Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

RAR BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Expansion plans approved for RAR Brewing | News | myeasternshoremd.com

CAMBRIDGE, MARYLAND

Just a few blocks from Cambridge Creek in Chesepeake Bay’s quaint Eastern Shore barrier, RAR BREWING (a.k.a. Reale Ale Revival) began its journey as a ‘big time small town’ pub in summer 2013. Alongside several local independent downtown shops, RAR’s casual sportsbar atmosphere, light pub fare and well-balanced brews will please mainstream commoners and advanced thirsts.

Dual black RAR awnings greet customers to this former Cambridge pool hall. A convenient overhead-doored serving station benefits outdoor summertime seating. The left side bar features 12 taps of continuously rotating original fare as well as a TV, blackboard beer menu and beer infuser (for mixed one-off concoctions). Inits first seven years, RAR has crafted nearly 100 different beers.

The separate right side dining area provides varnished red oak tables and booths, white and black tiled floor plus cool mod pop artwork.

My wife and I got seats in the makeshift roadside patio (due to Wuhan Virus) on one-hour stopover, July ’20.

Revealing evenly flavored tropical fruiting, Citra-hopped West Coast IPA, Nanticoke Nectar, retained an engagingly juicy grapefruit-orange bittering and sweet mango-nectarine tang above mild pine resin. Meanwhile, similarly styled Grapefruit Nectar brought mildly embittered yellow grapefruit splendor to tangerine-spiced tanginess over dry pale malts.

Lemondrop-candied banana and clove tartness surfaced for Groove City Hefe, exposing light floral-nipped herbal snips at the understated yellow-fruited finish.

Tropical Sabro hops allow easygoing grapefruit, orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple and coconut enticement to spread across floral-spiced cedar planking for Amatuer Sketch, a Double IPA.

Coffee-dried nuttiness and bittersweet dark chocolate consumed dark ale flagship, Bucktown Brown, gaining brown-sugared glazed walnut illusions at the caramelized mocha finish.

More picutres of inside - Picture of RAR Brewing, Cambridge ...

During awesome two-hour splurge on Friday afternoon, January ’24, sat at one of the wood-tabled metal seats near the front overhead door to down eight more sundry suds.

Though tepid pilsner-malted Lite stayed phenolic as musky grained hop astringency and dried maize husk merged, it’ll suit simpler blue collar thirsts.

Way more reliable was spritzy lemon-fizzed Country Ride Pale Ale, a lighter IPA-like moderation with light herbal musk and mild pine resin seeping into laidback grapefruit-orange misting.

Dry bronze-cleared Citra/Cascade-hopped Imperial Nectar IPA, an unconventional West Coast-inspired medium body (boasting bold 9% ABV), punctuated its expectant grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering with divergent green peppered herbage, muskily perfumed spicing and raw-honeyed pale malting.

At a heightened 10.3% ABV, off-dry Pumped Up Kicks Triple IPA coalesced Mosaic, Vic Secret and Ekuanot hops for lemony grapefruit bittering and desiccated orange musk seeping resinous pine above light oated wheat creaming.

Another boozy IPA (New England-styled at 10.6 ABV), Uni Blu stayed smooth as lemony grapefruit and orange tanginess surfaced above sugary pale malts, picking up icy vodka nip.

Smooth beige-hazed IPA variant, Smooth Peaches let its candied yellow peach adjunct receive lemony grapefruit bittering as well as tertiary red apple, pear and apricot illusions.

Aged in Bulleit bourbon barrels with vanilla cream, Old Decoy slung sweet bourbon warmth at caramel whiskey, dry burgundy, black cherry and dark cocoa.

Decadent lactose pastry stout, 10 Layers With Coconut, regaled toasted coconut sweetness for its macadamia-nutted dark chocolate caking and vanilla coffee respite.

IDIOM BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Outdoor seating for upcoming Carroll Creek brewery moves closer to ...

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

Located in an old red-bricked warehouse factory along Carroll Creek in Frederick, IDIOM BREWING CO. began operations, April ’19. Entrepreneurial brewer, Michael Clements, inspired by a Portland, Oregon journey, soon certified the logo “Expressions in Beer.”

A railroad-tied service station with twelve walled aluminum taps provides eight stools and two centralized TV’s for the cement-floored locale while the right side brewing space has a seperate bar area with pendant lighting and a space for bands to play.

A rear deck overlooking Carroll Creek features umbrella-clad tables where I’ll enjoy two delectable stouts this muggy afternoon in June ’20.

Milk-sugared coffee nuttiness and roasted dark chocolate consumed Pillow Talk Oatmeal Stout, a silken full body with maple-sugared oats base.

Breakfast-bound Tiramisu knockoff, Coffee & Cake White Stout, let cake-battered cocoa powdering, caramel chocolate sweetness and cream-cheesed marscapone sugaring ride above barley-flaked mocha malting. Fantastic!

Also on tap but untried were Level Up Hefeweizen, Trade Secret Pale Ale, Cosmic Debris IPA and Raise Your Eyebrow Rye IPA.

SMOKETOWN CREEKSIDE

United States Brewpubs,

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FREDERICK, MARYLAND

‘Round the corner from Attaboy Beer in a commodious red brick-cornered professional space in Frederick, SMOKETOWN CREEKSIDE opened November ’19 (closing May ’23). Entrepreneurial guiding light, David Blackmon, and homebrewing retired fireman, Greg Nichols, have crafted 30-plus rangy one-offs, seasonals and barrel-aged dark ales, as well as respected flagship, Potomac IPA. His original seven-barrel Smoketown Brewing has been operating since ’17 along the Potomac River (18 miles Southwest) in Brunswick, bringing national bands to its capacious firehouse venue.

Creekside’s 10-barrel brewhouse features a bowling alley-wooded bar top, local artisans’ walled sculptures, round wood brewery insignia, two rear TV’s and a connected brewhouse near the back music studio. At present, they distribute beer all over Maryland.

A spacious fenced-in front deck gets packed as I peruse the premises this hot ‘n sticky late Sunday afternoon early July ’20.

I was thoroughly knocked out by the strong ales available during this stopover – taking home 26-ounce bottles of each.

Toasting a New Location: Smoketown Brewing — City of Frederick ...

A splendidly inspirational 11.5% ABV knockout, Walter’s Spirit Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter let its dry Virginia Gentleman bourbon whiskey frontage receive ashen tobacco-chawed hop bittering, cocoa-dried raw molasses sapping and black coffee beaning, upstaging any trace of toffee sweetness.

Smoky maple molasses sugaring brought a burnt caramel glaze to clover-honeyed Golden Promise malts and dewy rye-spiced chocolate creaming for heady (10% ABV) Scottish Wee Heavy, Ten Pound Hammer, a rich malt-forward charmer with latent peated whiskey notions.

Cellared yeast funk embedded cocoa-powdered dark roast coffee, sweet molasses oats and beet-sugared fig, prune and date for Wick’d Threesome Tripel, leaving charcoal hop-embittered ethanol esters to raid the pungent 9.7% alcohol throttler.

Smoketown Brewing Station - Our Beers

Dark chocolate steadied full-bodied oatmeal stout, Gandy, contrasting milk-sugared hazelnut coffee against walnut-charred hops.

A muddy medium-roast coffee theme engaged The Main Cup, a robust coffee stout stockpiling tertiary milked espresso, charred walnut, and peppercorn subtleties.

On the negative side, unconvincing flattish-headed mahogany body, Lockhouse 28 Imperial Stout, tried to navigate wood-charred black malt soy saucing into desiccated dried fruiting, day-old coffee and burnt tobacco.

smoketownbrewing.com

ATTABOY BEER

United States Brewpubs,

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

In a grayish blue brick warehouse, married couple Brian Ogden and Carly Ogden, opened ATTABOY BEER in early 2017. The ample bar space includes a marble-topped serving station with a few metal-wood tables and exposed ceiling ducts as well as an imposingly bright orange and blue-walled, capital-lettered BEER logo. Located at the same warehouse as Smoketown’s Creekside brewery, Attaboy generally specializes in crafting soft-toned pale suds while its neighboring competitor goes for more barrel aged dark ales.

Currently, Attaboy’s large warehouse-renovated glass-encased 10-barrelhouse operation (with several wood barrels for aging) lies on the other side of Carroll Creek just a few blocks away. That location concentrates on blended barrel-aged sour ales and one-off experimental brews.

I enjoyed two fine saisons at the benched parking lot patio during my June ’20 one-hour excursion.

Frederick Beer: Hyper Local — DEEP BEER

Tart hibiscus-flowered lemon meringue creaming gathers white grape, papaya, passionfruit and orange blossom illusions to lather dry white-peppered herbage above hay-like barnyard leathering for Golden Fields Saison.

Even more tart, spritzy barrel aged saison, Farmboy (Raspberry), retained dry rosé, champale, shiraz and pinot tones as well as sour gooseberry, green grape and cranberry nuances that underscored its herb-salted raspberry piquancy.

ROCKWELL BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

In the midst of a mini-mall stationed just next door to Midnight Run Brewing on the outskirts of Frederick, Maryland, ROCKWELL BREWERY owner Paul Tinney (a guitar designer) and brewmaster Scott Kernon succeed at creating an “intimate and fun atmosphere” for lovers of straightforwardly stylistic suds.

Recalling a black-walled art deco studio, this mid-sized brewery’s exquisite post-modernist neo-Industrial setting features glimmering bulb-lit ROCKWELL lettering along the wall, an abstract tap station, mosaic wood bar, stark ceiling-bound exposed pipes and sturdy community tables.

The brewhouse and storage deck the rear and a cement benched deck with partial covering allows for extra seating during my friendly June ’20 excursion.

First up, mild helles lager, Mausketeer, plied maize-dried astringency to herbal Hallertau hops, musky pilsner malts and acrid barnyard mustiness for a briskly light-bodied thirst quencher.

Best sellin’ Rapture, a crisply dry blonde ale, lets spritzy lemon zest snuggle alongside grassy-hopped cracked wheat rusticity for perfect lawnmower fodder.  

Dewy peat moisture soaks into sweet tobacco-roasted mocha malts for That “B” CB English Pale Ale, allowing British Golding hops to provide slight floral herbage.

Honeyed caramel spicing sweetened Sump N Good, a fine Vienna lager with subtle peach, apple, pear and cherry illusions.

Toasted amber grains and caramelized chocolate malts led Dropkick Irish Red, a dewy moderation scattering leafy-hopped red and orange fruiting.

Easygoing Spacegrass East Frederick IPA gathered floral-daubed peach, pineapple, grapefruit and orange tanginess for its dry piney hop lacquering.

Dry piney citrus bittering engaged floral-perfumed hops for Smooth Operator, an “easy IPA” garnering tangy orange-grapefruit, peach and pineapple juiciness.

A hazy yellowed glow brightened lactic Tidal Wave, a trusty New England IPA posting tangy grapefruit zest, tart passionfruit sedation and guava-candied pineapple souring.

Tart raspberry puree spread across candied lemon, green grape, guava and gooseberry souring for salt-licked Raspberry Beret, a lightly vinous sour ale.

Smooth coffee overtones fronted nitogenated Speed Of Darkness, a dry Irish Stout dangling mild dark cocoa creaming above waxy black patent malts.

Heavenly mocha moderation, Bitchin’ Camaro Milk Stout, brought soothing chocolate-coffee creaminess to fudged brownie, toffee and cookie dough sweetness.

Sublime Ace Of Spades Barleywine bolstered rummy cherry, burgundy, raisin and fig tones with toffee-spiced molasses chocolate malting.  

MIDNIGHT RUN BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

Former garage-bound alchemists now specializing in ‘non-conformist ales,’ MIDNIGHT RUN BREWING is the creation of two collaborative friends, Rich & Brent. Since opening September ’17, the crafty science and art duo have continued to make unique small batch brews for local brethren and traveling connoisseurs alike.

Inside a freestanding red brick edifice dressed up in black art deco, its stained concrete floor, exposed pipes and milled wood left wall retain a semi-rustic feel. A three-barrel brew room is in the rear and an Edison light-chained back patio has three community tables.

Startling the senses with some of the most original, exciting and varied brews in Western Maryland, Midnight Run began serving suds Saturday at noon for my June ’20 visitation.

Midnight Run Brewing

Limey blueberry bittering gained honeyed oats sweetness for sessionable Eternity Pale Ale, a tidy light-bodied opener.

Flagship India Pale Ale, Tempo, maintained sessionable accessibility as vibrant grapefruit, peach, tangerine, mango and papaya tropicalia seeped into piney wood tones as well as salty-spiced white peppering.

Sweet vanilla-creamed orange tang serenaded ‘hazy IPA,’ All Together, picking up herbal piney hop resin and brisk grapefruit-peeled lemon licks.

Zesty orange peel briskness dominated S.I.P.A., a crystal malt sweetened India Pale Ale with subtle herbage.

Crisply clean Imperial IPA, Atat, brought peachy orange-candied grapefruit tanginess to wood-dried peppery herbs and sturdy pale malting.

Dewy Belgian yeast added fungi cellared mildewing to bittersweet grapefruit-peeled orange zest for Continuum, a funky tropical (Citra-El Dorado-Cashmere-hopped) IPA.

Mild powder-candied raspberry tartness and vinous white grape must enveloped easygoing sour ale, Electric Monster: Sweet-Tart.

Mellow Belgian Blonde, Golden Child, tranquilized the tongue with its spicy lemon-candied repose, dainty banana bubblegum stint and herbal lemongrass nip.

Debonair ‘golden quad,’ White Devil, revealed candi-sugared spiced rum, banana daiquiri, sugared fig, candied apple, lemon meringue, creamy vanilla and Chardonnay illusions dotting white-peppered clove, allspice and ginger snips in a dank cellared fungi yeast setting.

White chocolate-spiced Imperial Blonde Ale, White Sexual Chocolate, allowed vanilla-creamed cocoa nibs to caress light whiskey tones over dry honeyed pale malts. 

Caramel espresso latte knockoff, American Darkness Oat Stout, let molasses maple oats sweeten its ancillary cocoa nibs, toffee and vanilla daubs against tarry black patent-malted bittering as distant bruised black cherry notions and mild anise spicing surfaced.

Confectionery chocolate-candied Imperial Milk Stout, Milky Way, proved exceptionally luscious as caramel, vanilla, toasted coconut, marshmallow and molasses cookie undertones kept the sweetness going strong. The fudgy Milky Way knockoff also revealed latent cocoa-dried espresso serenity, bruised cherry tartness and hazelnut pasting.

OLDE MOTHER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Olde Mother Brewing Inaugural Chili Cook Off • Downtown Frederick ...

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

Tucked into a quiet residential neighborhood within walking distance of downtown Frederick, OLDE MOTHER BREWING COMPANY originated a few blocks away and opened its doors, Halloween ’15. Now with a larger production facility and tasting room since 2018, Olde Mother occupies a spacious red brick building (with green awning and insignia-stenciled windows). Its cement-floored, steel-beamed expanse features a rustic bench-laden front bar and rear 10-barrel brewhouse stationed behind the auxiliary community-tabled back bar.

Offering a ‘few twists’ on many traditional styles and a tad bolder than the norm, Olde Mother’s refined sour ales and India Pale Ales led a menu including a hefewiezen, lager and English Brown (the only dark ale available).

Home - Olde Mother Brewing Co.

While sitting in the alleyway patio I quaffed three beers during my sweltering June ’20 noon sojourn.

Lemony banana-clove stead stays subtle alongside sweet vanilla creaming for moderate-bodied hefeweizen, Tempest, utilizing open fermentation to expose delicately dank floral herbage.

Dry champagne-tinged rosé wining silkily lather Aurora Rose, a spritzy sedation with floral hibiscus wisps teasing its grape-leafed wine must.

Bold flagship IPA, Impressionist, maintained a mildly embittered grapefruit-orange-pineapple influx, tangy tangerine run-up and perky mango salting enjoined by dry pine resin over softly creamed crystal malting.

JUG BRIDGE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Road Less Traveled - Jug Bridge Brewery | Photos - Untappd  Jug Bridge Brewery | Frederick, MD | Beers | BeerAdvocate

FREDERICK, MARYLAND

Located at Olde Mother Brewing’s former space, JUG BRIDGE BREWERY began crafting ‘good righteous beer’ with briskly gleaming flavor profiles June 1, 2019 (closing 2023). Sporting a three-barrel brewing system with four tables, three TV’s below the black-tiled low ceiling and a second tap room in the rear, this independent nanobrewery sprouted from a small home brewing hobby.

Happily dispatching small-batch beers from the outskirts of brew-friendly Frederick, Jug Bridge proprietor, Mathew Townsend, has carved out his own small niche.

I sunk a few suds at the patio during June ’20.

Jug Bridge Brewery - Home | Facebook

Crisply clean summertime moderation, Schifferstadt Kolsch, let lemon-dried tartness and grassy hop astringency sway lightly creamed crystal-malted sourdough breading.

Surprisingly heady for a hefeweizen, Midsummer Harvest, retained plantain-dried banana and clove resonance frequented by sour lemondrop tartness and tempered lemongrass-sage herbage.

Lemony raspberry puree tartness overlaid hay-like barnyard acridity for Wedding Grisette -Raspberry, a rustic farmhouse ale with vinous green grape, jellied guava and sour cranberry reinforcing its acidulated raspberry jamming.

Sharp grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering brightened lightly lactic Ragged Misfortune NEIPA, leaving subtle peach, mango and gooseberry illusions alongside mild piney hop resin.

Milk chocolate sweetness picked up light vanilla-creamed coffee tones for delightful Milk Dud-like Sagner Avenue Oatmeal Stout, a confectionery candy bar placing cedar-burnt hop resin upon its trusty fig-hazelnut-pecan conflux and maple-sugared oats bottom.

Velvety Anniversary Stout aged on Mc Clintock Bourbon proved to be a perfect nightcap! Lovely bourbon vanilla sweetness draped molasses-sapped brown chocolate sugaring while paprika-nipped chili heat increases alongside cinnamon coffee tones.  

BIG OYSTER BREWERY – LEWES

United States Brewpubs,

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LEWES, DELAWARE

Inside a cavernous maroon barnhouse with river rock stone base along Kings Highway, Lewes-based BIG OYSTER BREWERY is only a few miles northeast of the original Rehoboth Beach joint. Its wood-floored interior features a Cathedral ceiling, Industrial metal-wood dining area, a few TV’s and tall glass-encased brew tanks behind the eight-seat bar. At the entrance, a smiling moose head, antique Coca-Cola machine, upside down canoe and several wall-hung items greet patrons.

During June ’20 dinnertime trip after soaking up sun at beautiful Cape Henlopen beach, sat at metal-furnished grass field just past the six-tabled back covered deck. Grabbed some raw clams and oysters as well as nachos to go with four India Pale Ales, a pilsner, witbier, tripel, and stout.

Retried brisk flagship, Hammerhead IPA, a sharply citric moderate body with mild piney resin and astringent Citra-Mosaic hop bittering guiding its floral lemon-seeded grapefruit and orange rind musk.

Creamily lactic-sugared India Pale Ale, Double Delaware Dreamsicle, let zesty orange tanginess obtain bittersweet Madagascar vanilla beaning in a cold-conditioned kettle hop setting.

For a pleasingly sunshiny Dreamsicle offshoot, vanilla-creamed orange juicing enhanced the pureed mango tang of dry-hopped Double Mango Dreamsicle, leaving cotton-candied sweetness upon the candied tropical fruited finish.

Richly frothed Cascadian Dark Ale, Hello Darkness Double IPA, retained mild coffee-roasted dark chocolate bitterness that overrode piney citrus hop char.

Maize-dried straw wheat, pasty sourdough and herbal Saaz hops informed German-styled moderation, Public Pils.

Zesty orange peel sweetness and mild coriander spicing picked up bitter lemon rind, candied peach, salted mango, tart peach and sweet banana bubblegum illusions for Solar Power, a delectable witbier with a honey-dripped pale malt wheat base.

Sweet-tart blueberry steeped in black tea bittering mildly affected politely spelt-malted tripel, Noir Et Bleu.

Caramelized coffee vanilla stout, On Point, retained creamy lactic mocha resilience and sweet toffee splendor for a durable dessert treat.

7 MILE BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

RIO GRANDE, NEW JERSEY

Right between Cape May Brewing and Coho Brewing Company just a few miles down Route 9, Rio Grande’s 7 MILE BREWERY resided at a basic rust-bricked mini-mall (opened 2016, but closing 2023). Its light Industrial furnishings, quaint wood highlights, wood-barreled front entrance, concrete floor and simple drop ceiling offered casual atmosphere.

7 Mile’s two tap stations contain ten handles each. The high-ceiling back space stores tall brewing tanks, a canning line and storage space.

During my May ’20 stopover, tried four durably balanced offerings with wife and dog in tow.

7 Mile’s Skinny Dipper Blonde let its tangy orange-tangerine punch gain a wheat-floured sugar rush to contrast lemony orange-seeded bittering.

Sharp and sessionable India Pale Ale, 7 MIPA, retained a piney citrus thrust to soak up its light herbal reminder and delicate pale malt backbone.

Musky pine-lacquered lemony grapefruit bittering secured tightly integrated Seven Suns Double IPA, a dry pale-malted medium body with cologne-perfumed herbal tones.

“Velvet smooth” Irish-styled dry stout, Black Velvet Black Stout, maintained Black Patent-malted dark chocolate bittering with a black licorice smidge, minor dark coffee roast, subtle hazelnut-creamed walnut char, teasing cola nuttiness and deferred dark toffee sweetness.    

DARK CITY BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Dark City Brewing Company Asbury Park beer 8 of 36

ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY

After visiting bucolic Allaire State Park for a terse hike, my wife and I happened upon DARK CITY BREWING CO., Asbury Park’s first craft brewery. Taking hold in 2016 (and closing 2025), Dark City provides a steady stream of consistently rewarding brews handcrafted in the closed-off back brewing space by reserved zymurgist, Steve Bohacik. On my sunny March ’20 expedition, a gamut of rangy stylistic fare captures my palate.

Set in a window-laden tan building along the increasingly popular Main Street strip, Dark City’s elongated wood lacquered serving station (with twelve draught handles) centers the sparsely decorated open space. A bright blue right-walled jellyfish mural adds pizzazz to the pallet-wooded furnishings, saucer-like lighting and pipe-exposed high ceiling. Several community tables fill out the wide expanse (with 2 TV’s on opposing sides).

Grassy lemon-dried moderation, Circuit Kolsch, stayed crisply clean and deliberately understated, leaving compost-wafted raw grain moisture on wispy citric hop tartness.

Dryly brisk Brass Ring Wheat Ale brought citric IPA fruiting and woody Amarillo hop herbage to its floral-bound wheat grass base.

Bound by its sharp orange-peeled grapefruit rind tang an sunny Mosaic-hopped lemon zesting, Blue Bishop IPA with Blueberries let docile blueberry pureeing gain sourer-than-sweet alacrity.

Vinous balsamic-soured green grape esters and spritzy lime zest stayed mellow for white-wined alternative, Mixed Use Sour Ale.

Dewy peat and toffee-spiced dried fruiting enhanced the caramelized brown chocolate sweetness of serenading dessert treat, 1871 Barleywine, a sturdily welcoming strong ale with tertiary sherry, coffee and vanilla snips.

Creamy dark chocolate syruping draped dry bourbon pleasantry and mossy peat for softly creamed barrel-aged anniversary blend, DCBC3, an impressive 13% strong ale with fudged cocoa brownie resilience and bitter vanilla beaning deepening its overall intensity.

BACKWARD FLAG BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Backward Flag Brewing | geekybeergalBackward Flag Brewing Co. - Home | Facebook

FORKED RIVER, NEW JERSEY

Veteran-owned BACKWARD FLAG BREWING COMPANY came to fruition during 2016 (and closed 2024) when Army Staff Sergeant Torie Fisher’s passionate commitment to craft a stylish array of diverse beers fully blossomed. Military-rooted badges, uniforms and emblems bedeck the right wall alongside the microbrewery’s black American flag insignia, designed to amplify  Fisher’s appreciation for the armed services.

Backward Flag’s current 10-barrel system (as of February 2020) delivers interestingly wide ranging and oft-times non-conformist fare. Since opening, BF has crafted nearly 100 different brews. There’s a flagship blonde ale, citric sour ale, a few Cascadian IPA’s, a fruited cream ale and more on my initial quest.

Lodged inside a tan aluminum warehouse at the northern Jersey Shore town of Forked River, Backward Flag features a lacquered pine serving station with two separate tap setups delivering a dozen different brews. The cement-floored, window-fronted interior includes multiple US flags, a lounge-y couch area, one large community table and brew-tanked back space.

Fisher and I shared a decadent Knob Creek bourbon-aged Oak Armored Ale blend (with oaken vanilla resonance, dry Scotch licks and silken flow) after enjoying the entire lineup this sunny March ’20 winter afternoon.

How Torie Fisher, founder of Backward Flag Brewing, broke into the ...

First up, approachable flagship, Oak Armored Ale, plied oak-toasted vanilla pleasantry to honeyed orange goodness, lemon meringue tartness and scant cherry souring above pastry-like pale malting.

Next, vanilla creamed blackberry subtleties placated dry oak-based Blackberry & Cream, leaving candied fruitcake and honey-spiced mead illusions upon its light earthen musk bottom.

As for the two Black India Pale Ales (a.k.a. Cascadian Dark), Mil-Spec Black IPA left cocoa-dried black chocolate bittering on ashen wood-charred charcoal resin as well as black grape jam, blackcurrant and black licorice snips. For citric-pined West Coast-styled Dope On A Rope, black grape musk gained moderated coffee-burnt Bakers chocolate pungency and slight pumpernickel toasting.

Hybridized East Coast/West Coast styled Simmunition IPA featured dank wood-dried Simcoe hops that promoted orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering and tangy pineapple juicing over oated wheat.

Tartly lemon-limed tangerine acidity embedded oaken vanilla tannins for Roadside Donkey Tangerine Vanilla, a lactic mouth-puckering sour ale with lightly vinous berry piquancy.

Raspy chocolate raspberry caking punctuated Hearts & Minds Brown Ale, a heavenly creamed mocha-bound dessert treat surpassed only by the even mightier chipotle-peppered cinnamon and coconut conditioned version.

Arguably my favorite, light roast Ethiopian coffee bean serenity seeped into the citrus-backed pale malt setting of S.T.F.U. Pale Ale, leaving mild charred nuttiness and oaken vanilla residue on its back end.

On summertime ’22 two-hour stop-off, my wife and I drank at the makeshift canopied parking lot where a life-size game of Battleship was being waged while finding three previously untried brews.

Lemon-wedged passionfruit bittering and limey guava-gooseberry tartness guided Passion Party, a ‘wild’ sour ale with acidulated malting.

Soft-tongued West Coast-styled IPA, Rock Da Boat, let brisk orange peel zesting, salted pineapple bittering, subtle cantaloupe sweetness and mild tangerine tanginess receive musky black-peppered hop herbage.

Coffee-sugared brown chocolate entry secured Zero Dark Thirsty, a sweet milk stout with soily earthen bottom.

During early January ’23, stopped off once again for seven more delightful afternoon libations at Backward Flag.

Dry lemon spiced light body, Golden Outlaw Blonde, will draw in casual thirsts with its easygoing citrus spritz and serene grassy-hopped herbage caressing musty Bavarian pilsner grain rusticity.

Coniferous citrus-spiced IPA, People And Pondering, placed reserved orange-peeled pineapple tanginess, dry yellow grapefruit bittering and mild blackcurrant tartness above tingly piney sage minting.

Sunshiny NEIPA, Something’s Missing, brought lightly embittered yellow grapefruit and orange rind tanginess plus lemon-limed licks to lacquered pine tones above dry pale malts.

Honoring the annual Army-Navy football game, Historic Rivalry, a juicy NEIPA collab with Pennsylvania’s Tattered Flag, scurrying sharp lemony grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering, white grape tannins, salted pineapple tanginess and tropical vodka snap thru floral-daubed hop pining.

A rare stylistic combo, Coyote Brown IPA, coalesced dark-roast hop charred Cascadian Dark Ale bittering with less aggressive piney citrus India Pale Ale dryness.

Roasted sweet potato influence and ginger-rooted cinnamon/allspice/cumin minting soaked up by milk-sugared vanilla for quirky Mama’s Table, a wintry-spiced potato brown ale.

Backward Flag’s newest offering, Warrior’s Shadow Black Ale, let politely bitter black malting and nutty dark roast hop char invite black coffee, espresso and dark chocolate patronage.

www.backwardflagbrewing.com/