OCEAN VIEW, NEW JERSEY
Inside a gray aluminum warehouse right off the NJ Parkway in Ocean View, LUDLAM ISLAND BREWERY opened its doors in 2016. A wood sign with baby blue Ludlam Island emblem guards the entrance to the large-scale microbrewery.
There are large brew tanks serving the silver-topped serving station in the meager cement-floored pub room (featuring five bar stools, slight center table wall seating). Ludlam Island began canning recently. My wife and I tossed down eight worthy brews that displayed colorful flavor profiles on a cool Friday evening, February '20.
Soft-toned floral citrus tang rode atop herbal oats-dried German pilsner malting for Lawn Chair Hoppy Pilsner, picking up mild melon-guava-gooseberry souring and leathery barnyard acridity.
Easygoing orange-juiced lemon zesting and yellow grapefruit tang fronted Fish Alley IPA, an amber-hazed moderation with sticky pine resin coating its dry pale malt spine.
Lactic vanilla-creamed strawberry bluster hoisted yogurt-soured yellow grapefruit bittering to contrast tangy tangerine juicing for Creamsickle-like dessert treasure, Thickie Strawberry Milkshake IPA, leaving Peach Melba, strawberry shortcake and vanilla cake illusions in its wake.
Tangy yellow grapefruit spicing and light wood dankness marked sunny moderate-medium body Water Guns & Rainbows IPA.
Tropical-fruited DIPA #2, a yellow-hazed New England India Pale Ale, laced tidy gooseberry-guava souring with nestled juniper bittering to contrast mango-salted pineapple, peach and grapefruit tanginess.
Ashen walnut and salted peanut roast gained sour dried fruiting for Bay Muck Brown Ale.
Creamily decadent Double Polar Bear Smoked Vanilla Porter (10% ABV) allowed smoky vanilla beans to serenade hazelnut-glazed brown chocolate sweetness and dried cocoa powdering.
Spectacular Whiskey Barrel-aged Polar Bear Vanilla Porter brought lusciously silken bourbon vanilla sweetness to brown chocolate, dark cherry, toasted coconut and hazelnut pleasantries.
Conditioned on lemon zest, wonderful lactic kettle-soured Aviaphobia brought salty mango and strawberry adjuncts to piquant orange-juiced pulpiness above tart yogurt-milked acidulated malts.
Succulent hazy beige-yellowed Caught In The Trees IPA, conditioned on vanilla, maintained a pastry-like powdered sugaring for its sweet orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess, leaving orange-caked pineapple frosting on the flaky fruit pie-crusted finish.
Sharply citric-spiced, saffron beige-hazed It Fell On Deaf Ears Imperial IPA brought fresh pine needling to juicy lemon, grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess.
Lovely milk chocolate sweetness pervaded confectionery dessert, Humdrum Existent Imperial Stout, bringing subtle cream-sugared coffee, burnt caramel, toffee and dried cherry illusions along for the cheery chocolate finish. 
FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY
Moving from its mall-bound digs in Raritan to a sterling gray aluminum-sided Flemington warehouse fourteen miles west in January 2020, CONCLAVE BREWING has seen an increasing demand for their crisp elixirs since getting licensed five years hence.
Conclave now joins Lone Eagle as a Flemington brewery fixture. Several community tables dot the midsized Edison light-fixtured pub space. The marbleized amber concrete floor glazes the interior and the compact serving station features at least sixteen tap handles. The large high-ceilinged left room brew tanks climb towards the sky and further expansion in this gargantuan microbrew space seems inevitable.
RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY
Right in downtown Rahway not far Union County Performing Arts Center and a historic Jersey reformatory, WET TICKET BREWING started slinging suds at its Main Street location December '16.
Inside a store-windowed neighborhood shop, Wet Ticket's friendly serving center belies its huge gray-floored operational brewing backspace (with three community tables between tanks, stout barrels and kegs).
There are fourteen taps at the rustic stainless steel-topped, metal-seated, L-shaped serving station while the opposing left wall features a surfboard and snowboard and mod art. Front window seating is also available at the friendly town pub.
Brewer Tim Pewitt's brusquely robust stylistic endeavors included two yummy stouts and a porter alongside three briskly clean IPA's, a distinct kolsch and easygoing pilsner this sunny February '20 afternoon.
Sessionable clear-paled light body, Perfectly Played Pils, placated its gentle oats-dried pilsner malting, delicate maize-dried leathering and sweet rice nicety with modestly herbaceous Noble hop musk.
Just as smoothly tranquil, Kolsch Ale, sustained a crisply clean watered flow with subtle lemon-dried tartness linked to freshly mown grassy hops, mild lemongrass herbage and frisky fungi fringe in a briskly incisive manner.
Well-balanced amber-bronzed Imperial IPA, Dream Ticket, thrusted forth with zesty grapefruit and orange peel sunshine, allowing perfume-oiled pineapple, peach and tangerine tropicalia to seep inside dewy pale malts.
Polite amber-hazed New England IPA, Fully Juiced, revealed zesty grapefruit, orange and pineapple vibrancy for its wispy vanilla yogurt milked souring.
Lactose-aided NEIPA, Galaxy Shaker, lifted salted mango-grapefruit zesting and floral-tinged pineapple-peach-passionfruit tang above vanilla-creamed pale malt sugaring (leaving an herbal tinge on the juicy fruited finish).
Richly dark-roast nuttiness anchored Pecan Porter, contrasting cedar-seared walnut char with maple molasses-sugared tobacco roast over dark chocolate bittering.
Black-peppered cocoa nibs serenaded Mexican Chocolate Stout, a maple oats-sugared mocha treat with ashen hop bittering and warming cinnamon cocoa finish.
Nutty cocoa-driven Imperial Oatmeal Stout let sweet milk chocolate goodness and maple oats sugaring contrast embittered Blackstrap molasses-draped dark chocolate syruping in fulsome mocha setting. 
HONESDALE, PENNSYLVANIA
Right in the heart of Honesdale, the valleyed 'birth place of America's railroad,' HERE & NOW BREWING COMPANY occupies a historic downtown red brick building. Salvaging the rustic charm of yesteryear while making well-balanced beers and fabulous stone-oven pizza (plus casual appetizers and entrees), Here & Now opened July '17.
A pre-prohibition feel is created by the dark grey windowed frontage, exposed brick and pipe interior, old wood floors, bronze tin ceiling and moody lighting, preserving the glorious antiquity of this bucolic Northeast Pennsylvania community.
The wood furnished bar, stools, tables and chairs match the elegant countryside warmth. The left side stripped plaster wall features colorful art and the open kitchen extends to the rear.
Minion brewer, Roy Holm, works the seven-barrel steam system and one barrel experimental tank.
Alongside the worthy brews, Here & Now's proud of its farm-to-table food from scratch and liquor-infused drinks.
This was my second visit to Here & Now, January '20.
HAWLEY, PENNSYLVANIA
Thirty miles east of Scranton in the waterfalls-bound small town of Hawley, HOPPING EAGLE BREWING CO. opened for business August 29, 2019 inside abundant gray-stoned, castle-like Hawley Silk Mill.
Utilizing a rustic nano system, Hopping Eagle featured nine taps and one nitro draught during my one-hour January '20 stopover. A pristine warehouse space with mahogany-fronted L-shaped central bar, slat wood floor, high ceilings, exposed pipes and mason jarred Edison lights, its wood paneled back deck adds further seating to the interior's six small tables.
Crafting rangy traditional fare with well-balanced appeal, Hopping Eagle's friendly suds never go too far-out to please distinguished contemporary imbibers as well as curious mainstream cats.
I tried all nine offerings while speaking to co-brewer Ronnie Passaro just before dinnertime.
PORT JERVIS, NEW YORK
Located in the heart of downtown Port Jervis on Front Street, FOX N HARE BREWING COMPANY came to fruition during 2016. A renovated ground-floored public house, its 20-seat central wood bar services the left side dining area and opposing brew room (with large basement-leveled silver brew tanks peeking out).
Fox N Hare's cavernous rusticity, exposed brick and pipes and storied brown ceiling tiles create an authentic Old World charm while a beautiful back-walled green and yellow-hued Fox N Hare mural completes the score.
Head brewer, Sean Donnelly, cut his teeth brewing at acclaimed Queens-based Singlecut Beersmiths while working in Manhattan bartending for iconoclastic beer joint, Ginger Man. He then relocated to Port Jervis to start this worthy venture.
Besides featuring a dozen tapped beers, there's a juicer at work for Sunday brunch this snow-filled January '20 sojourn.
Using locally sourced ingredients for its balanced brews and efficient pub fare, Fox N Hare also benefits from the town's amazingly consistent soft-watered Delaware River minerality.
I grabbed a spot at the brewroom's modern art-displayed side wall counter to sample five tasty suds while watching football playoffs on the big screen TV.
Lemon-dropped banana and clove tartness secured Hillside Harvest Hefeweizen, a casual moderate body with salt-licked herbal nuances and soapy mandarin orange zesting.
Stylishly subtle New England IPA, Hop On The Bus, placed sour guava, tart pineapple, bitter grapefruit and tangy mandarin orange alongside waxy crayon soaping as well as teensy peach-tangerine-mango snips to contrast its resinous pine tones.
Moderately dry medium-bodied Hop Forward IPA brought oak-pined woodiness to its bitter grapefruit and orange pith zing as mild floral herbage sets in and tertiary clementine, peach, papaya and pear illusions flutter.
While almond-roasted dark chocolate consumed burnt-toasted Night Shadow Imperial Stout, its 2018 cellared version gained dark cocoa bittering, charred nuttiness and sour dried fruiting to envelop the musty basement mossing.
Aged on Tanzanian Peaberry coffee beans, Dark Pastures Milk Stout allowed lactic milk chocolate sweetness to spread across its espresso-dried java interior, leaving wispy cedar-chipped almond and pureed black cherry snips in its moderately rich mocha wake. 
SUDLERSVILLE, MARYLAND
A snack-sized shack smack dab in a rural animal farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore, PATRIOT ACRES became the region's first farm brewery around 2017. Entrepreneurial married brewers, Brian and Shauna Truitt, craft some of the best soft-toned suds you'll ever experience. Brian Truitt, an Army vet first compelled to unwind by basement brewing, soon expanded his scope and opened this ambitious family-owned 100-acre nanobrewery thereafter.
Enjoying a wide variety of beers gave the Truitt's a keen sense for Patriot Acre's stylishly traditional recipes. Adjoining the rustic pub (with eight draught handles and back-roomed brewtanks) is an enclosed deck with heaters. There's also outside seating amongst the free range chickens, sheep, goat, alpacas and guardian sheepdogs.
A few ducks sit at the table behind the swivel-seated wood-topped serving station alongside several happy patrons while I sample seven tidily crisp handcrafted beers and one fine cider during a beautifully sunny seventy-degree January '20 afternoon.
For starters, sweet champagne yeast fortified Fastcar Hard Pear Cider, lacing its candied apple tartness with syrupy Bosc pear splendor.
Casual light-bodied pilsner, Thunderbird Light, contrasted wispy maize-dried barnyard astringency with corn-sugared pale malting in a delicate herbal hop setting.
Mildly caramel-toasted graining subtly sweetened the herbal hop stead of easygoing lager, Olivers Amber.
Dewy peat moss saddled bi-coastal Goffer English IPA, a muskily mineral grained British styling with sweet Maris Otter malts securing Americanized citric-piney hop bittering (a la brisk lemon, grapefruit and orange peel zesting).
Even better, ultra-smooth fruit juiced IPA, Mugatu's Mosaic, brought peachy mango, grapefruit, orange, pineapple and tangerine tanginess to the dry-hopped 'Mosaic' above sugary pale malts.
Earning the title of 'first beer brewed onsite,' tantalizingly sweet Stormy Stout let dark chocolate syruping drape maple molasses oats and subsidiary vanilla, espresso, fudge and cocoa niceties with confectionary precision.
Using Stormy Stout as its base, peanut butter-oiled nitro stout, Brian's Peanut Butter Delight, brought mild chocolate-vanilla creaming and wispy black cherry/ black grape nuances to its PB&J likability.
For a solid sendoff, light-roast coffee tones engaged delightful java alternative, One Eyed Penny Coffee Porter, leaving milky espresso and café au lait undertones upon the soily earthen bottom.
patriotacresfarmbrewery.com