WEST CHESTER AREA, PENNSYLVANIA
Positioned downtown in the colonial-styled Revolutionary War frontier settlement of West Chester, wood-paneled IRON HILL BREWERY opened to a U-shaped bar with substantial booth seating to right side and rear, December ‘05. Wood oven pizzas and sandwiches dominated American cuisine menu and a cute blonde bartender gave perfect descriptions of each beer (a first for me).
Copper brew tanks cornering Gay and High Street rendered fruity floral hop-sassed Ironbound Ale and its softer cask-conditioned version, the buttery orange-tart tropical-fruited I.B. Ale. Sullen raspberry-tart candy-soured phenol-hopped Raspberry Wheat and dinky pub-styled red-fruited peppery-hopped Anvil Ale proved just as fruitful.
Chocolate-roasted Pig Iron Porter had a deepening espresso assertion at its charcoal finish. Banana, fig, raisin, and walnut reached diminutive citric interlude dotting chocolate-soured Belgian Triple.
Though my light-drinking wife approved of anonymous sugar-sweet corn-malted hop-fizzed Lodestone Lager and nasty lo-cal diacetyl-scorned popcorn-like dry-bodied Iron Hill Light Lager, seasoned brewhounds should stay clear.