisp tobacco roast.
Brisk lemon spritz splashed banana-clove-induced hefeweizen, Huddy's Revenge, to its honeyed wheat base.
Mellow beige-yellowed white IPA, Privateer, coalesced salty lemon spicing with tidy mandarin orange sweetness and white grape tannins as light pine lacquering coated the delicate wheated oats spine.
Wet-hopped red IPA, Super Maroon, plied rye-dried amber grains and roasted tobacco crisping to caramelized red fruiting (with a hint of beechwood smoke in the distance, perhaps).
Delightfully complex Belgian Quadrupel, Cannonball, maintained cherry chocolate sweetness enhanced by candi-sugared dried fruiting, dewy peat mossing, cinnamon-smoked nutmeg spicing and mild barleywine snips in a subtle bourbon barrel-aged setting.
Wintry spiced stout, Jockey Hollow, seeped cinnamon-nutmeg spicing into chocolate-y vanilla maple walnut sweetness and burgundy-draped prune, date and fig illusions. 
SHELBURNE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS
Alongside the banks of the Deerfield River and walking distance from the bucolic Bridge of Flowers, the village of Shelburne Falls' FLOODWATER BREWING COMPANY opened on a weekly basis November 23, 2018. Beforehand, the rustic nano was a small tasting room.
Operated by long-time mad scientist, Zack Livingston, a veteran Control Engineer for green energy waste water treatment, Floodwater's inspirational all-purpose entrepreneur enjoyed the brewing environment California's highly regarded Bear Republic, Lagunitas and Firestone Walker provided while working out west.
Floodwater's diminutive gray-walled barroom consists of an eight-seat L-shaped aluminum-topped bar containing six tap handles. There's also a couch area (with small table) plus plastic and wood beach chairs strewn about. Stainless steel brew tanks are behind the bar and at the basement (where fermenting tanks and a canning line exist).
I visited Livingston's retreat on a bright sunny day, July '21, downing a terrific nitro stout and locally-sourced grain-billed NEIPA before taking home the sassy saison and mellow maibock also reviewed below.
Rustically tranquil, One Fuggley, an earthen Fuggle-hopped blonde ale, placed sharply prickled lemon lime spritz inside caraway-seeded rye breading, hay-like buckwheat grassing and dry wood tones, leaving wispily spiced dank floral aspect on the back end.
Efficiently rounded farmhouse ale, Euro Step Saison, let white-peppered herbal spicing accept zesty lemon splurge, leaving barnyard-dried horse-blanket leathering to scour rosemary-sage-thyme seasoning and fern-like evergreen minting.
Easygoing summertime maibock, David Hasselhoff (utilizing 100% Massachusetts grain bill), brought forth a lemon-daubed fruit bouquet to top its grassy-hopped herbage and maple honeyed Scotch malting, rendering ripe berry-cherry juicing.
Soft-toned Cyborg Joan, a dryer sessionable NEIPA, allowed lemony orange peeled oiling to soaked up tannic grape tartness, mild earthen herbal musk and bark-dried pine tones to its creamy crystal malt core.
As for dry Irish Extra Stout, No Hard Border, its creamy nitro froth brought espresso tones to nutty dark-roast coffee bittering and cocoa-powdered black chocolate chalking as floral-daubed Magnum hop black peppering seeped way beneath. 
MILLERS FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS
Before perusing the serene northern Massachusetts waterfalls embracing the village of Miller Falls, my wife and I sojourned to ELEMENT BREWING & DISTILLING, July '21. Occupying a wood-floored gray aluminum neighborhood pub since 2010, the Western styled saloon crafts artfully designed brews - mostly soft-tongued stylish spinoffs - and distills vodka, whiskey, gin, rum and tequila.
A palate-barriered community tabled front deck leads to the central entryway. An eight-seat red-walled bar services two barreled tables and a small couch area in the front. Behind the bar space thru a right side door is a game room with billiards, foosball, seating, a TV and wall-lined beer bottle collection. Up a few stairs to the right of the bar is a studio-like dining area.
Element's sessionable suds go down easy with typical pub fare that includes flatbread pizza and chicken wings.
Hybridized Summer Pilsner Fusion let citric-perfumed Hallertau hop herbage, mild grapefruit-peeled orange zesting and sour guava tartness ride above oats-flaked pilsner malting.
Amber grained caramel toasting picked up dewy tobacco roast and dry fruit spicing for Red Giant, a buoyant red ale.
Natural gluten-free sake gave Plasma IPA its rice-wined browning, millet grained buckwheat groating and honeyed Scotch tease.
Dry orange blossom honeyed citrus engaged Star Gazer IPA, a mildly herbal grassy-hopped easygoer.
Dark floral-perfumed grapefruit peel bittering, lemony orange zesting and ancillary pineapple-peach-mango tanginess stabilized dry wood-toned Quantum IPA, leaving herbal snips on the tail end.
Aged on vanilla bean, Dark Vanilla (a loosely defined Cascadian Dark Ale), gained oaken vanilla, sweet bourbon and almond subtleties.
Buttery soft-toned Extra Special Oak wedged oaken vanilla tannins onto chestnut, almond and praline illusions.
CLAYMONT, DELAWARE
Just outside of Wilmington in the sleepy village of Claymont, HANGMAN BREWING COMPANY sprung into action March '20 after a years worth of delays. Inside a tan-bricked mall (with blue awning) at the Town & Country Shopping Center at a former lawnmower repair shop, Hangman's founding manager Brad Wagner and head brewer Matthew Presley then had to shutdown due to Covid19 before reopening the tavern-like brewpub many months hence (closing permanently 2024).
A cavernous pipe-exposed ceiling provides airy spaciousness to Hangman's otherwise compact one-room main space. An octagon-shaped, railroad tie-fronted lacquered wood bar (with 16 tap handles and 20 seats) spreads across one side of the cement-floored interior while high chair-bound seating and a cornered music stage fill out the rest. A mezzanine area and small outdoor caged deck provide further seating.
Local wines and spirits are available alongside a steady stream of fine small-batch ales emanating from the brew tanks hidden behind the bar.
My wife and I converse with bartender Mo Russ and proprietor Wagner while downing four rangy (generically named) IPA's, a snazzy tripel, a fruited sour and flagship cream ale.
Basic maize-dried barleycorn crisping suited grassy-hopped Hangman Light, a dry cream ale with mild herbal snips.
Salted passionfruit tartness surfaced alongside sour lime for slightly acidic Passionfruit Sour, a mouth-puckering sucker given guava, gooseberry and white grape wisps.
A fulsome standout, Belgian Tripel loaded lemon-wedged orange peel zesting and banana bubblegum sweetness with spicy white-peppered Chardonnay buttering above honeyed wheat base.
Dewy compost earthiness sunk into the orange-tangerine oiling of Citra-hopped American IPA, an oats-based moderation.
A fruity bouquet propels East Coast IPA, leaving red berry, red cherry, navel orange and tangerine tanginess as well as perfumed grapefruit zesting to outdo its piney remnant.
Tingly sugar-spiced orange, pineapple and grapefruit juiciness sparked wood-dried West Coast IPA.
Floral-perfumed lemony orange spicing paced dry Hazy IPA, a vaguely New England-styled medium body.
On New Years Eve, 2021, revisited Hangman to imbibe another four diverse brews.
Lemony raspberry spritz gained vinous green grape tartness as well as sour raw honeyed respite for Honey Raspberry Lemonade Sour, tendering a puckered sweet-tart finish.
Dryly soft-toned NEIPA, Frosty The Hangman, brought candi-sugared Belgian yeast to delicate mandarin orange, tangerine and tangelo tanginess for a lovely Belgo-American treat.
Dry English Brown Ale, Dark, let dewy brown leaf astringency pick up oily nuttiness above its burnt toast base.
Mild ancho-adobo peppering and lightly seared nutty dark chocolate swayed Hot Kat Porter, leaving wintry spices on the back end. 
