Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

CROSS KEYS BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Key To Hoppiness - Cross Keys Brewing Co. | Photos - Untappd Membership Benefits – Barley Legal Homebrewers

WILLIAMSTOWN, NEW JERSEY

A humble oasis tucked away off the Atlantic City Expressway (one mile north of 13th Child) in the quiet tree-lined suburban village of Williamstown, CROSS KEYS BREWING CO. opened its doors March ’18. Comforting in its charmingly ungarnished warehouse-converted studio splendor, Cross Key’s green-hopped insignias are ever-present throughout the gray cement-floored pub.

An outdoor wood patio at the parking lot leads to the entrance where two overhead doors provide further access. A nifty wood-lacquered bar top with embedded keys, twelve-plus tap handles, twin electronic beer boards and overhead caged Edison lights is situated in the rear. Barreled tables and a few couch furnishings decorate the spare space. A separate high ceilinged right side room with stainless steel brewtanks, large refrigeration unit and ample kegs store the proprietary suds.

The winning array of rounded elixirs proved quite expressive on my Saturday evening jaunt, January ’21. While watching the Packers battle it out on TV, I sank eight sundry suds.

Easygoing light body, Williamstown German-Style Pilsner, confined its pasty corn-sugared malt liquoring and lightly floral-spiced herbage to its salty cracker spine.

Banana-spiced cotton candy sweetness enjoined brisk orange zesting to contrast pungent herbal hop astringency and salty phenols lingering thru the fruitful frontage of The Journey, a peppy Belgian Blonde Ale.

Candi-sugared bruised orange sweetness enhanced rummy banana daquiri cocktail flare for creamy Belgian tripel, The Marathon, a fine pilsner malted elixir.

Tartly vinous Yada Yada Yada Cherry Pie Gose allowed candied apple sweetness to seep inside its cherry rhubarb piquancy and lemon-soured cranberry, strawberry and apple splurge.

Orange-spiced oats sugaring coated Orange Jumpsuit, a tangy citric-glazed double dry-hopped IPA with mild pine oiling. 

Floral-spiced piney fruiting embraced Hopedemic East Coast Double IPA, a pasty pale malt-sugared medium body with tangy peach, grapefruit and orange zesting. 

Robust Peepin’ Porter relied on dark chocolate malts for its cocoa-dried roasted coffee, espresso and macchiato aspect, leaving cola, hazelnut and walnut dabs on the backend.

Decadent Quarantine Reserve Imperial Stout utilized syrupy chocolate-bound Madagascar vanilla beans to boost its boundless aspirations. Lusciously rich bourbon vanilla, chocolate cake, hazelnut coffee and hot cocoa tones as well as bruised black cherry, black grape and blackberry sweetness contrasted dark roast hop-charred bittering over honeyed mocha malt base.

NECK OF THE WOODS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

NECK OF THE WOODS BREWING - HOME

MANTUA, NEW JERSEY

Inside a pale blue aluminum-sided tan brick industrial mall, Mantua’s NECK OF THE WOODS BREWING set up shop in its green-walled space during springtime ’19. On the outskirts of Pitman twenty miles east of Philly, its happy commencement coincided with nearby breweries such as Kelly Green and Human Village.

An expansive, L-shaped, bark-topped bar with sturdy metal siding and twenty-plus draughts ends at the massive courtyard barn wall in the rear. Taking advantage of the high ceilings are the left side brew tanks that head skyward with liquid pleasure. A few wood tables across the bar are available and eight outside tables provide extra seating. A canning line began operating in April ’20.

My wife and I take seats at the front windowed table on a sunny weekday in early January ’21 to enjoy three stouts, two porters, one milkshake IPA, a supersized pale ale, a sour ale and a German pils.

Neck of the Woods Brewing Company - Pitman, NJ - Untappd

First up, conventional bohemian light body, Lot P Pilsner, brought musky wet-grained earthen mossing to delicate lemon-spiced Hallertau hop herbage.

Zesty Citra-Mosaic-hopped New England-styled pale ale, Chuppta?, magnified its perfumed orange-grapefruit-pineapple-passionfruit tang with pasty wheat gluten thickening its pilsner malt base.

Easygoing kettle-soured variant, Now That’s Sour: Apricot + Mango + Raspberry, let mild salted lemon spritzing activate its downplayed fruity adjuncts over faded pilsner malts.   

Milk-sugared vanilla creaming and zesty blood orange peel sweetness contrasted sharp perfume-hopped lemon-limed grapefruit bittering and puckered cranberry tartness over gelatinous oats flaked malts for offbeat hybrid, No OJ No Straw, a kettle-soured milkshake IPA.

Bitterly dry Chateau black malt smokiness lingered thru the oats-flaked coffee roast of PTP Porter, a signature Neck Of The Woods dark ale.

Belgian chocolate spicing sweetened the milk-sugared coffee tones and bourbon vanilla respite of Spicy Mochaccino, a sassy porter with restless cinnamon-barked cumin seasoning.

Sweet milk-sugared coffee vodka licks provided Black Russian cocktail novelty to cocoa nibs roast of Guess Who’s Back, a lightly barley-smoked white stout.

Dry coffee-burnt dark chocolate smokiness and nutty wood-seared hop bittering embedded Exit Light Stout, leaving slight black cherry tartness on the oat-flaked Maris Otter spine. Adding chili to the recipe, Exit Light Chili Stout provided mild bark-dried peppery heat to contrast its vanilla-creamed Graham Cracker bottom in a fascinatingly well integrated blend.

 

KELLY GREEN BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

A Dry Town Goes Wet After More Than a Century - Atlas Obscura

PITMAN, NEW JERSEY

A dry Methodist town for over one hundred years, Pitman, New Jersey finally allowed its first brewery to operate in 2016 (and closed 2023). KELLY GREEN BREWING CO. originally opened a block away from its current downtown location in a small tasting room. Now residing at a tan two-room storefront pub (with green hop nugget emblem) near the railroad tracks, Kelly Green was formed by three local homebrewers, Justin and Jeannette Fleming and pal Dave Domanski, as a part-time venture.

A cozy li’l nano crafting a slew of recurring and one-off brews that usually skirt simple stylistic boundaries, Kelly Green’s gray-floored interior features a ten-draught bar with white tiled back wall, exquisite wood furnishings, noirish black ceiling tiles and a few TV’s.

Classic easygoing German pale lager, Chicko’s, offered musky wet-grained leathering to herbal Halltertau hop soiling and corn-dried malt liquor remnant.

Salty lemon-limed tartness greeted floral hibiscus tang for Lemon Hibiscus, a spritzy kettle-soured ale.

Re-creating a Gummy Bear with flare, lactose-aided sour ale, Festivus Jelly, combined oaken cherry tartness, green grape esters and tannic vanilla above Graham Cracker honeyed wheat base.

Zestful herbal-cologned lemon juicing and mild mandarin orange tang admitted white-peppered sage, basil and tarragon seasoning to spice up lactic NEIPA, Standing On The Shoulders of Giants, a formidably hybridized elixir with grape-stemmed floral citrus Idaho 7 hops nudging mild mineral graining.  

Coffee-sugared milk chocolate sweetened The Teets Milk Stout, leaving ancillary Kahlua, espresso, cappuccino and vanilla illusions in its rich mocha wake.

HUMAN VILLAGE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

TAPROOM — Human Village Brewing Co.

PITMAN, NEW JERSEY

Formerly housing the Bus Stop Cafe, Pitman-based HUMAN VILLAGE BREWING COMPANY kept a lot of the nifty walled motifs when they opened up in November 2016 (closed 2024). Sundry vinyl albums dot the walls of this boutique downtown nanobrewery with the intimate feel of a cozy public house hosting live speaking events and musical acts.

Head brewer Rich Myers served easygoing, approachable and soft-toned brews at the rear serving station while my wife and I grabbed a small table at the unfinished pergo vinyl-floored venue. However, we missed out on flagship Harlem Shake Singel, inspired by the creamily oats-sugared Belgian-styled Haarlem Bock, which was one of Myers’ earliest inspirations.

Maize-dried moderation, Walking On Sunshine Cream Ale, picked up green peppered lemon spicing and mildly smoked pale malting.

Easygoing Belgian pale ale, Beers & The Bees, brought raw-honeyed Scotch licks to spritzy lemon drop tartness and green grape esters.

That same raw-honeyed graining showed up in Brass Monkey Winter Ale, a mildly spiced white wine-licked moderation with brittle banana-bread base.

Crisply clean Kviek yeast subsumed From The Midnight Sun, a Scandinavian farmhouse ale with barley-smoked toasted breading sopping up dried orange tartness, dehydrated apple musk, juniper-licked hop bittering and soured Vienna lagering.

Perfumed citrus spicing graced Abbey Road IPA, leaving mild juniper-embittered lemony grapefruit zest on its dry plantain bottom.

Sour-nutted chocolate roast nearly hid the lemon-pitted bittering, tart blackberry pucker and rustic leathery bottom scouring Bet On Black Saison.

Coffee-burnt chocolate roast guarded tobacco-soured walnut bittering to the brown toast foundation of Brown Eyed Girl, a middling brown ale.

Brown chocolate-spiced burnt coffee tones gain wood-seared hop char for Cole’s Porter, a lightly roasted moderate-medium body.

Sly chocolate rye malting held oily nut souring in check for Rye Of The Tiger, a slightly vinous stout.

GARY’S 38-75 BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Gary's Dewey Beach Grill / 38° -75° Brewing - Picture of Gary's Dewey Beach Grill - Tripadvisor

DEWEY, DELAWARE

On the bustling corner of New Orleans Street and Coastal Highway, Dewey Beach landmark Gary’s Beach Grill started crafting homemade suds under the latitude/ longitude handle 38-75 BREWING in 2017. Homebrewing owner Gary Cannon has operated this summertime hotspot for thirty years.

A crowded, low-ceilinged, wraparound joint with a cornucopia of cool beer bottles and cans lining the wall (near loads of pop culture memorabilia, beer label stickers, cartoon snippets and surfing regalia), Gary’s also features a covered wooden side deck with multiple neon-lit beer insignias plus a nifty green T-Rex model and aquamarine turtle mural.

An L-shaped railroad tie-sided bar stretches across the front end to the rear where the pale blue walls melt into grey sky walls. Five tables snake around the multi-draught stationed bar and two rear tables offer more seating.

My wife and I with Roscoe the dog grabbed one of those back tables to sample all four available house brews this seasonably warm Saturday in early January ’21. Cannon’s appealing midrange fare went well with my yellowfin tuna sushi. But all the sandwiches, wraps, apps and ‘seafood pasta’ health-oriented dishes looked great.

Gary's Dewey Beach Grill /38° -75° Brewing - Gary's Dewey Beach Grill / 38-75 Brewing

Three of Gary’s blue collar offerings this mid-afternoon were interconnected by rye wheat. Traditional farmhouse ale, For Your Ryes Only, allowed saison-like herbal lemon zesting to ride above mild rye spicing while Malt-forward ESB, Bucket O’ Parts, let buttered rye breading pickup subtle spiced orange zesting as its whimsical sweet potato adjunct faded.

Grassy citrus-juiced Comet hops fortified the rye-spiced black tea sedation and chocolate-daubed carapils malting of Holly’s Comet, a casual dry-hopped India Pale Ale.

Soaked in Jim Beam for three days, mild Scotch-licked dark chocolate malting delicately paced Cleveland Beamer, an oak-chipped brown ale with nutty toffee spicing and drifting perfume-hopped pekoe tea snips.

BULL & GOAT BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

Bull and Goat Brewery - Brewery - Centreville, Maryland | Facebook - 529 Photos

CENTREVILLE, MARYLAND

Originally occupying a nearby garage, downtown Centreville’s BULL & GOAT BREWERY spent three years at its initial site before residing at its current home in a newly developed Industrial tan and maroon complex since 2019.

Bull & Goat’s humbly intimate Brit pub-like setting features a four-seat penny-engraved wood-lacquered bar, comfy living room furnishings and beautiful local artwork on the walls. Five wood tables and seating along the copper reddish wall fill up the cozy interior. Two draught stations pour a variety of lagers and ales listed on the green board towards the rear.

Raised on blue collar macrobrews such as Miller, Schmidts and Ballantine, co-owning brewer Jeff Putman went west and discovered many diverse beer styles years back. He became a homebrewer with a five-gallon system making “shitty beers” before hooking up with friend, Jacob Heimbuch. Besides operating Bull & Goat’s seven barrel brewroom, they’ve also begun distilling whiskey and bourbon and buying rye barrels to pitch beer – allowing two great choices (craft beer and spirits) to co-exist under one roof.

My wife and I try all available selections this sunny January ’21 afternoon.

204 BANJO LN #C Centreville MD - Hoffman Murphy Team

Delicate wet-grained musk hovered thru the raw-honeyed tea leafing of Prom Dress Lager, leading maize-dried herbal hops to its recessive biscuit-like carapils base.

Honeyed amber graining fortified Frank, a floral-wafted English amber ale with spicy orange-red-yellow fruiting dampened by leafy hop foliage.

Sourdough breaded Vienna malting topped dewy mineral graining and floral-spiced wisps for Test Batch Marzen.

Spritzy Orangina-like pale ale, Orangesicle, obtained more lactose souring than vanilla creaming and mandarin orange tanginess.

Simply affable kolsch, Queen Anne’s Revenge, let mild lactic acidity saturate lemon-rotted Saaz hop herbage and dewy wet grains for a slightly sour take on the champagne-snipped German style.

Easygoing kettle-soured Berliner Weiss, Special Occasion, allowed tart raspberry compote to pervade limey blueberry tanginess and mild lemon-salted cherry rhubarb piquancy.

Musky earthen pine resin saturated dry-bodied 67 IPA, leaving zesty grapefruit, pineapple and orange spicing in the dust.

Brisk Double IPA, Baba Yaga, seeped mild cologne-perfumed citric hop bittering into spruce-tipped juniper nips and coniferous fern pining.

Sweet floral-spiced pineapple, orange and grapefruit tanginess and zesty lemon snazz pervaded Tooshie, a briskly fruited New England IPA.

Dry mocha-doused full body, Front Street Porter, coalesced dark chocolate malting with burnt coffee bittering over mildly charred hops.

Tootsie Roll-like Babushka Imperial Stout, the perfect chocolate dessert treat, let sugary toffee spicing increase the sweet mocha intensity.

For an interesting cider turnabout, off-dry Sparkling Pear brought lactose-soured champagne spritz to sugary cotton-candied marshmallow sweetness.

CULT CLASSIC BREWERY & TAPROOM

United States Brewpubs,

Cult Classic Brewery 1169 Shopping Center Rd Stevensville, MD Pubs - MapQuest

STEVENSVILLE, MARYLAND

At a sprawling shopping mall in the Kent Island-bound town of Stevensville (fifteen minutes east of Annapolis), CULT CLASSIC BREWERY & TAPROOM opened in 2018. A glass-windowed closed-in front patio with black metal furnishings leads to the movie-themed taproom (a former grocery store).

Inside, the family friendly pub run by head brewers Jesse and Brooks Mc New offers a popular assortment of stylish brews to go alongside wings-pizza-burgers. Running a home brew shop for twenty years before Cult Classic culminated, the Mc New’s sought to offer a live venue for local music artists as well.

The cement-floored, gray-walled interior features a small stage area fronting the Edison-lighted elongated bar. Colorful framed pictures of glitzy Hollywood theatre stars jazz up the snazzy place.

A large brew room windowing the spacious 12-plus draught bar contains an array of silver stainless steel tanks and its bulky size allows for imminent expansion. Special Cult-tails such as mules, White Russians, vodka crushes and Margaritas are also available.

My wife and I grab seats at the bar and try eight fine libations.

Cult Classic Brewing Company – beer! cocktails! pizza! wings!Attack of the Strawberry Blonde! - Cult Classic Brewing Co. - Untappd

Summery centrist flagship, Attack Of The Strawberry Blonde!, allowed candied strawberry tartness to fade softly above delicate hop astringency to its wispy white wheat base.

Lemony banana-coriander sweetness and mandarin orange snips caressed honeyed wheat for summery light-bodied Witbier.

Raw-grained sour mash swept across herbal Noble hops for Kolsch, an easygoing straw-cleared moderation.

Soft-tongued sour ale, Proof Of Life – Pink Guava/Blueberry, plied subtle pink guava salting to mild blueberry tartness and pleasant passionfruit whims.

Pureed blood orange moderation, Equals Beer, a variant IPA, let spritzy grapefruit-tangerine zesting tickle its amber-grained biscuit base.

Enthusiastic New England-styled The IPA When the Earth Stood Still brought tropical grapefruit, orange, pineapple, peach, mango and nectarine sunshine to its sugary pale malt retreat.

Pine-dried grapefruit, orange and tangerine bittering burst forth for Zappa IPA, a briskly clean, less authentic New England-styled version.

Robust English-styled Porter let dark-roasted mocha nuttiness top toffee-spiced dried fruiting contrasting scant hop char.

WARBLER BREWERY

United States Brewpubs,

The Warbler Brewery | Delmar, NY | Beers | BeerAdvocate

DELMAR, NEW YORK

On the way back home from Schenectady one Saturday afternoon in December ’20, visited newly opened Delmar watering hole, WARBLER BREWERY, a friendly cafe-styled pub just outside Albany.

Along Route 443 off the New York Thruway, Warbler’s spot-on recipes gained appreciation as I imbibed each winning elixir at the small freestanding brick bar. Its wood tables and picnic  benches front the pale green-walled interior of this cozy lounge. The beautiful wood floors reach the red-green tiled midsection where the green slate-topped bar featured nine glass-backed tap handles. Framed photos of namesake warbler birds line the walls as the Jets choke to the Raiders on the big-screen TV above my head at one of the picnic tables.

Local entrepreneurial brewer, Chris Schell, a highly experienced craftsman, previously worked at Cooperstown, Butternut and Robin Hood breweries. Since Schell’s shop’s only been open a few days, there are only four homemade beers readied, but each had its own steadied personality and crisp foundation.

New brewery, taproom coming to DelmarBEER | The Warbler Brewery

Smoothly effervescent dry pale-malted flagship, Pale Ale, retained mildly spiced lemony orange tanginess with grassy hop astringency contrasting delicate floral whims in a stylishly moderate setting.

Another winning flagship, New England-styled IPA, Dissimulation, placated its yogurt-soured lemondrop souring with slightly bitter orange rind, grapefruit peel and pineapple tartness over dry pale malts.

Brisk Imperial IPA, Wolfjaw, let mild lemon zest brighten its tangy grapefruit, orange and pineapple tropicalia above oated wheat-flaked malts.

Madagascar vanilla beans received bittersweet coffee-burnt cocoa tones for Flurpy, a dark chocolate-y pastry stout.

Future Flurpy offshoots were promised as I depart – specifically a Peanut Butter & Jelly version as well as a S’mores knockoff.

CAVE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Lagers Need Love Too – Caveman Makes Beer Year Round With CoolBot

BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside a detached garage at a rural residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Bethlehem lies fledging Lehigh Valley nanobrewery CAVE BREWING COMPANY. Taking a temporary step back from its original 3,400 square-foot South Mall locale (opened November 2018), Cave decided to scale down in the interim due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

An “underground under radar” small batch brewery created by Jeff Bonner, Cave’s future success will be guaranteed thanks to its well-crafted (usually one-off) fare. Inside his crowded two-room garage, a respectable can-bottle collection surrounds the above-head shelving and a beautiful hand-crafted wood top serving station sits in the midst.

I got to try four Cave brews at home afterwards and all were rewarding. Though I missed Blind Eye Barleywine for now,  there was a hefeweizen, Imperial IPA, oatmeal stout and strong ale to enjoy during December ’20 football games two days hence.

One step beyond a simply sweet hefeweizen, El Heffe Wheat stayed tart as lemon-rotted plantain, tannic green grape and dry cider illusions relegated its stylish banana-clove sweetness.

Smoothly crystalline New England India Pale Ale, HAF 5.0, a bold dry body, brought vodka-nipped tropical fruiting to juniper-embittered pine resin and mild whiskey-soured lemon juicing, leaving musky alcohol esters upon its ancillary black tea earthiness.

Muskier still, ethanol-grained 9.5% ABV strong ale, Blurred Vision, let bittersweet hard cider tartness and orange-rotted souring whither to peated Scotch-malted sweetness.

Inspired by one of Bonner’s s favorite brews – Bert Grant’s Imperial Stout, Bert’s Imperial Oatmeal Stout placed mellow dark chocolate-roasted coffee creaming alongside molasses-sugared oats and fudged toffee to contrast its peaty hop-roasted earthiness, picking up tertiary cola, hazelnut, vanilla and dark cherry snips. Splendid!

MC CALL COLLECTIVE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

McCall Brewing's New Taphouse In Breinigsville To Open Saturday, May 28th - Breweries in PA

ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside a gothic dormer-windowed Victorian homestead, Allentown’s charmingly wood-furnished beer cafe, MC CALL COLLECTIVE BREWING COMPANY, opened August 29, 2020 and soon moved to nearby Breinigsville -see photo above. Family-owned and operated by Kaitlin, Chris and Matthew Mc Call, whose colorfully designed array of beers flow from two 12-tap draught stations, this homey neighborhood street-cornered  brewhouse also features fine traditional pub fare, local wines and craft spirits.

Detailing Mc Call Collective’s parlor-like ambience are the standard cafeteria tables, low exposed pipes, steel-framed studio lights, hanging pendant lamps and light Industrial sway. Right side silver brew tanks and a few windowed seats take up the rest of this cozily refined first floor space.

Gathering at the gray L-shaped marble top bar, my wife and I grab eleven brews early in the afternoon during December ’20 at the original site pictured below.

McCall Collective brewery opening Saturday in Allentown – The Morning Call

Mild light lager, the spitefully snickering Lyte Done Ryte, offered a devious alternative to superficial Miller-Coors-Bud fodder. Its pleasantly spiced lemon-sugared spritz picked up wispy white wine esters and grassy hop musk over casual oats flaked graining.

Easygoing autumnal marzen, Better Call Fall, let dewy leafy-hopped foliage settle alongside crisp amber-grained toasting as spicy dried fruiting wavered below.

Lemon-peeled orange tanginess brightened Collective Contributions Wheat Ale, a brisk Mosaic/ El Dorado-hopped moderation hiding bready biscuit malts.

A fleeting corn-malted lemon spurt received resinous Nugget hop herbage and spicy floral accents for traditional cream ale, Shucksquehanna.

Spruce-tipped double dry-hopped West Coast Pale Ale, I Voted Today, contrasted its juniper-nipped hop pining with orange cotton-candied sugaring and wafting floral sweetness above gentle wheat wafer flouring.

Knocking off a cinnamon donut pastry, adjunct blonde ale, Cinnablonde, crossed its initial sugary dough spicing with lactose-soured lemon tartness and delicate citric-hopped astringency.

Tart peach goodness soaked up lemon-soured green grape esters for Berliner Weiss, Peach Hittin’ Dingers, leaving wispy apricot, tangerine and lime nips.

Sessionable Little Lehigh India Pale Ale stayed smooth as lemony grapefruit briskness and mandarin orange tartness invited modest piney hop astringency.

Juicily tropical-fruited ‘hazy’ NEIPA, Lehigh IPA, stepped forward with its tangy pineapple, mango and orange glaze gaining sweet nectarine and tart plantain illusions to push back the resinous piney hop pungency.

Coffee-roasted amber graining embedded caramelized toffee malts for Roast Malone, an adjunct red ale with red and orange fruiting nipping at the mild mocha influence.

Decadent stroop-waffled cookie wafer knockoff, Stroop Kid Imperial Stroopwafel Stout, added dark chocolate syrup to pastry-sugared cinnamon raisin breading, molasses cookie sweetness and mild vanilla creaming.   

SEVEN SIRENS BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Seven Sirens Converts Parking Garage In Bethlehem To Future Brewery - Breweries in PA

BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA

Occupying a spacious 8,500 square-foot converted garage, SEVEN SIRENS BREWING COMPANY came to fruition Valentine’s Day 2020. The Bethlehem-based beer hall’s rustic simplicity gets reinforced by its beautiful antique oak-mantled bar (with old fashion subway tiles and 20-plus draught handles), wagon wheel light fixtures, round metal tables, epoxy floor and exposed pipes.

A sturdy blue-stained concrete bar top complements the ocean blue-lit art display at the aquamarine-walled right side (with skeeball game). A few window seats and community tables fill out the front while brew tanks crowd the rear section. The rooftop beergarden adds extra seating and the Sirens Lair above the brewhouse is available for overnight visitors. A mid-floor open space shows off kegs assembled as a Christmas tree for the upcoming holiday.

Head brewer Joshua Divers was a former Sam Adams Longshot Homebrew competitor whose beers range far and wide from hazy IPA’s to a smoked red ale to a nitro stout and lactic sour on my initial perusal.

Though Seven Sirens is out of its best-selling mainstays, Stargazer IPA, and Hands-Free Satchel Milkshake IPA, my wife and I tried a dozen fab elixirs during our two-hour Friday night stay, early December ’20.

Seven Sirens Brewing Company – Beer that sings to you! Seven Sirens Brewing Company  Seven Sirens Brewing Company Case Study | Fromm

Sweet oats sugaring picked up leafy Chinook-hopped oiling for soft-toned Harvey’s Tale, an autumnal harvest ale with desolate orange fruiting slipping into amber-grained Maris Otter malting.  

Another fall seasonal, Where’s My Uggs, a pumpkin-spiced pale ale soaked in rum oak staves, let perfumed ginger cologne upstage cinnamon-nutmeg sweetness and syrupy yam snips.

Cherrywood-smoked maple syruping sweetened alongside bacon-fatty cured meatiness for Liquid Breakfast Smoked Red Ale, a rauchbier-inspired moderation with earthen amber graining and light rye tones.

Wayward wintry-spiced saison, Pardon My French, let candied orange spicing, dry cherry licks and crystal-malted caramelized Scotch licks lay atop biscuit flouring.

Lactic tropical fruit waxing guided Dor Ray Doe, a Session IPA with wafting lemon cologne, delicate white wheated minerality and dry El Dorado/Azacca-hopped sour-candied tartness.

Another sessionable IPA, Smashin’ Passion, spread tart passionfruit goodness all over salted green grape-guava-kiwi tropicalia and grassy pine wisps.

Soft-toned, double dry-hopped Full Battle Rattle IPA brought perfumed citrus alacrity to earthen pine resin that seeped into pilsner-malted white wheat.

Mellow New England IPA, Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, permitted yellow Pez-candied tartness to saturate mandarin orange, dry gin and herbal licks in a grassy hop setting.  

Smoothly creamed lactose sugaring guarded beige yellow-hazed double dry-hopped NEIPA, Please Scroll Up, allowing juniper-embittered grapefruit juicing to mingle with sour lemon liming and modest peppery spicing.

Yet another hazy NEIPA, Not So Silent Night, a tartly sour ale conditioned on banana, passionfruit and strawberry, put limey pomegranate acidity into its celery-watered herbage while its three adjunct fruits meandered.

Sweet-tart Zangerine Sour, a lactose-aided ale conditioned on tangerine-peeled cranberry, gained lightly salted citrus acidity and Pez-like powder-candied tartness.

Fascinating Irish Car Bomb knockoff, Cormac’s Revenge Nitro Stout, brought fudgy brown and white chocolate creaminess to the fore as caramelized vanilla, dry cocoa, caffe latte, chocolate eclair, creme brulee and black cherry notions circulated.

BRU DADDY’S BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Brü Daddy's Brewing | Allentown PA Brewery & Restaurant

ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside an elongated red brick Speakeasy built during 1849, BRU DADDY’S BREWING CO. opened for biz November ’19. Its antique art deco tin ceiling, chalky brick-walled interior and authentic Italian-tiled pizza oven provide perfect Prohibition Era relics while the gated right side beer garden with black metal trellis adds picnic-tabled seating.

Entrepreneurial owner Kevin Ryan, whose high school research project concerned beer fermentation, became a home brewer before handling the large-scale operation at this regal downtown Allentown spot (one block from Fegley’s Brew Works).

Recently, Ryan handed head brewing duties to Todd Reinhart, who’d worked at Free Will and Two Rivers breweries. Using Oxford, Ohio’s Steinkeller Bavarian Bier Hall as its interior design model, Bru Daddy’s liquid fare runs the gamut from German styled creations (a marzen and schwarzbier during this stopover) to Americanized IPA’s, a Belgian quad, porter, nitro cream ale, wheat ale and sour ale.

As I sit at the white marbled bar early December ’20, there are 30-plus tap handles (at two separate stations), a big blackboard beer listing and several TV’s. Near the front window are a few tables and down a narrow hall past the kitchen is the silver tank-laden, cement-floored brew room. A metal staircase leads to the loft dining space.

My wife and I loved the Rocket Root Prosciutto Pizza while consuming eleven delightful elixirs.

BRU DADDY'S Brewing Co. Restaurant - Allentown, PA | OpenTable  Trivia Night at Brü Daddy's

Silken nitrogenated moderation, Oh Jenny Jenny Cream Ale, let muted maize-dried oats pick up sour lemon rot, tart rhubarb and earthen root veg notions.

Traditional German marzen, Vaterfest, stayed subtle as sweet peat mossing, leafy hop foliage and tart orange-rotted fig placate mild vegetal fungi earthiness over Blackstrap molasses-dipped Vienna malting.

Stylishly hybridized wheat ale, American Harmony, lent lime-salted bittering to musky honey blossom perfuming, sweet clover honey mildness and dark floral notions atop wild oats flouring.   

‘Beautifully complex’ Odd Quad of Todd, a candi-sugared Belgian dark ale conditioned on Iraqi date syrup, brought crystal malt-spiced raisin, plum and fig to caramelized date in a soothingly dried fruited glaze.

Tropical fruited New England Pale Ale, Soldiers & Sailors, unloaded orange-juiced mango, guava and pineapple tanginess all over grassy hop astringency.

Flagship double dry-hopped NEIPA, Haze Daddy, retained a mellow grapefruit-juiced orange rind bittering, pine-licked grassy hop astringency and spicy crystal malt tingle.

Zestful Imperial IPA, Grandaddy Haze: 2nd Edition, let candied orange, salted mango and tangy pineapple reach tropical effervescence above its gentle wheated oats base.

Lactic Imperial IPA, Center Square “State Of Mind”, engaged yogurt-milked souring with low-key peach and mango pureed adjuncts, gaining citrus-juiced piney hop resin at the brisk finish.

Tart oaken cherry-pureed cranberry juicing graced mildly lactic Sour Senorita: Cran-Cherry, an effervescent sour-candied sucker with hard cider hints.

Dark-lagered bittersweet chocolate malts and roasted hop char combined with withered dried fruiting for satisfying schwarzbier, Black Sheep, leaving day-old coffee tones upon the chalky mocha backend.

S’mores-like lactose porter, Camp Sandwich, conditioned on Madagascar vanilla and cocoa nibs, wedged marshmallow-toasted chocolate sweetness into its honeyed Graham Cracker base for a decadent vanilla mocha dessert treat.