Category Archives: United States Brewpubs

DOUBLE TAP BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Double Tap Brewing

WHIPPANY, NEW JERSEY

At a former flooded red brick post office in the Morris County town of Whippany, DOUBLE TAP BREWING opened its doors Labor Day, ’22. Inspired by Morris County’s colonial heritage and Ben Franklin’s description of New Jersey as “a keg tapped at both ends” by New York City and Philadelphia, Double Tap’s the brainchild of homebrewers John Coyle, Todd Townsend, Chris Mock, Jared Dougherty, and Jeff Mauriello, who met at regional homebrew competitions.

Steppin’ up to the eight-stooled stamp-pressed wood top bar, there are twenty-plus draught handles plus one pull-handled tap. The epoxy-floored pub also includes wood-metal tables, a loungey couch area and back-roomed windowed brew tanks.

Pendant lighting fills the one-room space and opposing TV’s at the bar show today’s pro football games. Blues music by Johnny Winter, BB King, and more plays as I consume all sixteen beers Double Tap had to offer on this cool Sunday afternoon in November ’23.

Easygoing cream ale, Friday’s For Da Werkas, let lemony grapefruit effervesence pick up mild herbal hop musk contrasting sweet corn sugaring under its fluffy vanilla-daubed head.

Another splendidly effervescent lightweight, spritzy Italian pilsner, The Boot, brought lemon-candied souring and mild floral-spiced herbage to muskily grained pilsner malting.

Festive light-bodied Oktoberfest, Take Me To Your Litre, tucked mild lemon musk inside grassy hop astringency contrasting its softly creamed honeyed Vienna malting.

Tropical fruited wheat ale, The Wheatorious P.O.G., snuck guava, passionfruit and orange adjuncts into its soft oats spine, leaving ancillary grapefruit-pineapple bittering and salted mango-kiwi snips at the powdered candied Jolly Rancher finish.

Pineapple habanero wheat ale, Tropic Heat, received mild habanero peppered heat for its tangy pineapple ripeness and floral citrus scurry.

Utilizing a piney citrus West Coast IPA recipe, Wren Song Pale Ale placed subtle dry lemony orange bittering above sugary pale malts.

Best selling Bent Brim Hazy India Pale Ale relinquished vibrant tropical fruiting as advertised Galaxy-Citra-Strata-hopped pineapple, mango and melon juicing, tangy orange-peeled grapefruit briskness and candied gumball souring retained dank pine-lacquered cannabis resin.

Another hazy IPA, Monotone Pilot, coalesced tangy tangerine, sour guava and citric passionfruit above lightly creamed oated wheat.

“Tropical flora” engaged smoothly clean NEIPA, Flood Plain, guiding orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple and tangelo tanginess into mild piney bittering over vanilla-creamed oats.

Sessionable IPA, Low Hanging Fruit, merged lemony passionfruit, tart tangerine and white peach above fluffily oated wheat creaming.

Uniquely unconventional Basil Hayden bourbon-barreled saison, Postmaster General, let perfumed gin botanicals and buttery Chardonnay wined green grape tannins receive dry rustic barnyard acridity, finishing with a slight bourbon whiskey whisk.

‘Smooth brown ale,’ I Got A Rock Great Pumpkin Ale, allowed chai tea spicing to infiltrate caramelized pumpkin sweetness, anise-cologned vanilla tannins and dark chocolate whims.

Bettering most nebulous schwarzbier competition, Tightrope combined cocoa-powdered chocolate malting with earthen wood, burnt cedar, pine nut and Brazil nut illusions.

Wood-aged schwarzbier, Oakrope, sent mildly creamed dewy peat, oak-toasted rye whiskey and nutty wattleseed snips to a dry chocolate stead.

Fluffily creamed nitrogenated English pub ale, Nigel’s Daily (cask style), let dewy peat mossing and Fuggle hop herbage reach cardboardy caramelized wheat malts.

Lightly charred dark-roast coffee imbibed English-style porter, Nitro Pessimist, leaving walnut-seared dark chocolate on its nutty backend.

 

PERSONAL BEST BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Personal Best Brewing

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Opened summer ’23 in a high-ceilinged 8,000 square-foot warehouse a few blocks from the town center, PERSONAL BEST BREWING is helping to lead Ithaca’s downtown revitalization. A multifarious concrete floored venue with roomy picnic-tabled pub area, large overhead-doored indoor shuffleboard room and grassy enclosed biergarten (with firepits and outdoor games), Personal Best’s entrepreneurial head brewer, Anthony Cesari, slung 22 precision-detailed beers on my initial November ’23 Saturday afternoon sojourn.

A former city health club, Personal Best got the wheels in motion fairly quickly for an independent microbrewery. Cesari’s lively suds depend on efficient stylistic clarity, mild recipe risking, unconfined malted hop blends and the beautiful Finger Lakes water source.

Whereas nearby Revelry Yards relies on steadfast authenticity re-creating popular beer styles, Personal Best has a more expansive lineup of individually diversified, wider ranging and impressively meticulous brews.

At the 20 wood-seat, slate-topped central bar, there’s a gray brick-walled draught station and to the left are the sterling state-of-the-art silver brew tanks and fermenters. A small right side kitchen serves fine pub fare. Wood beams, lights and pipes hang from the exposed wood-trestle ceiling.

Crisply dry-hopped Italian pilsner, Rental Shoes, let lemon-candied herbage pick up floral-spiced perfuming over corny pilsner malts.

Maize-dried spelt and millet graining anchored Nostalgic Value, a rustic corn lager with musty barnyard acridity countering mild citrus spicing.

Festive autumn lager, Ritual Consumption, pleated leafy hop astringency into desiccated orange spicing and musty raw grained minerality.

Peculiar rye lager variant, Short Ride, utilized IPA-related Nelson Sauvin and Moteuka hops to enable lemony green grape and guava souring to penetrate its dry rye bed.

Musky English pale ale, Cone Poem, retained a dry herbal fungi mustiness for its dusky floral-daubed peach and apricot splotch.

Another English-styled ‘pub ale,’ Cult Status, splattered lemon zest across rye-dried pumpernickel, peppery herbage and papery gluiness.

Dryly sea-salted coriander consumed the cologne-perfumed lemon lime zesting of tequila-twisted, agave-doused Gose Dubbed Over, a ‘tart wheat ale’ with champagne grape esters reaching its acidulated malt base (and informed by a Margarita cocktail).

Meanwhile, classic sea-salted coriander spicing gained mild limey bittering and wispy herbage for Adult Gose Tour, a grassy-hopped gose.

Summery kolsch, Another Scorcher, let champagne-sparkled green grape esters get secured by grassy hop astringency and grainy pilsner malting.

Sweet flaked brown rice, toasted cereal graining and creamed corn sugaring punctuated Cold Spring Helles Bock, spurting spritzy lemon fizz over its brown bread base.

Honeyed wheat dough sweetened mild hefeweizen, Billowing Cumulus, slighting its dried banana, spiced orange and rotted apricot fruiting.

Fruity Pebbles-inspired sour wheat ale, Fruity Treble, coalesced pineapple tartness, oaken cherry musting, key lime bittering and vinous green grape esters with light lemongrass pungency over acidulated wheat dryness.

Zesty pink guava and bittersweet strawberry adjuncts gained light milk-sugared vanilla creaming for Blushing Meadows, a striking sour IPA with lemony lime-salted grapefruit, peach and mango remnants.

Sessionable Simcoe-Mosiac-hopped India Pale Ale, Today’s Active Lifestyles, brought sunshiny lemon-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering to dry pine resin and grainy malt earthiness.

Dryly offbeat Imperial IPA, Gear Monger, permitted gin-soaked grapefruit, mandarin orange and pineapple tanginess to gain lightly cologne-soaked pine lacquering.

West Coast styled IPA, Pilot Season, sprayed yellow grapefruit misting and lightly embittered orange rind musk on dry wood tones over raw honeyed pale malts.

Peachy yellow grapefruit salted Another Green Whirl, a dry-hopped NEIPA, absorbed minty pine needling and grassy cannabis snips.

Another dry-hopped NEIPA, Fear Of Heights, piled sunny Citra-hopped grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess to sweet oats-flaked pale malting.

Milk-sugared Imperial Sour Smoothie, Personal Trainer, sprung peach-pureed blackberry and raspberry tartness upon oats-flaked wheat creaming, allowing tertiary lemon limed bittering, champagne-like saison yeast and dry rum snips to flutter.

Lessly milk-sugared Imperial Sour Ale, Immersion Bender, let bright tropical fruiting ensconce mild oats-flaked white wheat creaming. Zesty pineapple-juiced orange concentrate, salty guava-passionfruit-kiwi conflux, tangy tangerine twist, strawberry rhubarb tartness and perfumed apricot whiffs picked up latent vodka kick, briny lemon-limed Margarita spunk, hard-candied citric sourness and minty floral riffs.

Nifty autumnal Imperial brown ale, Pumpkin Spice Latte, placed milk-sugared latte creaming atop sweet brown chocolate, leaving pumpkin-spiced nutmeg and cinnamon seasoning on the bourbon vanilla-daubed espresso back end.

Dry Irish Stout, Short Shift, posted dark-roast coffee bittering and toasted pumpernickel breading to dewy peat and blanched hazelnut residue above dark cocoa powdering.

REVELRY YARDS

United States Brewpubs,

Revelry Yards | Dining | ithaca.com

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Joining Ithaca’s Aurora Street Restaurant Row during summer 2022, REVELRY YARDS serves steadfastly stylistic beers to go alongside wood-fired pizza, burgers, sandwiches and soups at the former Ithaca Ale House space. Its centrally located wood-lacquered 20-seat Container Bar, salvaged from a shipping container, services surrounding tables and four-seat booths as well as the front patio. Exposed pipes hang from the black art deco ceiling of the clean white-walled pub and the store-front windowed brew tanks are stationed upstairs.

Though highly conservative in approach (besides the few sour ales), each charmingly mainstream beer stayed crisply clean and easy to imbibe.

My wife and I joined local pal, Hank, to consume eight tidy suds, November ’23, in the midafternoon.

Musky grain minerality reached lemony herbal hop spicing for Pothole, a light-bodied Bavarian pilsner.

Easygoing floral-bound white grape esters gave atypical Italian pilsner, Cayuga White, its musty dry-hopped Sauvignon Blanc wining above acidulated wheat(?) malting.

Sweet amber graining and resinous hop herbage pleated lemony orange wisps for Flying Donkey, a mediocre Mexican lager.

Lightly orange-spiced Oktoberfest Lager let rummy marzipan sweetness fade into its biscuity base.

Floral-daubed kiwi tartness sparked fruit-spiced pale ale, Kiwi Tropic, leaving gooseberry, cantaloupe and melon subsidies.

Vinous grape esters and mild lemon tartness graced Happy Sour Ale, an oaken dried, lightly mineral grained moderation.

Lemony grapefruit-forward West Coast-styled IPA, Heat Of The Moment, picked up orange rind bittering and light pine lacquering.

Dry NEIPA, One Way Street, sunk lemony grapefruit pith bittering, sour green grape esters, floral sweetness and peppery herbage into sugared pale malting.

UPSTATE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Upstate Brewing Company to open new location in Watkins Glen

ELMIRA, NEW YORK

Established in 2011, Elmira’s UPSTATE BREWING COMPANY created a cool local buzz before expanding to a narrow Watkins Glen taproom (as of January ’23). At its original Elmira location, the white overhead doored tavern (with silver grain silo, black wood-tabled patio and covered back deck) unveils many one-off stylistic delights, a few recurring staples and a good few leaning towards fruited sour or IPA.

Large windowed brewtanks hold the favorable fizzy fare dispensed at the U-shaped, blue aluminum-sided, black concrete-topped bar. There are six granite top tables, one community table and colorful paintings furnishing the sterling wood-paneled white-wall designed interior.

I visited the Elmira location prior to my long weekending Ithaca/ Watkins Glen/ Canandaigua brewpub tour in November ’23.

Spritzy lemon fizz tingled caramelized chestnut, wattleseed and hazelnut nips for amber-browned flagship, Common Sense Kentucky Common Ale, an easygoing pre-Prohibition throwback with light maple oats sugaring contrasting leafy hop astringency.

Polite straw-hazed American Lager plied dry pilsner malting to mild lemon candied tartness and musky fungi soiling.

Middling copper-hued Vienna Lager let lemon sugared fizzing get spicy Noble hop herbage then become sedately dry.

Perfumed pumpkin pie spicing consumed autumnal Pumpkin Pie Ale, leaving brown-sugared cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg spicing atop nutty caramel toasting.

Lemon-limed jelly bean tartness and mild salted peanut buttering engaged lactic fruited sour, Peanut Butter & Jelly Ipso Lacto, a moderately acidic mauve-pinked Berliner Weiss variant. 

Sessionable yellow-hazed Upstate IPA caressed yellow grapefruit spicing, bitter orange rind dryness and sour lemon zesting with distant piney hop bitterness.

Crayon-like fruit waxing guided Nectaron NEIPA, buffing its oated wheat creaming with yellow grapefruit-embittered gooseberry, guava and green grape tannins as well as peachy mango tanginess, hiding the mildest piney bittering.

A collab with nearby Corning’s Liquid Shoes, Disco Nugs NEIPA, let yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering relegate its salty vodka-licked green grape and gooseberry souring over delicately creamed oats.

Crisp tobacco roasted nuttiness guarded Big Brown English Brown Ale, leaving subtle chestnut and acorn illusions on its subtle chocolate wheat base.

“Velvety” Mary Jane’s Veil Imperial Hazelnut Stout fortified its creamy dark chocolate foundation with pasty hazelnut, picking up peanut-shelled pistachio, Brazil nut and walnut shards as well as faded vanilla latte, creme de cocoa and caffe macchiato snips.

NAKED DOVE BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Naked Dove Brewing Company | Canandaigua, NY

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Established by former Genesee employees, Dave Schlosser (brewmaster) and Don Cotter (sales), NAKED DOVE BREWING COMPANY opened its doors in rural Finger Lakes-bound Canandaigua during 2010. As the first microbrewery in Ontario County, Naked Dove is situated just down the road a few miles from Canandaigua’s downtown district.

After leaving Genesee, Schlosser gained respect making nearby Rochester’s most famous local beer, Rohrback Scotch Ale, and soon decided to setup his own brewery at a former Napa Auto Parks outlet. Crafting 50-plus different beers since beginning at their beige aluminum warehouse, Naked Dove’s core four include Wind Blown Amber, Berry Naked Black Raspberry, Starkers IPA and 45 Fathoms Porter.

A slot wood-floored pub with yellow walls, twin overhead doors, high ceilings, interesting growler collection and a spacious backroom brewhouse, Naked Dove features a wood paneled seven-tap draught board at its silver top serving station.

On a sunny Friday afternoon in November ’23, my wife and I downed all seven available elixirs. Bettering that, I picked up decadent Imperial Stouts – one aged in Templeton Rye and another aged in Basil Hayden bourbon plus a whiskey-aged Nice & Naughty Christmas Ale (all reviewed in Beer Index).

Flagship Windblown Amber Ale let mossy dew drip from its initial apple-tangerine-pear conflux as phenol hop astringency coarsened against sweet perfumed spicing and caramelized cereal grains given a gluey cardboard edge.

Passive Berry Naked Black Raspberry Ale retained a fluffy Seltzer-like tart raspberry fizz as slight cherry-cranberry-boysenberry riffs and wispy floral spicing flutter towards the blanched wheat base.

Fruitful summertime moderation, Tangerine Pineapple Kolsch, let raspy pineapple-tangerine tanginess and zesty lemon briskness receive a hard-candied glaze over grain-honeyed pilsner malting.

Dryer, denser and semi-sharper than a typical adjunct IPA, Hop Work Orange (conditioned on sweet orange peel) let its lemon-soured navel orange musk consume candied tangerine, fizzy soda pop and orange rum illusions as musty herbal resin nicked the finishing juniper bittering.

Easygoing double dry-hopped IPA, Drinking Zappa, allowed Fruity Pebbles-like Zappa hops to bring mango-passionfruit-pineapple tropicalia to the fore alongside sweet orange-peeled yellow grapefruit tanginess and salted green grapes, retaining a spritzy floral citrus-spiced misting.

Dry wet-hopped lemon rind bittering and sour lime zesting fronted Hopulus Localus, a Cascade-hopped IPA with green tea briskness, light herbal musk, parched pine acridity and light barnyard leathering.

Dry cocoa powdering, dark-roast coffee and Blackstrap molasses fronted 45 Fathoms Porter, spreading charred hop bittering over the preceding.

Anise-dried black chocolate and day-old coffee rode above the soily hop-charred mossing of Russian Imperial Stout, leaving soy-sauced tart cherry and black currant daubs on the molasses-smoked mocha finish.

YOUNG LION BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for young lion brewing

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Inside a sterling white-columned tan brick building across the street from Canandaigua Lake, YOUNG LION BREWING COMPANY opened its doors, June ’17. Its multi-faceted mod Industrial rooms include a pristine windowed 16-seat pub room (with white oak block-bottomed tan slate-topped bar, 14 tap handles and blackboard draught list), a casual left side lounge and an expansive second floor lake view event space (housing a separate Edison lit, formica-topped, 10-seat bar plus a four-couch lounge area and large TV). There’s also an outdoor side deck with an old wood floor and plastic seating.

During a two-hour venture, November ’23, I hung out with associate brewer, John O’Flaherty, a former homebrewer, whose cream ale is one of his favorite recipes used as the base for variants such as an upcoming Christmastime elixir, Egg Nog Cream Ale.

Stylishly robust Czech Pilsner retained a pungent straw grained musk, oats-dried barnyard acridity and herbal tinge to contrast its honeyed cereal graining.

Crisply clean easygoer, Mexican Lager, let lightly floral-spiced fungi musk infiltrate its caramel-toasted Vienna malting – leaving wispy caraway, rye and pumpernickel snips.

Another crispy straw-cleared moderation, Hey Ey Ey Ey Helles, let mild lemon tartness spunk musky barnyard acridity, corn-oiled astringency and cracked barley roast as well as dark floral and light herbal snips.

Leafy hop astringency and hickory-smoked molasses saddled Vienna-malted Oktoberfest, relegating its caramelized chocolate whim.

Like a lighter tasting IPA, Hill Of Fame Pale Ale stayed briskly citrus spiced as light pine sap grazed honey-sweetened pineapple, grapefruit, orange and tangerine tanginess.

Straightforwardly dry and clean West Coast-like IPA merged juicy navel orange, sunshiny yellow grapefruit, zesty lemon, salty pineapple and tangy tangerine in a lightly creamed setting, picking up grassy pine resin.

Orange-spiced grapefruit sugaring reaches cannabis-oiled hop resin as tannic grape must, mild honeydew-cantaloupe sweetness and botanical melon snips file in for Double IPA, a white bread-backed moderation.

Mildly spiced yellow grapefruit and navel orange peel entry and salted gooseberry-guava tartness pickup grassy pine-oiled white peppering for Harvest The Haze, a prim oated wheat creamed NEIPA.

Persistent Concord grape tartness and underlying green-red-yellow grape medley gain oaken cherry dalliance, lemon peel pucker and floral blood orange liming for Fall Into Grapeness Fruited Sour, leaving passive rosé wining, delicate champagne sparkle and l’il lemon icing.

Lightly tarred black malts got slightly whiskey bent for Black Lager, picking up subtle oaken burgundy-bourbon dryness in a distinctly offbeat stylistic twist.

Richly robust Barrel-Aged Hazelnut Coffee Stout plied dry bourbon vanilla tannins to hazelnut coffee tones and sweet peanut-buttered chocolate benevolence, leaving mild red grape, cinnamon bark and burgundy remnants.

PEACEMAKER BREWING COMPANY

United States Brewpubs,

Photos of Peacemaker Brewing Company | Untappd

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

On a downtown Canandaigua side street formerly occupied by Twisted Rail Brewing, PEACEMAKER BREWING COMPANY is situated in a red wood barn house. Open for biz in November 2016, the small three-barrel pub crafts standardly stylized suds with an eye towards balance and quality.

A friendly neighborhood shanty crudely designed, Peacemaker’s windowed and rear brew tanks sidle the diminutive barroom. A ten-stooled hardwood-edged bar with bark bottom (and caged Edison lights) serves rangy liquid fare and a small back kitchen offers pizza, hummus and pretzels. There are four community tables across from the bar. A red-benched side area provides further seating.

My wife and I gathered mid-afternoon on a Friday in November ’23 to try all available elixirs.

Dry grassy-hopped astringency grazed corn-flaked pilsner malts for Captain Suburbia, a politely honey-dipped cream ale.

Dainty yellow fruit spicing secured light-bodied Fonder & Blonder as pallid orange-tangerine lollipop tartness wisped into earthen mineral grained pilsner malting.

Tangy ‘n tart peach sweetness absorbed Peachmaker Smash, a light fruited pale ale with slight lemon twist and herbal candied soothe above white wheat placidity.

Peachy grapefruit and pineapple tanginess embraced Flowerin, a hazy American IPA with ancillary floral-daubed hop pining skirting salty guava-mango tropicalia.

Dry yellow grapefruit and candied orange blew past the mild pine tones and grassy hop stead of Bottom Of The Bay, an easygoing New England IPA.

Bustling magenta-hued, pinkish-headed Persephone Blueberry Raspberry Vanilla, a slightly lactic fruited sour, let skulking vanilla creaming sweeten its tart blueberry pucker, salted raspberry tannins and gunky orange concentrate as well as tertiary purple grape must, pink champagne sparkle and blush rosé wining.

Cocktail-inspired yellow aluminum cleared fruited sour, Persephone Pina Colada, stayed a tad thin as lemony pineapple tanginess and toasted coconut sweetness could’ve used frothier vanilla creaming.

Maple pecan glazed the cocoa-dried walnut and hazelnut surge of Buffalo! Brown Ale, picking up relegated dried fruiting.

Candied yam glazed the brown-sugared nutmeg spicing of Shadyside, a nifty sweet potato porter with anise-daubed black chocolate malting.

Dark chocolate syrup draped the milk-sugared hazelnut coffee tones and black grape musk of Black Soul Of Mine, a cocoa nib-roasted Imperial Stout (with disguised 12% ABV).

FREQUENTEM BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Frequentem Brewing Co. | Canandaigua, NY

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK

Defined as a ‘social space to gather,’ FREQUENTEM BREWING CO. began operations at an old Main Street dairy in Canandaigua during 2020. Garage-bound small batch homebrewers David and Meagan D’Allesandro enjoy crafting ‘modern and traditional beer styles’ at their spacious downtown lair, leaning towards India Pale Ales and fruited sours.

Residing at a brown-bricked station, Frequentem’s windowed brew tanks service the 20-seat lacquered oak bar where the white tiled backsplash draught board offers a dozen-plus choice suds. Two TV’s entertain the six-seat tables fronting the bar. A plastic-furnished cement floored palate-enclosed deck with a few firepits offers further seating.

My wife and I got some pizza and popcorn to go with the ten available brews onsite during our Friday afternoon, November ’23, Finger Lakes exploration.

Anchor Steam-styled California Common, Cali Lager, placated its toasted grain crisping and dank hop musk with subtle caramel spicing that turns cardboardy.

Utilizing a corny Czech pilsner base, Cream Ale tempered its musky grains and grassy hops with orange-dried herbage.

Spritzy fruit-candied Fresh Squeeze (Strawberry, Lemon), a kettle soured pale ale, exuded tart lemonade and salted strawberry cadences as well as watermelon Jolly Rancher souring and raspy raspberry ripples.

Dry-hopped with zestful Idaho 7, citric Mandarina Bavaria and cannabis-oiled Strata, #39 NEIPA let seltzer-fizzed mandarin orange, clementine and tangerine briskness plus salty grapefruit bittering pickup subtle herbal spicing and dank pine resin.

Yellow grapefruit-forward #24 NEIPA, dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic and Rakau, allowed ancillary orange-peeled pineapple sweetness to contrast salted guava-gooseberry souring and piquant lemon meringue tartness in a mild oated wheat setting.

Kettle-soured IPA, Natural Flavors (Concord Grape), retained lightly vinous red wining to contrast its muskily sweet Concord-Muscat grape conflux above creamy marshmallow fluff.

Similarly kettle-soured Natural Flavors (Cara Cara Orange) rampaged salted navel orange concentrate and mandarin orange tartness thru slight vanilla creaming.

Smoothie-creamed fruited sour, Just Fruit (Cranberry, Peach, Strawberry), combined sharp cranberry souring with sweet peach tanginess and strawberry rhubarb tartness, bringing mildly acidic orange concentrate to the surface alongside latent mango salting and banana pureeing.

Another vanilla-creamed fruited sour Smoothie, Just Fruit (Pineapple, Orange, Mango), daubed bittersweet orange juicing with tart pineapple and sweet mango, staying mildly acidic.

An experimental red-hued tequila barreled sour IPA, Cincoro Anejo Tequila-aged Not From Concentrate (Blackberry, Tangerine) maintained burgundy-dried red grape tartness and tangy pineapple juicing for its relegated blackberry and tangerine adjuncts.

BLUESTONE BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

BLUESTONE BREWING

SAYRE, PENNSYLVANIA

Inside a 3,200 square foot aluminum-sided gray barn house, BLUESTONE BREWING CO. opened November 2015 in the Northen Pennsylvania micropolitan borough of Sayre. Just off two local highways, Bluestone is situated near Chemung River and its silver grain silo stands across from the right side porch.

A wood lacquered L-shaped bar with colorful blackboard beer list, stocked refrigerator and TV, Bluestone’s eight formica top tables center the blue-walled, arched wood-ceilinged pub. There are front windowed and backroom brewtanks plus extra space to build upon.

Brewmaster Brian Austin leads the way for homebrewing CEO founder, Brady Liechty, crafting a wide range of smashing suds. Wine, spirits and ciders fill out the liquid menu while burgers, sandwiches, tacos and spinach artichoke make up the light pub fare.

My wife and I sampled all twleve draughts available on a Thursday night in November ’23.

Dry pilsner-malted ricing and toasted cereal flaking picked up musky salted graining and slight cinnamon spicing for Underdog Light Lager, leaving mild hop astringency on its moderate-bodied finish.

Subdued blackberry tartness got washed-out for Trail Juice Blackberry Blonde Ale, picking up timid brambleberry, lingenberry and blueberry snips against lightly pungent earthen hops.

Lemon-spiced blueberry tanginess carried Blue & White Blonde Ale, gaining hard candied tartness and biting juniper-licked bittering over sugared oats.

Soft-tongued medium body, 1537 Imperial Blonde Ale, let lightly spiced pear, red plum, cherry and bruised orange illusions reach its delicate caramel base.

Zestful lemon peel briskness picked up dry lemongrass herbage to contrast subtle coriander-spiced banana sweetness for Ursa White Wheat Ale, a lightly wheat floured moderation.

Pumpkin-roasted gourd earthiness contrasted brown-sugared cinnamon spicing and oncoming sharp orange peel zesting for Howlin’ Pumpkin, going light on the autumnal spicing.

Perfume-cologned lemon zest guided Golden Bear Saison, bringing slight candi-sugared spicing to mild juniper bittering, dry rum wisps and casual herbal respite.

Candi-sugared fruiting contrasted dry dextrin starching for Common Wort Project Belgian Strong Golden Ale, relegating its sweet banana pureeing, piquant lemon meringue tartness, tangy tangerine flirt and Bartless pear nip as well as white peppered herbage.

Semi-sharp West Coast IPA-Styled Penna Pale Ale, brought sunny Mosaic-hopped yellow grapefruit, orange peel, pineapple and lemon tanginess to dry hop pining and caramelized pale malts.

Amiably low key Celestial Lotus New England IPA rushed tangy grapefruit, pineapple, peach and orange spicing and mild hop pining to sugary oated wheat.

On the dark side, nitrogenated Pumpkin Latte Stout escorted coffee-roasted dark chocolate bittering into autumnal cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg and allspice seasoning.

Creamy dark chocolate met nut-charred flaked oats for Mythical Beast Oatmeal Stout.    

 

DIVERSION BREWING CO.

United States Brewpubs,

Image result for diversion brewery MONTOUR FALLS

MONTOUR FALLS, NEW YORK

Slingin’ soft toned suds in the village of Montour Falls since July ’22, DIVERSION BREWING CO. expanded to this countrified midtown after opening its first location at a Chemung barnhouse 30 miles south in July ’16. Run by local prize-winning homebrewers Dutch Blokzyl and Dan Bennett, Diversion’s easygoing fare suits both delicate palates and blue collar denizens.

There are twelve taps adorning the mounted industrial pipeline at the small back bar. Six window fronted beer barreled tables with metal chairs crowd the narrow, plank wood-floored, red brick-walled interior.

My wife and I pull up to the slate-topped bar to get all eight proprietary suds available on a chilly November ’23 Sunday at noon.

Mild yellow-cleared pilsner, DB Lite, let dry champagned citrus spicing grace lightly barley roasted cracked corn rusticity.

Tart raspberry pureed pale ale, Pilsberry, stayed thin as wispy blueberry and strawberry fruiting faded over its white wheat bed.

Mild spiced apple sweetness melted away for Appley Married, a fruited pale ale with oaken cherry and tart apricot pectins.   

Sweet potato-infused pumpkin ale, Gourd Jam-It, retained a dry squash vegetalia that receded its spiced pumpkin pie sweetness.

Spritzy clear-yellowed wheat ale, Witty Remark, engaged its orange-peeled coriander spicing with cidery lemon souring and mild green grape vinegaring.

Dryly soft-tongued Imperial IPA, Empires Key, placed lemon-licked pining and musty floral daubs inside lightly embittered hop resin.

Stark black IPA, Nightfall, ignored its stylish Cascadian dark ale black malt roasting for understated orange-apple spicing, missing the mark.

Dark-roast dried coffee saturated East Coast Roast, a mellow coffee stout with rich dark chocolate creaming, musty earthen soiling and dried fruited wisps given a lemon rind twist.

BEEROCRACY @ SENECA LAKE BREWING

United States Brewpubs, ,

THE BEEROCRACY | Seneca Lake BrewingBeerocracy (@Beerocracycorp) / X

ROCK STREAM, NEW YORK

Born in England, brewmeister Bradley Gillette formed SENECA LAKE BREWING COMPANY in 2014, utilizing an 8 barrel system from the British town of Lancashire to create soft-toned cask conditioned ales. Undergoing a secondary fermentation when hand-pump dispensed, these ‘real ales’ forgo extraneous gassing for natural carbonation, retaining a delicate mouthfeel served at room temperature.

Located at the main Seneca Lake brewery in the tiny waterfront hamlet of Rock Stream, BEEROCRACY re-creates a tradition low-ceilinged Brit pub. Its diminutive 12-seat L-shaped bar serves liquor, wine and snacks alongside wood-handled draught beers. There are eight rounded three-seat tables fronting the bar. Behind the streetside main bar house is The Snug, a light brown lakefront barnhouse perfect for live events and parties.

Sitting at the bar on a cold Friday eve early November ’23, my wife and I tried all six subtly designed suds (surprisingly two Americanized IPA’s but not an English version). Though specializing in daintily-hopped English cask ales, Beerocracy’s website listed a few Specialty Ales available occasionally, including a Belgian-styled dubbel and saison plus German hefeweizen.

Sessionable straw-cleared Golden Ale tied mellow yellow fruiting to mild herbal spicing and cereal grained pilsner malts, leaving distant mustard seed, dill and onion snips.

Mossy truffle earthiness, light brown tea musk, nutty fungi and dried florality draped The Dunmore ESB, picking up mild toffee sweetness.

A delicate Irish red ale, Kill Kenny With Kindness retained dewy peat sweetness and wispy hop herbage.

Dewy soft-toned Bertie’s English Brown Ale plied chestnut, walnut and hazelnut subtleties to its caramelized biscuit base.

As for the India Pale Ales, muted perfumed citrus spicing softly embellished American IPA as lightly embittered yellow grapefruit, tart mandarin orange and tangy white peach gathered above dry pale malts.

Meanwhile, easygoing casked New England IPA, The Colonial, brought dewy fungi musk and sweet tea wisps to musty citrus oiling.

 

ICARUS BREWING

United States Brewpubs,

Tour + Taplist - Icarus Brewing

LAKEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

Inside a grey warehouse just past Lakewood’s Post Office, ICARUS BREWING came to fruition November 2015. Head brewer Jason Goldstein, an Ohio State University food science major, trained under the staffs of stalwart breweries Heineken and Newcastle, setting up Rinn Duin (now Toms River Brewing) thereafter.

Icarus has crafted a myriad of wide-ranging one-off elixirs and a few recurring offerings since its inception, taking great care in providing interesting flavor profiles for a legion of fans crowding this venue as soon as it opened on my premier visit on a sunny Thursday afternoon in August ’19.

At the lacquered wood serving station are 24 tap handles, a red and black beer list and small refrigerator with to-go brews. Five barreled tables with block seats fill out the epoxy-floored interior and a Led Zeppelin poster across an Icarus insignia.

The bartender plays vinyl records as I devour ten samplers of superfine Jersey suds. For more info, check Beer Index for 30-plus more Icarus reviews.Image result for icarus brewing

Reliable flagship pale ale, Go Flight, expedited juicy lupulin-powdered grapefruit, orange and pineapple tanginess plus limey gooseberry tartness for ‘heavily wheated’ dry malting.

Aussie summertime hoppy pilsner, Extinguish, brought lightly soured apple, pear and grape tannins as well as sweet cantaloupe and honeydew illusions to lightly pungent grain musk.

Oak-barreled Belgian farmhouse yeast left tart pineapple salting, mellow grapefruit tanginess and dry barnyard funk on dry saison, Wax Wings.

Conditioning Icarus’ Yacht Juice base on lime, toasted coconut and habanero peppering, dry North East IPA, It’s Getting Yacht In Here, left a bit of peppery heat upon its lightly vanilla creamed tropical fruit spicing.

Waxy lupulin-powdered Mosaic hop fruiting and heavily wheated oats consumed New England Imperial IPA, Drinking Crayons, leaving lemony tangerine, mango and apricot illusions in its wake.

Lactic triple IPA, Touching The Sun, combined sweetly sour citrus fruiting with mild oats-flaked wheat malts, spreading orange-juiced pineapple, green grape and gooseberry tartness across its lupulin-powdered surface.

Lovely fruitful dry-hopped Abomination collaboration, The Long Fall, a powdered pastry-like Milkshake Triple IPA, tossed creamy Madagascar vanilla beaning at orange-peeled grapefruit tanginess, sour gooseberry-guava licks and lactic milk-sugared barley flouring.

Perfumed coconut water and mild lime bittering serenaded laidback NEIPA, You Put The Yacht In The Coconut, bringing waxy floral citrus tones to the mix.

Clover-honeyed toasted coconut and macadamia usurped AK47, an easygoing Russian Imperial Stout conditioned on Guatemalan coffee and nearly as great as a nightcap as fabulous dessert stout, Smooshing Sweet Parts.

Brewed with marshmallow, hazelnut and chocolate, Smooshing’s rich sweet-toothed template also included spiced cherry, blackberry and raspberry fruiting to fortify its astounding nutty mocha resilience.

During my midafternoon sojourn, October ’23, enjoyed five more wholly inviting suds (and a boozy seltzer) while punk rockers, The Misfits, played on the stereo and head brewer Dave Menges greeted guests.

Impressive Imperial pilsner, Pound Of Nectaron Feathers, let Huell Melon-hopped guava, passionfruit and pineapple tartness plus peachy orange, grapefruit and tangerine spicing (as well as plummy apricot snips) reach light pilsner malt muskiness while maintaining a mildly creamed vanilla sugaring.

Pungent detergent-like lemon oiling and sour lime juicing diluted the cara cara orange, pineapple and coconut adjuncts underlying Smoothie-like Berliner Weisse, Juice Is Worth The Squeeze: Lemon Meringue Pie, letting its sharp lactic acidity amplify latent white grape vinegaring.

Conditioned on tangerine and Madagascar vanilla beans, Orangina-like soda pop sendup, Power Shaker (Orange Cream Pop) : Oat Fluffed, plied lemony pineapple tanginess to the candied orange sugaring tingling the creamily wheated oats base.

Fudgy milkshake-inspired ‘malted milk’ knockoff, Margaret’s Wings, a barrel-aged Imperial Stout, draped Knob Creek bourbon over bittersweet cocoa nibs.

Meanwhile, Heaven Hill bourbon gave double barrel aged barleywine, Life Unraveled, its Maris Otter-malted caramelized toffee sweetness, drifting into dry rye tones, plummy raisin graze and shaved coconut nips.

Even the gluten-free hard seltzer, Labyrinth Pog & Coconut, retained sustainable depth and rangy flavonoids as limey lemon souring pickled coconut-watered passionfruit, guava and mandarin orange tropicalia.