Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

FLOODWATER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Floodwater Brewing Co - Shelburne Falls, MA

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.

HITCHCOCK BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for HITCHCOCK BREW

BERNARDSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Overlooking Sugarloaf Mountain inside a former Harley Davidson shop at the tiny northern Massachusetts town of Bernardston, HITCHCOCK BREWING COMPANY enjoyed its grand reopening October ’19 after converting a barn to a nanobrewery at a different nearby location (then closed August ’24).

Now housed in a green aluminum-sided, tan brick-bottomed factory, Hitchcock runs a ten barrel farmhouse brew system. Many of their brews flirt with unconventionality while maintaining straightforward stylistic tendencies, especially the endless line of India Pale Ales.

A red umbrella-lined outdoor deck with gray pavers welcomes brewhounds to the midsize pub. A lacquer wood topped bar spreads across the middle of the pipe-exposed, black-ceilinged, epoxy-floored interior.

Rear brew tanks are stored across a small stage area and an overhead door gets utilized for deliveries and climate control.

An IPA-centric menu included four such ales alongside a brut sour, helles lager, witbier, kolsch and nitro stout.

My wife and I sank a flight of ten Hitchcock brews, July ’21.

Crisp breaded graining toasted Little Wizzer Helles Lager, an herbal Hallertau-hopped moderation with slightly green-peppered lemon spicing.

Herbal fungi musk saddled yellow-orange fruiting of Cascade-hopped Crossover Golden, a dry pale-malted light body.

French breaded spelt graining centered Isolation Kolsch, leaving herbal lemon flesh upon its maize-dried grist bottom.

Tangy orange-peeled banana and clove sweetness prodded Better Days Belgian White, a mildly soap-stoned moderation with wispy wheat spine.

Dry brut-champagned kettle sour slid pureed banana and salted strawberry tartness across lime-soured plantain smidge for Strawberry Banana Kettle Brut, caressing its delicate white wheat base.

Sour green grape tartness nipped mild lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering for Single Bottom, a sunny Citra-hopped East Coast IPA.

Orange-dried lemon rot and dry honeyed black tea bittering anchored the floral-perfumed herbage of Double Bottom, a New England IPA with salty yogurt-milked guava and pineapple remnants.

Tropical fruited beige-marbled NEIPA, Wicked Yummy, brought orange peel zesting to limey yogurt-soured guava, green grape and gooseberry illusions and mild yellow grapefruit tang.

Yet another NEIPA, Galaxy Hopper 42, plied dry spiced lemony tangerine tang to pale malt sugaring in a conservative manner.

Nutty dark chocolate chalking and roasted coffee bittering anchored Nitro Stout, a traditional Irish stout.

ELEMENT BREWING & DISTILLING

United States Brewpubs,

The Recorder - Element Brewery to start nano-distillery

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.

Element Brewing Company

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.

 

HANGMAN BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

HANGMAN BREWING COMPANY - 19 Photos - Breweries - 2703 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, DE - Phone Number

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.

WILMINGTON BREW WORKS

United States Brewpubs,

Andy Bass on Twitter: "Site #87: Wilmington Brew Works, 3129 Miller Rd., Wilmington, DE. In December 2020, this craft brewery released a beer celebrating Joe Biden—RAIL CAR ONE: WILMINGTON TO WASHINGTON. Its

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

Proud to be the first Wilmington, Delaware production brewery in 50 years, WILMINGTON BREW WORKS opened its doors in 2018. Inside the tan stucco Miller Road Station mall, this rustic gray cement-floored pub connects to La Pizzeria Metro, whose light Italian fare and pizzas match the easygoing craft beers produced by head brewer, Craig Wensell, a former Blackhawk helicopter crew chief and local music teacher inspired by his homebrewing uncle.

In 2014, Wensell founded a home brew supply company and then began refining his brewing approach at nearby nano, Bellefonte Brewery. Now guiding a “family friendly” taproom, he has brought Wilmington Brew Works to prominence.

A stark wood-beamed high ceiling hovers above the arched windows (with hanging lights and fans), adding a light goth feel. The white-tiled wood top serving station (with 20-plus draught handles) gets surrounded by community tables and dining seats. There are also plenty of outside tables, some of which are covered by the trellis near the entrance. Stainless steel brew tanks are in the rear.

My wife and I try all nine fine beer selections available on my initial July ’21 noon swoon.

For starters, crisply clean light-bodied German pilsner, Synonym, a slightly musky Saaz-hopped standard-bearer with lemon-dried herbage grazing its dewy mineral graining.

Spry lemony orange-dried fizzing and mild Vienna malt sweetness contained moderate-bodied helles lager, Krauch’s Creation, a sessionable delight dedicated to a significant Delaware brewing pioneer.

Today’s menu also offered three variegated New England pale ales for perusing.

Zesty orange and tangy tangerine gained mild vanilla creaming for hazy golden moderation, Oranjealini, a lemon-licked pale ale with dry hay base.

Mellow yellow grapefruit bittering and brisk lemon zesting serenaded double dry-hopped New England pale ale, Return To Sender, fortified by dried oats flaking.

Another similarly named NE pale ale, Undeliverable Mail, let salty yogurt-soured grapefruit, pineapple, guava and tangerine tropicalia glom onto lemony orange peel tanginess and distant pine needled bittering.

Salty grapefruit-soured pineapple, guava and gooseberry tartness targeted dry champagne-fizzed ‘fruited cuvee IPA,’ Polychromatic Dream, a slightly offbeat tropical hybrid.

Palate-cleansing fruited sour ale, Synaptic Solution: Rainbow Sherbet, plied salted lemon tartness to red grapefruit, strawberry and orange tanginess over non-lactic acidulated malts.

Ultra-tart purplish red milkshake sour, Duvette, placed vanilla-creamed blackberry liming inside candied strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, mango, pomegranate and red cherry piquancy above almond-milked oats for puree-fruited Smoothie.

Dry nutty black chocolate and ashen dark-roast hop bittering pervaded ‘velvety’ Irish-styled Oatmeal Stout, Bricfeasta Indiscretion, leaving walnut, Brazil nut and coffee tones upon its earthen-backed mocha finish.

STITCH HOUSE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

 

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

Two miles south of Wilmington Brew Works, downtown Wilmington’s STITCH HOUSE BREWERY came to fruition in 2018 (and closed August ’24). Using “tailored to drink” as its slogan, the brownstone-fronted, cement-floored, 7,000 square foot pub features a 15-seat zinc-topped elongated bar (with 20-plus draught taps), mod Industrial decor (such as centralized aluminum community tables), wood benched rear tables and glass-encased stainless steel brew tanks.

An open kitchen serves sandwiches, wraps and burgers while specialty cocktails and fine spirits are also available.

The outdoor front deck gets packed on Saturday night as my wife and I try eight versatile brews mid-July ’21.

Renaissance Man: Dan Sheridan and Stitch House Brewery | Edible Delmarva

Spritzy lemony orange fizzing peps up mild chamomile-lemongrass herbage and delicate coriander spicing above pillowy white wheat bed of Friends Witte Benefits, a tidy witbier.

Salty passionfruit pureed Berliner Weisse, Pucker Up, gained tartly limed lactobacillus souring over yogurt-soured wheat flouring.

Orange-dried floral spicing and herbal nuances dotted My Neck, Maibock’s toasted amber-grained pilsner malting.

Lemony orange-peeled banana fruiting topped Shipley Saison, leaving polite clove-cardamom spicing on the rye-dried pilsner malt base.

Sharp citrus pining greeted Snitchz Get Stitchz, a dry Imperial IPA with herbal-spiced grapefruit, orange and pineapple licks.

Smoked beechwood gathered barley roasted sweetness and dewy scorched earthiness for Rauch Haus Smoked Marzen, an easygoing German rauchbier.

Coconut-toasted chocolate sweetness contrasted light-roast coffee tones for Coconut Pete’s Porter, allowing vanilla, praline and buttermilk illusions to shelter the dewy peat bottom.

Black-malted dark chocolate chalking, nutty espresso tones and charred hops lightly embittered Sho Nuff Stout, recalling a dry Irish stout.

CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY – NORTH MYRTLE BEACH

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for crooked hammock myrtle beach

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA

Popular retail and entertainment village, Barefoot Landing, once had two brewpubs on its widespread premises. About a decade hence in February ’21, a few coastal Delaware-based entrepreneurs decided to venture south to the same North Myrtle Beach esplanade and try to brighten the comparatively lame South Carolina scene with their third franchise brewpub (and first outside of the First State).

Occupying two separate back mall buildings, CROOKED HAMMOCK BREWERY takes up a barn-y wood paneled brewhouse (with beige grain silo) and a spacious dining-roomed wood furnished pub (with antique bikes and skis on the walls). An elongated wood bar (withy 20-plus taps) connects the high ceilinged cement floor main space with a spacious front patio.

My wife and I enjoyed six stylishly conservative dry brews alongside a rangy fruited wheat and an interesting Pina Colada sendup with light pub fare on a crowded Monday nite, July ’21.

Vibrant Palmetto Punch Pilsner stayed tart as its sour passionfruit adjunct picked up lemon-cologned guava, gooseberry and honeysuckle wisps over oats-dried malts.

Musky fungi herbage seeped inside fresh sourdough breading and roasted barley crisping of amiable light lager, Four Tires, Two Friends & A Radio.

Mild coconut-milked pineapple souring teased tropical South To Somewhere Golden Ale, picking up mango-guava-kiwi snips.

Muted lemon-rotted green grape esters spread thru grassy hop astringency and mild fungi mold for Day Kolsch, a sourly sessionable summertime solution.

White peach tartness prodded Cackalackin Peach Wheat Ale, a dry pale body with tertiary strawberry, cherry and pomegranate illusions alongside wispy woodruff herbage subsuming its initial peachiness to the cracked wheat base.

Dry Citra-Eldorado-hopped Beach Escape Session IPA let perfumed lemony grapefruit tanginess and salty white-peppered herbage stay subtle above raw-honeyed pale malts.

Milk-sugared vanilla sweetness guarded strawberry puree tartness as mild grapefruit-orange-tangerine tang surged for Carhop Milkshake IPA.

Summery fruited sour ale, Brand New Day: Pineapple Coconut knocked off a salty Pina Colada with its lemon-limed pineapple tartness, zesty orange tang and vanilla-creamed coconut toasting.

MAKAI BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Makai Brewing Company | Life In Brunswick County

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA

Inside a bright yellow aluminum shack at a corner of Route 17 in Ocean Isle Beach twenty miles north of Myrtle Beach, MAKAI BREWING COMPANY began its journey in 2017. After homebrewing for 40 years and running a local brew club, entrepreneurial zymurgist Jim Hill decided to ply his talents towards crafting some of the smoothest, soft-toned, easygoing suds for Carolina’s summertime beachgoers.

A wood-boarded sea mascot helps bring a Hawaiian feel to Makai, a sparsely furnished pub with 10-seat lacquered wood serving station in the back servicing the concrete-floored interior. There are strewn wood community tables and a carpeted leather-couched section opposing the glass-enclosed brew tanks and an outdoor side deck provides further seating.  An electric blackboard lists the current draught selections while board games, foosball and pinball machines activate libating guests.

My wife, dog and I make ourselves comfortable after a full day riding waves at Sunset Beach to try eight sessionable goodies.

A mellow collaboration with Lonerider, soft-tongued Coastal Connection Fruited Gose combined dry oaken cherry, salted lemon lime tartness and candied orange licks above soured white wheat breading.

Mild Berliner Weisse, Strawberry Rhubarb Temptress, let lemon-candied strawberry tartness pick up wispy kiwi, rhubarb and celery snips.

Soft lemon-limed pineapple, grapefruit and clementine tanginess relegated grassy-hopped NEIPA, Kamanawnal’ya, a brisk tropical moderation.

Perfumed citrus sweetness and mild herbal hop bitterness guarded dry malted Hoppy Lagerhead, a politely balanced India Pale Lager.

Slightly sharp piney grapefruit-orange bittering settled down for dry West Coast IPA, a tempered medium body.

Dry pine tones caressed dark chocolate malts for Powehi Cascadian, an IPA-based dark ale leaving floral-bound earthen dew and overwhelmed citrus spicing in its wake.

Soothing dark-roast Kona coffee nuttiness and dark chocolate bittering captured Nightingale Coffee Porter, a fine dry mocha sedation setting up Brewers Choice Dry Irish Stout, another mildly hop-charred coffee roasted pleasantry with latent cola-walnut-hazelnut daubs.

NAUTI DOG BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for nauti dog brewing

WINTERVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Just south of Greenville in the sleepy rural confines of downtown Winterville, NAUTI DOG BREWING COMPANY opened for biz January 24, 2020. Serving stylishly popular, slightly whimsical beers making use of the region’s natural mineral water, this cozy brick-bound neighborhood pub also serves fine local wines.

Nauti Dog’s ten-seat wood lacquered bar (featuring 12-pus draughts) serves a few right side tables, separate left side space and outdoor patio. A centralized mirror with polka dot-bikini stealin’ Nauti Dog insignia backs the bar. The white ceiling-tiled Edison bulbs light the rustically furnished concrete floored nanobrewery (and 2 TV’s provide sports entertainment).

My wife and I visited July ’21 on the way to Sunset Beach to taste eight shadily straightforward suds.

Lime-rimmed Vienna lager, The Last Girl, brought dried apricot tartness and slight fern-like nuttiness to washed-out dewy rye malting.

Dewy tobacco-leafed mossing crisped amber ale, Chill Out Gary, leaving faded date-fig snips.

Easygoing pale lagered dry body, Rascal Cream Ale, let corn-dried minerality settle below its sour lemon rot swag.

Soft orange-peeled coriander sweetness caressed witbier, Bark At The Moon, overriding its salty herbal spicing.

A whimsical oak-aged beige-hazed gose, Sub-Lime, offered salted lemon-limed zesting to orange-peeled yellow grapefruit tartness and mild agave cologne in offbeat Margarita fashion.

Spiced orange fizz, apple-skinned tannins and pear white tea herbage subtle grazed leafy hop foliage above mild toasted amber graining for Helkamp Irish Red.

Modest grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering settled alongside grassy pine hop astringency as wispy pineapple-passionfruit-guava-gooseberry souring underscored Lucky 13 IPA.

Vibrant NEIPA, Astro-Nautical Haze, exuded pulpy orange-juiced grapefruit zesting and tangy pineapple-mango salting for its latent piney hop insistence.

KING’S COURT BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK

In the laidback downtown neighborhood of Poughkeepsie, KING’S COURT BREWING COMPANY came into existence August 2018. Founded by UC-Davis educated brewer, Cortlandt Toczylowski, a dry beer lover skillfully concocting sessionable suds, colourful IPA’s, hybridized novelties, dark ales and nitrogenated varietals at his 7-barrel red brick pub, King’s Court occupies a former elite hotel with rustic mainstream American pub appeal.

A beautiful gray marble bar top with aquamarine tiled frontage is the centerpiece of this one-room, brick-walled ground floor brewery. There are right side dining tables and the brew tanks are stationed to the far left as well as to the right of the wood-floored bar.

Currently, Poughkeepsie’s brew scene is thriving as King’s Court, Mill House and Zeus all exist within walking distance.

My dog, Roscoe, and I initially visited King’s Court June ’21 on a steamy Sunday afternoon after perusing Walkway Along the Hudson.

Easygoing dry kolsch, Poughkeepsie KSA, stayed light on the tongue as spritzy lemon-oiled green grape tartness delicately frolicked alongside wispy herbal spicing above biscuity pilsner malts.

Caramel-toasted amber graining and mellow dried fruiting merged for Frog King Amber Ale, a leafy-hopped moderation with latent tobacco roasted crisping.

Spiced lemon zest brightened Sunrise Wheat Ale, a summery lawnmower-boating quencher with swirly banana-clove sweetness, creamy sourdough wheat tenacity and light herbage.

Dryly tart coriander-salted Gold Sunset Gose let orange, tangerine and pineapple adjuncts reach brisk lemon-limed bittering above mild pilsner malting.

White-peppered cologne perfumed ginger roots inundated Mr. Ginger, an herbaceous ginger pale ale with timely lemon lime zesting.

“Everyday” West Coast pale ale, Halfspace, brought lightly lingered IPA-like piney grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and a mellow lemon twist to the same dry Simcoe-Amarillo-hopped wood tones utilized for Back To Basics IPA, a bolder medium body with lacquered grapefruit-orange tang permeating its clay-like hop stead.

Soothing lemony grapefruit-orange-pineapple bittering graced Rainbow Mist, a hazy IPA with raw-grained earthen resin raising its dry edge.

Sharp mango-pureed IPA, Mangoberry Milkshake allowed milk-sugared vanilla sweetness to contrast bold juniper berry bittering and modest blueberry-raspberry-boysenberry tartness while mango-juiced kiwi, guava and pineapple wisps floated by.

Then, there were three nitro-gassed beers onboard as well.

Using Harvest Wheat Ale as its crystal-wheat malt base, Wet Willy Watermelon Wheat – Nitro maintained an easygoing cucumber-watered watermelon rind earthiness.

Mildly creamed Moon Jammin’ Imperial Black Lager – Nitro invited subtle plum, blackberry and dried cherry fruiting into its earthen walnut-charred hop oiling, leaving dry bourbon snips at the dark-roast mocha finish.

Nutty coffee roast and brown-sugared dark chocolate usurped the creamy vanilla sweetness and dry espresso tones of Bat Exodus Milk Stout – Nitro, picking up slight sour soy saucing.

Wife and dog joined me for second King’s Court visit on a sunny August afternoon, ’22.

Candied strawberry tartness picked up soapy lemon sourness over honeyed wheat sweetness for blanched blonde ale, Strawberry Kisses.

Tart raspberry jam spread across mild lime-salted lemon souring for candy-glazed Coppercake- Raspberry & Lemon Milkshake IPA, hiding its light vanilla creaming.

Dry medium roast coffee consumed Sapience – 2021 Russian Imperial Stout, contrasting sweet hazelnut pasting with bitter wood-charred walnut tones above dark chocolate-syruped maple oats base.

Sapience Bourbon Barrel Aged – 2021 version let dry bourbon-whiskeyed burgundy wining seep into dark chocolate syrup.

EXHIBIT A BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

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

United States Brewpubs,

See the source image

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.

Image result for JACK'S ABBY BREWING SPRINGDALE

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).